Roo's Mating Pullets

[Tamigirl37]

I currently have two flocks of chickens. My first flock is 22 weeks old and is made up of two roosters and two hens. One of my roosters and the hens are RIR's and the other rooster is a Bantam. My RIR rooster is huge and has been mating the hens for about a month now and the girls started laying about two weeks ago. My second flock is 2 months old and is made up of 4 pullets and possibly 1 cockrel. I have been introducing them for about two weeks now by putting the smaller chickens in a pin, in the chicken yard with the older chickens...Just today I have tried putting them all together in the chicken yard for an hour with my supervision...My RIR rooster tried to mate with on of my pullets twice while they were together. Feathers went flying.My question is...At what age is a pullet ready to recieve a rooster? Is this safe for my pullets at 2 months old? Could he hurt them at this age? Should I keep him separate while I'm trying to introduce the older chickens to the younger ones by putting him in the pin? I appreciate any info. in this matter.

 

[Mrs. K]

I would wait on the whole thing. There should still be quite a size difference between the two age groups, and whether you pull the roo or not, the smaller birds are going to take a pretty regular beating until they catch the others in size.

In chicken games bigger trumps smaller. Age trumps younger, more numbers trumps less numbers, and home court trumps strangers. Your chicks are drawing the low cards all the way around.

While your 22 wk rooster is old enough to mate, he is just a teenage rooster. Has no judgement, and pretty much can be a bully cause he is so much bigger. Often times, with no other bird to thump on him, these roosters can turn into a real nightmare.

If he is getting along with his flock mates, leave him there. Keep the younger ones separate for about another 4-6 weeks. That would make them 14-16 week, really keep them separate for another 6-8 weeks, then introduce them. They will be much bigger, more similar in size to the older birds, and get a much better deal all the way around. It is difficult to mix younger birds with older birds, unless a broody does it.

In that amount of time, the day length will be getting shorter, which will cause a hormone drop in your randy rooster + he will be getting older, getting better technique, and starting to pay attention to his other duties.

And cold weather makes for better flock mates.

Mrs K

 

[Mrs. K]

And really 3 roosters in two too many, and maybe three too many for your flock size.

 

[keesmom]

I would wait on the whole thing. There should still be quite a size difference between the two age groups, and whether you pull the roo or not, the smaller birds are going to take a pretty regular beating until they catch the others in size.

In chicken games bigger trumps smaller. Age trumps younger, more numbers trumps less numbers, and home court trumps strangers. Your chicks are drawing the low cards all the way around.

While your 22 wk rooster is old enough to mate, he is just a teenage rooster. Has no judgement, and pretty much can be a bully cause he is so much bigger. Often times, with no other bird to thump on him, these roosters can turn into a real nightmare.

If he is getting along with his flock mates, leave him there. Keep the younger ones separate for about another 4-6 weeks. That would make them 14-16 week, really keep them separate for another 6-8 weeks, then introduce them. They will be much bigger, more similar in size to the older birds, and get a much better deal all the way around. It is difficult to mix younger birds with older birds, unless a broody does it.

In that amount of time, the day length will be getting shorter, which will cause a hormone drop in your randy rooster + he will be getting older, getting better technique, and starting to pay attention to his other duties.

And cold weather makes for better flock mates.

Mrs K

X 2. It is far too early to merge 8 week olds with 22 week olds. Yes, he can injure the young pullets. Not to mention 3 cockerels for just 6 pullets is far too much testosterone. You need to part with 2, or all, of your cockerels.

 

[Tamigirl37]

Thanks Mrs.K and Keesmom...I will do that and I totally agree that I have too many roosters...when I started out on this adventure I originally didn't want any roosters. Well ya know how that works...Other that eating them I'm not sure what to do with them...No one wants them and I'm not ready to send them to the freezer.

 

[phalenbeck]

Eating them is a important part of flock management.

 

[aart]

Eating them is a important part of flock management.

Ditto^^^


Quote:
You could put the 2 roosters in a separate pen until you are ready to butcher them....at 22 weeks they may be past the young enough to grill or roast age, but Rooster -N- Noodles is delicious.

 

[bobbieschicks]

I currently have two flocks of chickens. My first flock is 22 weeks old and is made up of two roosters and two hens.  One of my roosters and the hens are RIR's and the other rooster is a Bantam.  My RIR rooster is huge and has been mating the hens for about a month now and the girls started laying about two weeks ago. My second flock is 2 months old and is made up of 4 pullets and possibly 1 cockrel. I have been introducing them for about two weeks now by putting the smaller chickens in a pin, in the chicken yard with the older chickens...Just today I have tried putting them all together in the chicken yard for an hour with my supervision...My RIR rooster tried to mate with on of my pullets twice while they were together. Feathers went flying.My question is...At what age is a pullet ready to recieve a rooster? Is this safe for my pullets at 2 months old? Could he hurt them at this age? Should I keep him separate while I'm trying to introduce the older chickens to the younger ones by putting him in the pin? I appreciate any info. in this matter. 

I've had a similar situation with the two older roosters being a WL and a silky. The second flock was of LO, four pullets and one cockerel.

The way I introduced the LO was to put them in a wired area inside my coop for about a week. The older flock could see them and get used to their sounds and smells. Then I let the littles out into the run while the bigs were in the yard. The littles stayed pretty close to the coop. I also provided many places where the little ones could squeeze into but not the bigs. Eventually I got rid of all the roosters and cockerel, but not before the older roo asserted his place in the pecking order on the youngest cockerel. He got pretty best up, but he also learnt not to mess with the older guys.

As far as when will a rooster mate a pullet, most roosters will not mate her until she starts laying or is about to lay. That said, I've had the occasional young pullet get mounted by the inexperienced roo. But if you have too many roosters, the ones who aren't alpha will mate "any old port in the storm" so you will want to reconsider having so many roosters.

If you are breeding your chickens, you could separate the roosters into their own pen to help reduce the fighting or over mating.