Mixing smaller hens with rooster. Help asap!

[Mattsiewrt19]

I'm about to get this rooster soon and he alittle bigger than my hens I'm gonna keep him by himself to see what he's about and if he's sick. Here he is

These are my hens

I'm just worried he will eat them or something

If you can see the size comparison I mean they want a rooster but I don't want to harm my flock but I do want this rooster idk what to do.

is there any way I can do this

 

[Pekin Bantam]

To start make sure he is a nice friendly roster if he is friendly with you usually they will friendly to the hens. After you make sure he isn't aggressive slowly introduce him to the girls. And make sure to watch the first few weeks so he doesn't overbreed your hens.Hope this helps.

 

[Mattsiewrt19]

@Pekin Bantam thank you and you don't think hes to big and later on I was going to add two more hens I want a real diverse flock. I won't add more hens until they are all full size. I just didn't know how that would work I know chickens will kill eachother but he would know that there hens to not kill them I hope lol

 

[Pekin Bantam]

Make sure you watch him though. Hope i helped.

 

[Pekin Bantam]

Watch him while he is mating to make sure he isn't hurting the hens.

 

[Ridgerunner]

How old are the pullets? How old is the cockerel? Their ages will have a lot to do with how they react when you put them together. Hens and roosters generally do better than pullets and cockerels. Introducing a mature rooster to a flock of mature hens is generally about the easiest thing you can do. Pullets and cockerels can be a lot rougher. If you can give us ages it could really help us.

When a rooster mates with a hen, the hen squats. That gets her body on the ground. The rooster’s weight goes through her body into the ground, not through her legs. That’s why a rooster can be larger than the hens and not injure them during mating. Roosters are practically always larger than hens of the same breed. As long as the difference in size is not ridiculous size is not an issue. Age can be though.

 

[Mattsiewrt19]

@Ridgerunner uhm mhmm the CL ad for the RIR rooster he said he was 4 months old I think he does crow alittle he said. Now as for mine I can't believe I can't remember but I think I got them in April my old phone had the date i had bough my chicks but this one the first pic I have of them on this phoneis this one.

It was taken may 30th and hens do not lay yet. And the guy said the rooster is real tame now if I have to I have a little cage he can go in and if I must keep them separate for a while I will. I will really like to get him

 

[Ridgerunner]

Ok let’s go with four months for the cockerel and three months for the pullets.

Typical mating behavior between mature consenting adults.

The rooster dances for a specific hen. He lowers one wing and sort of circles her. This signals his intent.

The hen squats. This gets her body onto the ground so the rooster’s weight goes into the ground through her entire body and not just her legs. That way she can support a much heavier rooster without hurting her legs.

The rooster hops on and grabs the back of her head. The head grab helps him get in the right position to hit the target and helps him to keep his balance, but its major purpose is to tell the hen to raise her tail out of the way to expose the target. A mating will not be successful if she does not raise her tail and expose the target. The head grab is necessary.

The rooster touches vents and hops off. This may be over in the blink of an eye or it may take a few seconds. But when this is over the rooster’s part is done.

The hen then stands up, fluffs up, and shakes. This fluffy shake gets the sperm into a special container inside the hen near where the egg starts its internal journey through her internal egg making factory.

With three or four month olds you are not dealing with consenting adults. You are dealing with adolescents (or soon to be adolescents that have no control over their hormones. Cockerels normally mature earlier than the pullets and are being driven mad by their hormones. The pullets have no idea what is going on so they certainly are not going to cooperate. The cockerel is getting ready to enter puberty. That’s probably why he is available. The pullets are still probably a couple of months away, when they should start to lay.

You can try introducing him now. They might get along fine. But definitely have a plan B ready. While they may be fine for a while what is most likely to happen is that he starts mating them but they don’t know what is going on so they won’t cooperate. He is bigger than them so he forces them. It’s not pretty.

What I’d suggest since you really want him is to get him and keep him in a separate cage. After a couple of those pullets are laying, let them be together. There may be some excitement but they should be close enough to maturity to work it out. You can try putting them together now but be ready to go to this plan B.