introducing

[marky7111]

Hi I have 1 welsummers cockeral and hen . 16 wks old . I.ve had them from eggs to now. I had them seperate from my other older hens . I introduced 2 older hens to them . The cockeral pecked at them and chased them . After a wk I put the other 3 older hens in with them. Now the older hens all chase the younger ones . Will this change as the cockeral gets older. Or will he always be lower ranking in the pecking order

 

[bobbi-j]

This will very likely change as he gets older and earns their respect. Right now everyone is trying to figure out the pecking order. They'll get it figured out, and as time goes by it will shift. When your cockerel reaches maturity, he will move up the ladder in the pecking order. In a few weeks (if it's not happening already) he will start getting very hormonal and chasing your hens around trying to breed them. Your older hens will put him in his place until they respect him as the leader of the flock. My current rooster was hatched in early May. He was raised with the flock, and his daddy was the only rooster we had until that point. Well, daddy rooster was snatched by a coyote this summer, so now the young punk is the "man of the house". When he was roughly 4 months old or so, he started trying to throw his weight around, attempting to breed the older hens, etc. Well, they were having no part of this and put him in his place quite regularly. Now, just a few months later, they submit to him.

 

[marky7111]

Ok ty for yr knowledge. I had an idea things would change but wasnt sure as he hasnt crowed at all yet either. Sorry to here about yr cockeral. We dont have that sort of predator here.all we worry about is cats but dont really see any one elses as we already have 7. Whitch are scared of the chucks . One of our hens reared the cockeral as she went broody. So we got her some eggs from down the road. 7 from 8 hatched 1 got smashed by the other hens trying to lay on her clutch. The chicks hatched in august we only kept the 2. He was good looking and some say rare so we kept him . The adopted mother is my light sussex in profile pic . Think the chicks are also there. Wel he is 1 of them .