Need Advice- new rooster problem

[owlwithpeas]

Hi,

Very new to having chickens, and I made a mistake today.

I have my first flock of Wyandottes, BOs, EEs, Barred Rocks, and black sex links. I had a mystery chick in the mix, and I believe that the one rooster we have is the mystery chick, so I don't know what he is, but he's always been very small and the girls didn't seem to like him. Lately he kept trying to mate and they'd just beat him up. I decided that he might be happier with a different flock of smaller birds.

Today I saw an ad for a gorgeous rooster and had him delivered. Since I don't know the first thing about introducing roosters to each other (and hadn't read about quarantining new birds until just now) AND the previous owner said that he was a gentle rooster who got along pretty well with other roosters in her flock, we just put him in with the whole flock.

The ladies loved him immediately but, of course, our little Pico got in a fight with him (Vulcan) and my husband had to go in and get Pico before he was killed. We let Pico run around in our garden and Vulcan stayed in with the ladies. Most of the ladies followed him around all day but one particular wyandotte (Luna) stayed by the fence near Pico and later got out and stayed right next to him.

So now we don't know what to do. Luna is one of our favorite hens and we love Pico but didn't think he was having such a good life with us. I didn't think he'd be hurt, so I'm stupid. It breaks my heart to see Luna and Pico sitting together and my husband said we should have a little pen just for the two of them.

Right now we put Luna back in the coop and put Pico in a little cage by himself. He has some wounds from the fight so I need to figure out how to address that too.

What's everyone's advice? (forgive me if this is the wrong category, I'm not sure where it should go)

 

[onthespot]

give him his girlfriend while he is recuperating. Maybe you can set them up with their own little run and they will be happy.

 

[CMV]

Spray some Blukote wound dressing on the wounds after you clean them out. Clean them with normal saline or betadine tea. Don't use peroxide unless the wounds are really dirty and then only use it for the initial cleaning. He should be fine.

 

[Uppity Peon]

My neighbor has 2 roosters (and probably more but they are young and not acting like roosters). His 2 dominant roosters each has his own flock of ladies and more or less stay in his own part of the yard. With enough room they can live in relative peace.

 

[owlwithpeas]

Vulcan is in the pen with most of the ladies and we let Pico have an entire 20 acres and his favorite women, but he keeps going up to the fence and antagonizing Vulcan, even though Vulcan is about 5 times his size. I don't think they could ever live in peace. Maybe if we made another pen that wasn't adjacent to the first pen it could work, but that takes some time that we don't really have today. Pico went nuts being in the cage so I've just been spraying a little water in the air when he goes near the fence and then he flies off. Vulcan doesn't seem to care much about him when Pico doesn't start something.

 

[cybercat]

This will continue on for Vulcane is an intruder to Pico teritory. Pico can not win as he is too small but he will continue to go after Vulcane till either he is dead or you keep him out of site of him. This is natures way of only the strong and best survive to breed.

When 2 roos are raised together this is not such a problem. But when you bring in another with one that has been there from the getgo it is, and it will not go away. They will never get along so you will need to decied what to do next. Either give Pico away or pen him up and away from Vulcan. If you do pen him up and want to let Vulcan roam then make sure vulcan will not be able to see him at all or he will be after him in a flash.

 

[owlwithpeas]

Thanks for everyone's advice.

This evening we brought Pico to a new home. He has 15 acres to roam with a large flock of bantam hens. He cried out when I started to walk away and was so sad to see him go, but he has some beautiful new ladies and a much nicer place to live.