I have a 17 week old boy, the result of MommaBroody's second clutch.
Momma successfully hatched only two baby chicks in that second clutch -- this boy, and a little girl. The boy's father is a very gentle Easter Egger, and his mother is a barred rock.
We moved the two little ones into a special, large dog cage inside the main henhouse when the babies were about six weeks old. During outdoor play time, they had a special "peeper pen" run that was right next to the older birds run, but still fenced off for the babies protection. This allowed them to live and interact with the larger chickens (8 older hens plus his father DaddyRoo), but still be protected from them.
When the two chicks got to be 12 weeks old, we started integrating them into the larger group -- gradually, of course. In the beginning, we just invited the friendliest hen to play inside the segregated peeper pen with the babies during an hour of supervised play time. Later, we began to allow some supervised time when the babies were allowed out of their special peeper pen, to integrate with the larger group.
This was done gradually, and only at 16 weeks were they finally allowed to eat, sleep and live with the larger birds.
So in a way, the baby chicks grew up with the larger birds.
For the longest time, we weren't even sure that this bird was a male at all. But finally, about a week ago, he mounted the pullet that he has lived with since hatching. That is how we finally figured out for sure that he is a male.
The thing is, this boy has never crowed. Not one single cock-a-doodle-doo "wannabe" type sound out of him.
Other than the one time mounting his half-sister, he has never acted sexually towards her or any of the other hens. I'm not surprised about him not mounting the other hens because they are still bigger than him, even now, and they intimidate him. But I am surprised that he doesn't come on to the little pullet more.
And one other thing -- aren't two roosters supposed to fight with one another?
DaddyRoo is a very gentle Easter Egger and very protective of his hens. But instead of fighting with this young teenage rooster, he is as protective of him as he is his other hens. Some of the hens might give this boy trouble (seeing that he is low on the pecking order), but DaddyRoo accepts him as well as he accepts the gals.
So here's my question:
What's going on here?
Is DaddyRoo accepting this teenage boy because he's not acting much like a rooster?
Is the boy not acting much like a rooster because he fears the older birds (including DaddyRoo)?
Is there a chance that we could actually have a situation where the two roosters can live in harmony together in the same henhouse?
Momma successfully hatched only two baby chicks in that second clutch -- this boy, and a little girl. The boy's father is a very gentle Easter Egger, and his mother is a barred rock.
We moved the two little ones into a special, large dog cage inside the main henhouse when the babies were about six weeks old. During outdoor play time, they had a special "peeper pen" run that was right next to the older birds run, but still fenced off for the babies protection. This allowed them to live and interact with the larger chickens (8 older hens plus his father DaddyRoo), but still be protected from them.
When the two chicks got to be 12 weeks old, we started integrating them into the larger group -- gradually, of course. In the beginning, we just invited the friendliest hen to play inside the segregated peeper pen with the babies during an hour of supervised play time. Later, we began to allow some supervised time when the babies were allowed out of their special peeper pen, to integrate with the larger group.
This was done gradually, and only at 16 weeks were they finally allowed to eat, sleep and live with the larger birds.
So in a way, the baby chicks grew up with the larger birds.
For the longest time, we weren't even sure that this bird was a male at all. But finally, about a week ago, he mounted the pullet that he has lived with since hatching. That is how we finally figured out for sure that he is a male.
The thing is, this boy has never crowed. Not one single cock-a-doodle-doo "wannabe" type sound out of him.
Other than the one time mounting his half-sister, he has never acted sexually towards her or any of the other hens. I'm not surprised about him not mounting the other hens because they are still bigger than him, even now, and they intimidate him. But I am surprised that he doesn't come on to the little pullet more.
And one other thing -- aren't two roosters supposed to fight with one another?
DaddyRoo is a very gentle Easter Egger and very protective of his hens. But instead of fighting with this young teenage rooster, he is as protective of him as he is his other hens. Some of the hens might give this boy trouble (seeing that he is low on the pecking order), but DaddyRoo accepts him as well as he accepts the gals.
So here's my question:
What's going on here?
Is DaddyRoo accepting this teenage boy because he's not acting much like a rooster?
Is the boy not acting much like a rooster because he fears the older birds (including DaddyRoo)?
Is there a chance that we could actually have a situation where the two roosters can live in harmony together in the same henhouse?
