New chicks, old rooster! Please help!

[Pinecone32]

New to this! Background. I bought a house and the old owners left me matured rooster. The family has come to love him and he’s since warmed up to us as well. I surprised my fiancé with 4 chicks that are now about 4-5 weeks old. All came from tractor supply. 3 came from one brooder that was all females. The other (southern rambler) came from a brooder that was mixed. The rambler is now much bigger than the other 3. I’m not sure if this is just the breed or if he is rooster?? So now I’m concerned that he is indeed a rooster and that him and the rooster that came with the house are not going to get along with only having 3 hens and that they didn’t grow up together. I don’t have a big enough coop to stock up on more hens. Any suggestions? any safe ways to introduce them? Any way to tell if he is a rooster or a hen at 4-5 weeks? Also the rooster that came with the house is free range. He sleeps in a tree and roams the property all day while the new chickens will stay in a coop with a fenced in pen area. The old rooster can get into this pen no problem I thought chickens couldn’t fly but I’ve seen this one get some serious height upwards of 7-8 feet lol. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!!

 

[Mamatomany123]

Do you have a picture of the suspected rooster? If he is indeed a boy you cant keep 3 roosters with 3 hens. They will be over matted at best. The boys will fight till death at worse.

 

[Lin B]

If your baby chick turns out to be a roo you cannot keep two roos and 2 to 3 hens the roos will fight and the hens can get mounted to the point of dying. One of them will have to go

 

[HollyBerrie]

My opinion is if the chick is a rooster, I would choose to keep the older rooster over the younger one. Older roosters are nicer to hens, and you stated your family loves him. The young rooster will have the stamina to fight and possibly fatally kill the older rooster.

When one decides to keep chickens, no matter how many, it is owners' responsibility to have a plan in place on what to do with unwanted ones.

 

[Pollito Pelon]

I use a cage to keep 1 week old outside and after they grow up I let them run around about 4 weeks old the rooster doesn't mind them and from time to time he feeds them.
Patience