Roos moving up the dominance ladder

[columbiacritter]

Wow we let our bantam roos out of their bachelor quarters for the first time since the head roo was dispatched 3 days ago. Wow! They knew he was gone and the way was clear for them. Nasty little monsters. I ended up having to put all the hens away before they hurt one of them chasing and harassing them.

Is there a way to calmly and safely introduce an adult rooster into an existing hen flock? Or will they all go crazy and beat up my hens?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know how many roosters you are putting with how many hens, so there may be some things working there. A confident mature rooster will demonstrate his dominance and assert his authority over a flock of hens. It is what chickens do. As long as there are no serious injuries or blood drawn, they will work it out. If there are too many roosters for the hens or a hen gets injured or especially bloody, you do have issues. You need to observe for a while.

You may be able to distract them for a while with treats, but after a short while, they will go back to being roosters.

I cannot tell you how many roosters are too many for any specific number of hens. For bantams, the rule of thumb is 12 to 15 hens per rooster, but it purely depends on the personalties of the roosters. You may be able to get away with a much lower ratio.