Older hens hiding inside

[HoundsHarvestFarm]

Hello, we have 8 older hens (2-3years old), 5 young hens (8 months old) and 2 roosters ( also 8 months old). What I notice is all the youngins will go out every day and majority of the old hens will not. We think they do not want to deal with the roosters jumping on them and thus hide inside. Yes the weather hasn't been great, but even on sunny days they like to stay inside. I have seen them interact outside with the young hens and rooster no problem, but I think they just don't want to get sexed up by those roosters.

Will my roosters calm down?
Will my old birds come out maybe once it gets warmer?

 

[sourland]

It's most likely the roosters force breeding them. If it was my flock, I would get rid of one of the roosters to give them a break. Roosters competitively breeding hens can result in injuries to the hens.

 

[Wot The Flock]

Did you get the 8mo pullets and roosters recently?
Can you divide up the run, or make a penned area for one group?

I have just introduced three pullets (about 8mo) to three older ones. I got pullets this time because the existing girls are too mean on a newbie that they saw growing up (even penned separately to 16 weeks).

What happened this time, the older ones were quite intimidated by the pullets, not realising that their big bodies housed a 'teenaged brain'. As my alpha (9yo, which is what I call an older bird) put herself out the mix first by spraining her toe joint, then breaking her toe due to the sprain.

I had the run divided into half, and the pullets slept in a caged off area in the coop. At 8 days I did some part time introduction between the two groups in the free range area, and told each pullet 'no' each time they tried to bluff the hens up the pecking order. That only happened for a couple of days, and nothing too major.

Older and newer birds now free ranged or in the run without issues. I still have not integrated them in the coop yet, due to the 9yo being in the dog cage and taking up too much extra space in the roosting area. But I will be integrating them in the coop this week. Mine are pets, so I closely monitor the behaviour of each individual.

I have never had roosters, and having even young roosters changes the dynamic dramatically. From the behaviour of your older hens, I would say they are intimidated, not cold (chickens don't mind the cold).

 

[fluffycrow]

I agree, they're intimidated by the new flock members, and most likely nothing to do with your local temperatures

To answer your question, yes, the roosters will calm down a little once they age some more, but not in the immediate future, so basically the problem won't solve itself

Roosters, especially younger ones still establishing territory/place in the pecking order/their hens will tend to breed competitively, meaning if they see one rooster mating with a hen they'll go and do it too. In addition, they will breed the hens more often than an older more experienced rooster

What I would do is split up the roosters. Select one of them and place him somewhere else, so that the one remaining doesn't feel threatened. If you wish to give the rooster you separated some hens, give him some of the younger ones

If things don't start going back to normal after this, you might want to examine your flock again, and make sure that one (multiple) of the younger hens isn't the one causing trouble

Hope this helps!

 

[HoundsHarvestFarm]

@Wot The Flock & @fluffycrow
My phone didn't tell me I had responds! I did remove a rooster Monday night and the other is still being aggressive with our older hens. The pullets have lived with the older hens for a long time, as in before the hormones got the best of them.
We have kicked everyone out of the house and the rooster will go hunt down the old ladies and end up pulling feathers. I could completly separate the roosters from the hens we do have a small house that we used to raise them when they were chicks. I guess how long would we have to keep the rooster away?

 

[fluffycrow]

How does he behave with the older hens? Typically, a rooster will try to keep away hens that are not part of his flock

Basically, for the rooster to accept them as part of the flock he needs to first breed them to kind of "mark" them as his

If the hens don't accept, probably because he's still young and unexperienced, they might not consider him able to provide for them, he will not let them in his flock and he will be aggressive towards them

Normally, things don't take that long and after 2 weeks at a maximum the new flock has integrated completely, but for some reason it's not working out

You can take out both roosters until his place in the pecking order is forgotten, the reintroduce him back once the hens have become a singular flock

 

[fluffycrow]

Also worth noting, what breed are they?

 

[HoundsHarvestFarm]

Also worth noting, what breed are they?

Thank you for all of that. The hens are wyandottes and Americanas. The roosters are a barnvelder and a moss egger

 

[fluffycrow]

Thank you for all of that. The hens are wyandottes and Americanas. The roosters are a barnvelder and a moss egger

I don't really see a problem with the breed mix. I was thinking it could be that some of the hens were bantams, but it's not the case. Have you seen the rooster mounting any of the younger hens,

 

[HoundsHarvestFarm]

I don't really see a problem with the breed mix. I was thinking it could be that some of the hens were bantams, but it's not the case. Have you seen the rooster mounting any of the younger hens,

I have maybe seen it a couple times but they definitely are not getting out in the morning and chancing the hens, which is something I remember from our old rooster. The pullets hens have started to lay.