Rooster

[cathie1000]

Hi I have just introduced a 6 month old barnavedly rooster into my chicken coop. I have 3 hens, Plymouth Rock, buff Orpington and black astralorp. Today is his 4 day and nothing seems to be happening. he is not crowing either. Any advice would be grateful.

 

[rebrascora]

He is just a young cockerel and it will take time for him to find his feet and then establish his dominance. If the hens are in fact mature hens and not pullets(under a year old), it will probably take some time for them to accept him as a potential mate. If the hens have been together for quite a while, they will have a strong pecking order established and you will probably see him mating the lowest ranking hen first. You may even see the top hen chase him off.
He will start crowing when he feels confident enough to do so.

Not sure if you have already quarantined him first but it's a wise step to take when introducing any new birds to your flock.... obviously too late now with him if you haven't. I learned that lesson the hard way and now have a disease in my flock that is untreatable and kills young birds.

Good luck with your little flock. What goals do you have in introducing a rooster? Are you planning to raise some chicks?

Best wishes

Barbara

 

[cathie1000]

Thank you Barbara for your advice. My rooster has a brother who is at a friends house in his own. He seems more confident and is crowing etc. We thought about moving one of my hens to be with him. Do you think that is a good idea. We are hoping to raise chicks and add to our hens hopefully. Again, I appreciate your help.

 

[RodNTN]

Hi and

I am glad you joined us! Great advice there by Barbara! I hope you enjoy BYC, best wishes!

 

[cathie1000]

Thanks RodNTN

 

[rebrascora]

Hi again.

No I would definitely not move a hen. That will stress her and she will probably stop laying.

Where in the world are you? (It really helps if you fill that information in on your profile page so that we can see at a glance without asking) If you are in the northern hemisphere, then there is plenty of time for him to settle in before spring. Winter is not a good time of year to be incubating eggs and raising chicks unless you live in a warm climate. Much better for them to be hatching in Spring when they can then be transitioned to outside sooner or better still broody reared in my opinion.

Try not to be in too much of a rush with everything.....It will all happen when it is supposed to. Animals are not machines that perform at will. Believe me, chicken maths happens soon enough! I started with a trio nearly 4 years ago and I'm now overrun with chickens!.... I just can't say no to broody hens!

If you are wanting to raise chicks it is important to have a plan for the excess cockerels that will result from each hatch. You are obviously not going to be hatching pure breeds and there is little/no market for barnyard mutt cockerels. The saving grace is that your barnevelder cockerel over those hens should make reasonable sized table birds but processing excess males is not something everyone can cope with when they have raised them from chicks....just something else to consider whilst you are waiting for him to settle in.

Regards

Barbara

 

[N F C]

You've been given some good advice from @rebrascora so I'll just say hello and thanks for joining us!

 

[cathie1000]

Hi,

I live in Adelaide, South Australia. I have updated my profile, thank you as I was not aware of this requirement. In Adelaide at the moment we are in Spring for another two weeks and then will be moving into Summer.

As I am new to this, I am a little unsure but your advice has helped me. I have received so much advice off this forum from family and friends who have said they will start mating straight away which has made me think I am doing something wrong. I will wait patiently and let nature take its course.

My friend who has the other rooster has a farm and any excess males will be going to the farm and to another friends farm also.

Thank you again you advice is great.

Regards.

Cathie

 

[rebrascora]

Hi again Cathie

OK I can see now why you are keen to get things started then, if you are approaching summer.
How old are your hens?
If the other cockerel was the more dominant one (crowing first) then he might have been the better one to move in with your flock as he would probably have found his feet sooner, but give this lad of yours some time and he should step up to the mark. It depends as much on your hens accepting him as on his own behaviour but we all know how attractive a trait confidence can be!

Do you give your chickens treats and if so, how does he react when you dish them out? Does he call the girls over and make a big deal out of showing them the tasty morsels he has "found" for them or does he just scoff whatever he can himself....in which case he still has quite a bit of growing up to do? Have you seen him drop a wing and shuffle sideways towards any of them or is he just keeping to himself. Has there been any interaction between him and the hens, not mating, but just general foraging together, dust bathing etc.? If you watch them daily you should start to see little changes in how they interact.
Personally I would rather have a cockerel that is a little slow in coming forward than an overly assertive one that is grabbing hens and aggressively mating them at every opportunity, pulling out feathers and ripping skin and generally stressing them to death... which is a problem too many people have in their flock..

It would be good if you would keep this thread updated with his progress as I will be interested to see how long he takes to win them over (or subdue them).

Good luck

Barbara

 

[drumstick diva]

Very nice to meet you Cathie, Welcome to the Backyard chickens flock. Hope you will enjoy it as much as we do. Sometimes a young roo introduced to a established flock, will be attacked by the hens. When he gains some maturity and confidence, things will swing in his favor.