Lone rooster ok?

[danielchelsea]

Hello all.

Just wanted to ask a quick question. If you look at our other threads you will notice that we got five chicks and all, yes all, of them were roosters. We basically had a bachelor pad for a while until the two Brahmas got a little big. We were lucky enough to find a new caring home for the two Brahmas which left us with two white leghorns and another breed.

It started off OK, the three got along nicely but over the last week one of the leghorns has been banished to the coop while the other two have no problems with hanging out together in the outside bit of our coop. It doesn't help any that the banished one is my favourite... Don't tell the other two.

So I am thinking of looking for a new home for the other two.

The plot thickens in that our neighbours recently popped to Tractor Supply and asked for three chicks, the minimum they could take was six and their coop in all honesty can't take seven chickens as they have one adult hen currently.

So I am thinking of asking if we can have three of their ladies to go with my favourite Roo, he doesn't mind being carried around and is much more gentle than the other two.

The thing is though, the ladies are still quite young at the moment so my questions are, firstly, at how many weeks could they be introduced to my rooster in his coop? Secondly, how would we do it? And thirdly, should I find new homes for the other two roosters, would the poor chap be OK for a month or two on his own?

Thanks all for the help!

 

[boskelli1571]

Hello there - yes, roosters can be a dilemma! As long as your lone rooster is getting lots of attention from you he will be fine for a while. However, he will need some of his kind eventually. How old is he? and how old the ladies?
My suggestion for the introduction is to settle the girls into their own coop and introduce him when they are around 16 weeks or so. If they are still immature he won't show any interest in 'courting', but once they are ready to lay, he will be Mr Romeo - hopefully a gentle one.
Unless you are planning to use the other 2 as breeders, I would try to rehome them, although that won't be very easy

. You can try advertising on here or Craigslist etc. One rooster for 3 hens is more than enough!

 

[ChickenChaser9]

Hello! I would suggest firstly to only introduce the Roo to pullets that are already in lay. If they are too young to lay they are too young to be mating. That being said, you SHOULD get rid of the extra roosters and get girls instead. Everyone involved will be happier for it. As for introductions you would do well to take it slow. Partition your area so the girls are able to see but not touch your rooster. Over the course of a week they should become more familiar with each other and you can start letting them roost at night together and get supervised time together, increasing the time allowed each day and by the end of week 2 they should be ready to spend their days together as one flock. As for the issue of a lonely Rooster, if he is getting bullied by the others then alone would be better than he is now. HOWEVER chickens are social creatures and he wont be happy by himself. If you can send some time with him, socializing and giving him attention and treats you could conceivably keep his morale up through a few lonely weeks. A good Rooster is worth keeping. Best Wishes!

 

[danielchelsea]

Hello all, well, the time came for one of our two roosters to go and yesterday someone in need of a roo for his 12 ladies was kind enough to take care of one of ours, leaving our favourite boy who coincidentally is our profile picture and called princess. Our other posts describe our previous dilemma of having five chicks last June, all of which turned out to be roos.

He's always been incredibly gentle with us, likes to be held and stroked. That's not to say he doesn't occasionally do his dance floor sideways charge, but he's an absolute darling and we weren't too concerned about him hurting young ladies.
When I picked up our four ladies yesterday, I was surprised as to how small they were which made me thought of boskelli1571's post about having them together with them way too young to lay. In all honesty they have to be about 10 weeks old. We left them in their crate for a while so that they could scope each other out. Sadly though there was a severe thunderstorm coming so we had to rush things a little.

Long story short, after an hour we introduced them and it went as well as it could have gone. He's a bit aloof and spent a couple of hours putting them in their place but there was no aggression or any mating tendencies (they're way too young). They slept at separate ends of the coop the four ladies huddled together and him in his usual spot.

This morning they ate together wonderfully and are currently wandering around the garden, the ladies seem to stick together and our roo doesn't have any interest in them and would rather follow me around the garden, clucking away. I know that will change over time.

 

[boskelli1571]

Well done! He should be ok with them until they start to become 'of age'. He is a lucky boy!