New young rooster

[Allycat91]

Hey everyone, new to the forum!
Getting my first chickens tomorrow, we’re picking up 4 hens and a rooster. The 4 hens are about a year old and already know each other, the rooster is about 4 months and whilst all birds are from the same guy, the rooster doesn’t live with the hens. We’ve just built our coop (about 2.5sqm) and run (about 22sqm). We do intend for them to free range in the future and to add more hens / female chics later this year if possible.
My concern is that moving house is stressful enough for them, and introducing a rooster to a small flock at the same time will add stress to all involved. Hubby is very much of the mindset of shove them together and let them work it out, but I really want to reduce the stress on the animals as much as possible. We don’t really have the time to build (nor extra money to buy) a second house for the rooster to roost in, but during the day we could have an area in the run fenced off for him. I’ve seen some people saying to house the new rooster with the hens at night, let them out in the run during the day, I’ve also read about people taking it slow as possible and that you should never introduce chickens at the same time as moving them, others that share hubby’s opinion, etc.
Am I worrying over nothing?
Any real life experience on this would be absolutely fantastic so I can stop pulling my hair out about it.

 

[The Happster]

I would actually have chosen an older cockerel, but not to say this won't work.
I would put him in the pen during the day, and let the girls out. Or alternate.
So they can get used to eachother before dumping him in with them.
When I introduce my boys to girls I sometimes have to physically hold them, or they're charging off at the poor hen.
That could be difficult since you don't know the cockerel. Mine let me hold them. You could introduce one hen at a time, protecting the hen until the cockerel slowly calms down. Sounds kinda dumb but it works for me. They end up dancing around the hens and looking sheepish.

Since the hens are older, they might sort it out. Or he might chase them all over the place trying to mate. Be aware he could do damage to the hens. It happens.

I almost forgot - welcome to BYC!

 

[Chicken_loverXx]

yea, I agree with @OneHappyRooster try introduce the hens to the rooster but when doing this watch them so the hens don't get hurt (or even the young rooster) . p.s. welcome to backyard chickens

 

[DobieLover]

Under these circumstances, it's the cockerel I'd be worried about, not the hens. He's young and new. They are older, know eachother and will be not be tolerant of a randy cockerel's behavior.
I would put him in a large dog crate with food and water in the middle of the run so that they can all see each other without interacting for a few days. If your run is not secure, the cockerel, crate and all will need to be moved some place secure for the night. The coop if you have room.
After 4 days or so, let him out of his crate first to explore the run for an hour or so without the hens. Then let the hens out. Make sure there are lots of places to perch on and hide behind without becoming trapped. Lots of material to scratch through. Multiple feed and water stations. Basically lots of other things to do besides pummel the crap out of the cockerel.

 

[aart]

We’ve just built our coop (about 2.5sqm) and run (about 22sqm).

2.5m x 2.5m(probably fine).......or 2.5sqm(pretty tight space)...or 25sqm?

 

[Ridgerunner]

No one can tell you what ill happen for sure when you mix those. The four hens in a new spot and probably alone together for the first time will establish a pecking order. Often that's not a big deal, you may not even notice it happening. Or it could result in violence between them. With living animals you just don't know for sure. I personally would not worry about it but I'd observe.

That's not a rooster, that's an immature cockerel, probably somewhere in puberty. That means there is really no telling what will happen. Some of that depends on the personality of the older hens. Some hens will squat for anything in spurs (even if they don't have spurs yet), but it's not unusual for a mature hen to expect a male to act like he will make a good father to her potential chicks before she lets him mate. I had a 5-month-old that did that but never a 4-month-old. I've also had one not do that until 11 months. Most manage around 7 months.

So what could happen? It's possible if the hormones of puberty haven't totally addled his brains that he will be non-threatening to the hens and they let him co-exist without a problem, at least until he further matures. Or they could keep him separate but not hurt him.

If he tries to mate with one, they may beat him up, especially the head hen if they have decided which is the head hen. It's possible they could injure him or worse. Most likely he's just run away and stay away. Or they may run away form him. Different hens and different cockerels behave differently. If they run he will probably try to chase them down and force them to mate with him. Usually this looks worse than it is and no one gets hurt. But he is using force and it can be violent. It's possible one could get hurt.

When he matures to the point that he starts acting like a mature rooster the flock typically really calms down and is a joy to be around. But sometimes it can be hard to watch and hard to get to that point. My definition of a successful integration is that no one gets hurt. They may squabble a little or stay apart. So what? As long as no one gets hurt they will work their way through it and become a happy flock. At least most of the time.

So what would I suggest? Put them all together and see what happens. Base your actions on what you see, not what someone over the internet like me tells you what will happen because I don't know. They are all going to be in a new spot so they won't be territorial. They will have to set up a new pecking order. See if they can work it out on their own. It could be that easy. But have a Plan B ready in case it doesn't go well. Have a place prepared to immediately isolate a chicken if you need to. That chicken might be the cockerel or it might be one of the hens.

Good luck!

 

[Mrs. K]

Just get the hens. A hen only is a wonderful flock to start with. Get some experience. Wait until next spring to add the rooster. Where ever you are getting the birds from, will more than likely have birds next year too.

I would want more hens. Roosters are a crapshoot, and a rotten rooster can ruin the whole chicken experience. Get more hens this year, think about adding a rooster next year. It is rather late in the year to be thinking about hatching out birds anyway, unless you are in the southern hemisphere.

2.5 meters = 8ish feet - more than enough room for more hens.

Mrs K

 

[Ridgerunner]

2.5 meters = 8ish feet - more than enough room for more hens.
/QUOTE]

2.5 square meters should be about 22.5 square feet. Maybe 4' x 5.5'. So think 4' x 6' coop.

22 square meters should be about 200 square feet. Think a 10' x 20' run.

Plenty of run space and OK on the coop but I would not want to crowd it much more.

 

[aart]

2.5 square meters should be about 22.5 square feet. Maybe 4' x 5.5'. So think 4' x 6' coop.

26.9 sqft

22 square meters should be about 200 square feet. Think a 10' x 20' run.

236.8sqft

You probably did those in your head, I used a conversion program.

BUT the mixed measurements they gave are confusing, so we don't really know.<shrugs>
Hopefully they come back and clarify.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yeah, I just rounded them off in my head. Didn't see any reason to get too precise. Using the 80-20 rule and trying to not let the pursuit of perfection get in the way of good enough.

Aart, could you please explain your mixed measurements comment? I don't see what's mixed about it but maybe I'm just being dense.