Pingu, The first 20 Weeks. - Advice please.

[malkered]

Pingu - a week old.

F

Pingu - now fully feathered.



Pingu - on the left with Coco, Sooty and Tilly.



Pingu - out in the run at 12 weeks.



Pingu is now 20 weeks and HUGE! (I will add a pic of him later)

He lives with hens Coco, Sooty, Belle and Etta, all the same age as him. The problem we have is that Pingu is now mature in every way including him being amorous with the girls with him regularly jumping onto the back of the nearest girl.

My concern is that he is rather larger than the girls and that they are not yet mature enough to be in lay.

Is he likely to injure the girls?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Roosters mature sexually before the hens, I often will pen the rooster up separately from the hens for a couple of months until they catch up, otherwise I don't think they have ever hurt a hen, it's mostly noise and eventually the hens will start staying inside the coop on the roosts to avoid his attention. It mostly drives me crazy.

 

[azygous]

He looks like a Cuckoo Marans, right? Until I rehomed him, I had one, and he was quite the big galoot. His mating style was over-exuberant, and he annoyed the hens he targeted. I began letting him out to free-range during the day, and at night, I would let him back in to roost in the coop. Although he was quite young, he grew accustomed to guarding the outside of the run, and went out each morning on his own when I opened the door for him.

It's really not cruel to segregate a cockerel while he grows into his hormones. I find it to be a quite satisfactory solution.

 

[malkered]

Thank you for your reply. I have in a separate coop/run 5 hens.

Daphne, a 2 year old (ex egg farm) Lohman Brown.

Bess, a 10 month old Amber Hybrid.

Lucky, a 25 week old RIR.

Nugget, a 24 week old RIR.

Pip, a 24 week old RIR.

The RIR hens are not yet in lay.

My aim was to merge these two flocks including Pingu but I'm not sure if this is wise as none of these hens have ever lived with a rooster.

What do you think?

 

[malkered]

Hi, thanks for your reply. I think he's a mixed breed with some barred rock in him maybe?

The problem I have is I cant really completely free range him as we have 3 foxes who frequent the garden. They have a fairly large run.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thank you for your reply. I have in a separate coop/run 5 hens.

Daphne, a 2 year old (ex egg farm) Lohman Brown.

Bess, a 10 month old Amber Hybrid.

Lucky, a 25 week old RIR.

Nugget, a 24 week old RIR.

Pip, a 24 week old RIR.

The RIR hens are not yet in lay.

My aim was to merge these two flocks including Pingu but I'm not sure if this is wise as none of these hens have ever lived with a rooster.

What do you think?

I would give it a go, the rooster may help the integration, you won't know until you try.

 

[malkered]

I think I will.

My only concern is how Daphne and Bess will take being jumped on by a randy Rooster having had no previous experience of it at all and being mature hens.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I think I will.

My only concern is how Daphne and Bess will take being jumped on by a randy Rooster having had no previous experience of it at all and being mature hens.

they might possibly put him in his place, I would try it and be there if any intervention is needed, be ready to separate if it gets to be too much.

 

[malkered]

they might possibly put him in his place, I would try it and be there if any intervention is needed, be ready to separate if it gets to be too much.

Sounds like it will be an interesting Christmas break. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The one thing I can count on in the behavior of chickens is for them to be unpredictable, if you are lucky they will do what's expected, good luck, and it does sound fun.