Rooster Behavior

[ZuniBee]

I thought I had a rooster (I bought him as a male) but today I saw him sitting in a nest and when he got up there was an egg..... So, I have another pen with 2 roosters so I thought I would move one with the hens..... That was a disaster. Talk about fighting. I had to get in there and get him out or the girls would have killed him!

Is it possible to put a rooster in with hens when they are older? If so, how would you introduce them to the flock without the hens killing him?

 

[peeps7]

Put him in at night when their roosting and they won't hurt him.

 

[speckledhen]

I did that-bought a rooster the same age as my pullets, about 10 months old at the time. They'd never seen a rooster. After quarantine, put him in a separation pen so they could see each other. Two of my three Wyandottes were not amused, LOL. They fought with him through the fence. Finally, the next day. I put him in the regular pen and let him explore the coop and pen by himself, then started bringing in the girls one by one, starting with the least likely to fight with him. When we got to the Wyandotte sisters, they each started to fight with him, but since now there was no fence between, he towered over them and basically showed them he was now in charge. When the third Wyandotte came out of the coop door, poor girl, she suffered for her other sisters' actions. He flew at her and hit her so fast she was stunned. From then on, Hawkeye was the king of this bunch...and he didn't forget the Wyandottes, either. He still doesn't seem to care for those three almost a year later, LOL.

 

[Frozen Feathers]

Probably the easiest way is to take a dog crate and or pen and keep the chicken you are introducing in that so it can't get hurt or start a fight.
I've also found free-ranging them together helps too. That way the new chicken can move away from any attackers. I successfully introduced my 10 week olds with my older flock this way. I let them free-range together but they slept in different coops when I did move the younger birds in the main coop there wasn't any fighting because the older birds "knew" them.

I think you see more fights when the bird can't get away from the other birds. If you can't free range them together, then putting him in a secure crate in the coop is the next best thing.

 

[RioLindoAz]

do you know if the rooster is old enough to mate??? if so, I'm pretty sure you can put them with the hens.


once I was at the feed store and I toled them to give me a rooster and when it grew up
it had a big comb so I thought that was the rooster. So I went one day and I saw the rooster in the nesting box and there was an egg,,, so then I learned that hens with big combs are better layers

 

[chickenwoods]

AHAHAH, Speaking of roosters in nest boxes...lol
I introduced a nest box to my hens,and my Brahma roo,was the first to investigate LLOLL,He has to squat down real low to even get in it,when he did he starts making this really deep gutteral clucking sound!! and starts scratching around at the bedding in it,,,lol All of his hens RUNNN to see what hes got LOL.. (BTW he is definatly a roo..he crows every morning,has 1 1/2 inch spurs,and mates my hens very often lloll...)