Reintroduce my Cockerel or not?

[Lutman_Chick]

Hi,

I moved a Cockerel from my main run due to an injury and i thought he might of been challenged by my youngsters, he's a bantam and they are standards. I put him out on some grass today and all his did was pace up and down, i assume to get back to his girls.. i did try to keep them at a distance so he couldn't see them.
My query is.. I don't know if i should put him back with is original flock or shall i give him a couple of his girls - i did want to do this in the Spring but his injury kind of forced my hand!
Help! am i being daft?

 

[azygous]

Is he completely healed and able to get around without difficulty? It's crucial the flock doesn't see him returning with a weakness they can exploit.

How long has he been out of the flock? If just a few days, it should matter little. He'll get a ration of grief for a few minutes, but then they'll all settle down. They will remember him, but he will have a new rank after he returns. There will be minimal uproar until they settle things.

If he's been away for weeks, though, even though he'll be recognized, he'll be a suspect, and you need to treat him as though he's a newbie, protecting him with a barrier for a day or two while he and the flock "talk things over". Then release him into the flock for increasingly longer periods each day over a week.

If he's the only bantam, he may have a rough time in a flock of standards. If he has an assertive nature, he will be okay, but if he's timid, you might think about getting him a flock of bantams of his own and housing them separately.

 

[Lutman_Chick]

Thank You for your advice, it was just a couple of days, he has a lump on his comb that I thought might be sinister but after a bit of research it seems to just be a blood blister??
I do plan to give him his own gang, I’ve got a Creme Legbar cockerel that i want to run with my laying hens, I hatched out a egg once that was half bantam silver Laced Wyandotte (the cockerel in question) and a creme Legbar and it’s a odd scruffy mungerel thing, so I won’t be doing that again!