New Hampshire red question?

[albird101]

On Sunday ill be getting two 5 month old New Hampshire red pullets, and one 5 month old Plymouth barred rock cockerel, we have about 2 easter eggers pullets,22 bantams 6 roosters the rest are hens well pullets and hens! All the roosters that I have get along pretty well except for the most dominant roo but the others ignore him and don't bother him at all so they live peacefully for the most part. My main concern is are the new hamshire pullets old enough were they will fight to rank up in the pecking order? Also, will the roosters sort it out with the barred rock? Around 4 months ago my most dominant bantam challenge my game rooster (standard) my bantam lost and just ignored him and stayed away from him, so I'm guessing if the barred rock dose win the rooster will just ignore him like all the others ones plus, since the barred rock isn't a game chicken he won't be as aggresive towards the roosters in my Opionion! Well what do you guys think?

 

[gander007]

Alright

great to have you joining the BYC flock

BYC has a very useful learning center

Great sounds like you are picking up a ready made flock

 

[drumstick diva]

Chickens can be really unpredictable - you won't know till the time comes to combine them. It depends a lot on the roosters personalities if they will fight to the end, or get beaten and retreat.
Just be sure to hang around and observe so you can step in before bloodshed. Any time you add new birds male or female - especially young ones to older - fights can break out.

If you can separate the new from the old with a wire partition in coop and run - they can get used to each other with harm. Over the course of a week or two, you can take the wire down and see how things go.

 

[Michael OShay]

If you can separate the new from the old with a wire partition in coop and run - they can get used to each other with harm. Over the course of a week or two, you can take the wire down and see how things go.

Welcome to BYC! This is really good advice from drumstick diva, and I would highly recommend doing it that way. My biggest concern is the number of roosters per hens that you have. You mentioned only 4 standard sized hens (including the 2 new NHRs) and 7 roosters (including the new BR cockerel) plus 22 bantams of which at least some are roosters. The recommended ratio for roosters to hens is 1 rooster for every 10 hens. Based on the numbers you've listed (even if only two of your bantams are roosters), you have at least 9 roosters (probably more) and no more than 24 hens (probably less) which comes out to about 1 rooster for every 2.67 hens which is a recipe for aggression, fights, missing feathers, injured birds (including hens), and over-bred and stressed hens. I hope you're just missing some numbers in your post and that you have a whole lot more hens. Good luck with your flock.