Should we separate the hen from the rooster?

[lucalalee]

Long story Short; we got six chicks at the feed store about 4 months ago (3 EE “pullets” and 3 RIR straight run) and we ended up with 5 roosters and one hen
We are down to two cockerels now. We plan to keep one but we are watching their behavior since we removed the other three cockerels. We want the one that keeps the girls safe without being too aggressive with us. We went back to the feed store for six more chickens. (Hopefully these are all females, the employee seemed to know her chickens)
Questions:
Should we separate the hen from the rooster until we introduce the new girls?
Would one rooster and one hen be safe? (I don’t want my poor little girl to be traumatized.)
If need be to for separation can we put hen with new chicks? (I’m guessing probably not; she might bully them)

 

[nuthatched]

You'll need to seperate the bigger birds from the new ones, on either side of a fence first a few weeks. And possibly later one to make sure the cockerel doesn't try to breed them and hurt them. How did the employee decide they were pullets? I ask because unless they're colors/breeds that the genders are visibly different, most chick sexing methods are wives tales. Your flock actually doesn't need a rooster for safety, if thats what you're thinking, they can take care of themselves ok.

 

[LateBirdFarms]

I'd tend to disagree, a good rooster is worth his weight in gold. Take careful note of that description though. A good rooster. A good cockerel is not necessarily going to grow into a good rooster, unfortunately. It can be hard to tell how they'll grow out of their crazy hormonal stage, and usually do much better with an older flock to teach them some manners. I do agree that you should keep them separate until the girls have reached a level of maturity if the males are 4months ahead of them. Did you get new chicks or ready to lay?

 

[lucalalee]

I'd tend to disagree, a good rooster is worth his weight in gold. Take careful note of that description though. A good rooster. A good cockerel is not necessarily going to grow into a good rooster, unfortunately. It can be hard to tell how they'll grow out of their crazy hormonal stage, and usually do much better with an older flock to teach them some manners. I do agree that you should keep them separate until the girls have reached a level of maturity if the males are 4months ahead of them. Did you get new chicks or ready to lay?

We got new chicks. So we are currently brooding them. We will introduce them to the rooster and hen when their ready to go outside which is after two months. But will my one hen be okay with one cockerel? (both are 4 months old)
The one cockerel we are probably going to keep is our RIR who is always making sure everyone is in the coop before dark and does the last walk through of the surrounding area before calling it a night. He hasn’t showed any signs of aggression to us (yet) and it seems he is currently trying to mount our hen. He isn’t very good and poor hen goes running.

 

[lucalalee]

You'll need to seperate the bigger birds from the new ones, on either side of a fence first a few weeks. And possibly later one to make sure the cockerel doesn't try to breed them and hurt them. How did the employee decide they were pullets? I ask because unless they're colors/breeds that the genders are visibly different, most chick sexing methods are wives tales. Your flock actually doesn't need a rooster for safety, if thats what you're thinking, they can take care of themselves ok.

The employee did the wing feather check. She did say it not an accurate way by she felt pretty confident the ones she choice were pullets. The problem though is at the feed store; on the sign it says the breed and then what they are (Pullets or straight run). But I get that sexing the chicks aren’t 100% but it was very surprising to us to end up getting 5 cockerels out of 6.

 

[aart]

So we are currently brooding them. We will introduce them to the rooster and hen when their ready to go outside which is after two months.

No need to wait for 2 months, set up up your coop so you can get them out there asap.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/

but it was very surprising to us to end up getting 5 cockerels out of 6.

Maybe that same woman sexed those too?

 

[lucalalee]

Maybe that same woman sexed those too?

lol we actually had a different employee the first time. And we didn’t look for anything other then we wanted the fastest runners. We thought the signs they said “Pullets” were more accurate because why label it if their might be roosters or at least put a warning that there is a small chance there might be a few cockerels in the mix. I get (now) that sexing is only about 80% accurate but for people new to the chicken live (like us) I feel a bit scammed.

This was a great learning experience and I think we can identify male & female a little bit better now but I wish we new a bit sooner so we could have gotten the chicks sooner.

 

[lucalalee]

No need to wait for 2 months, set up up your coop so you can get them out there asap.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/

Maybe if we integrate more chicks next year. This would take a little more building and prepping then we intend to do at the moment.

I think the chicks will be fine because we only have one hen & one rooster. There isn’t a big pecking order at the moment

 

[Mrs. K]

I too, am a believer at putting the chicks in there at 3-4 weeks. Especially this time of year, the sooner you get them outside, the healthier and stronger they will be.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...t-way-of-adding-chicks.1521710/#post-25625918

You are just going to have to watch the rooster and make a decision each day. How a cockerel is acting today, is no indication of how they are going to act tomorrow. The hormones are surging at this point, and he could make the pullets' life hell.

Mrs K

 

[aart]

lol we actually had a different employee the first time. And we didn’t look for anything other then we wanted the fastest runners. We thought the signs they said “Pullets” were more accurate because why label it if their might be roosters or at least put a warning that there is a small chance there might be a few cockerels in the mix. I get (now) that sexing is only about 80% accurate but for people new to the chicken live (like us) I feel a bit scammed.

This was a great learning experience and I think we can identify male & female a little bit better now but I wish we new a bit sooner so we could have gotten the chicks sooner.

The chicks and their labels can get mixed up at the hatchery and/or at the farm store.
It's pretty hard to sex most chicks until they are 4-6 weeks old.