New Rooster is MEAN.... and my poor guineas

[teach619]

Preface: For a few years as a teenager I lived on some land and we had a variety of animals - including a huge chicken coop. I honestly don't remember how many chickens we had - something around 20ish - and I think we had a few roosters (not just one.) I also don't remember breeds, but I remember what they look like and the color of their eggs.

Fast Forward to now:

I bought several guinea keets to help with the tick infestation on my property. I read up about them for several months and talked to several people before I was finally able to get my hands on some. They're now just over 2 months old and have been in an outside coop for about 2 or 3 weeks now.

The coop is quite large and has a 10 x 10 kennel attached. There is a chicken wire top to the kennel for now, but once they start flying I will be taking part of the top off and putting a wood ledge up there so they can fly out during the day to eat bugs and come back at night. This is what I read to do in many places - they will know that "home" is the coop since they've spent the beginning of their lives in it and will come back to be safe at night and to get food in the winter when there may not be as many bugs to find.

Last week I finally got my chickens - Americana and Americana mixes. I don't know exact ages on them but they are maybe a pound smaller than the guinea and I was told they would start laying in 1-4 weeks.

There are the same number of guinea fowl and chickens now (8 of each.) They get along fine. They don't hang out together (the guinea tend to stick in a pack in one corner of the coop or the kennel and move around as a pack) but they haven't fought or anything like that.

All was going well. So I introduced an Americana Rooster to the mix yesterday. That booger is MEAN! He's bigger than all of the other birds and I believe he is about 3 months old if I remember correctly what what they told me. He was with another rooster and one chicken in his previous home and was hand raised.

He immediately chased all of the birds into the coop... Awhile later I shooed all the birds out so I could clean the coop and he just stalks after them - mostly after the guinea. They all run from him and he just keeps going. I don't see him actually peck at them or hurt them - just tormenting and scaring them.

Last night they all went into the coop and I locked them in and they were all fine. This morning when I let everyone out the chickens and he all come out and he's chasing them around. This time I think he is possibly going to do his manly duties... But he's still mean to the guinea...

I'm worried that he's going to scare the guinea enough that once they are able to fly out, they'll never come back

I was also wondering if I let all of the chickens out of the kennel once in awhile when I am home - how likely it would be that they'd go back IN the kennel and the coop in the evening. Basically, I'd like to let them free range and be able to eat whatever bugs or grass or whatever in the yard once in awhile but I don't want to deal with chickens running away or not coming home and then getting eaten at night...

I am open to any experienced insight as to what to do, how to do it, etc.

I am hoping no one tells me that the guinea and the chicken can't be together because EVERYTHING I read told me that I could do it - which is why I built the one huge coop instead of having 2 separate areas.

 

[HEChicken]

First,

If your cockerel is only 3 months old, he is still at that terrible "puberty" stage. He may end up being nice or he may still not be a good rooster when he is grown - only time will tell. During puberty, cockerels can really be jerks. To give you an example, I have 2 silkie cockerels that are 5-6 months old now. One, nobody likes. He is a serial rapist who stalks his victims and either jumps them and rapes them, or jumps sideways into them knocking them off balance. He attacks his "brother", the other silkie, grabs him by his crest and flips him around. None of my chickens, guineas or ducks looks happy when they see him coming. The other silkie is the complete opposite. He is gentle and instead of raping, he woos the girls by dancing for them. He finds them food treats and calls them over, he is constantly watching for danger and patrols the fence line. When one flock member accidentally found herself outside the chicken yard, he found where I had left the gate open and went back and forth through it repeatedly to show her the way back in.

The jerk may grow up to be a good roo once he is through this stage (if he doesn't become stew before then) but I won't know for awhile.

So - none of that helps your immediate situation, but hopefully gives you hope for a more peaceful future. Is there a way you can cordon off a section of the yard with wire and put him there by himself, where he can see the flock but not bully them?

Regarding your second question, yes, once the chickens know it is home (after a week or so locked in) they will return to it in the evening to go to bed. And, you may even find that the additional space when free-ranging settles the cockerel down and he stops being so much of a jerk.

 

[HEChicken]

Oh, and I just saw your last paragraph. I too have one huge coop and have my chickens, guineas and ducks all together. They get along fine....but we only just moved so they've only been together 3 weeks or so. My guineas are about 7 weeks old and can already fly out but choose to stay in. Occasionally some will find themselves outside the fence and all they do is pace it looking for a way back in. The guineas are very bonded to the ducks so prefer to stay close to them (they were all brooded together). I don't see them hanging with the chickens much but there haven't been any issues between them either.

 

[teach619]

Update here too:

Rooster calmed down after a few days or so and he's been fine since then. Today I saw him chasing one of the chickens - but I realized it was "the chase" so maybe eggs will be coming sooner than we expected.

He's also left the guinea alone. They're all together - but I do notice that the guinea sleep outside the coop and I've only seen them go inside it once or twice in the last week and it was during the day when it was empty.

They're all free range during the day now - and either I herd them in around 6-7PM or if I wait until it's dark, they'll all go inside on their own.