Teenagers

[naturegirlmn]

We have an especially rough group of teen roosters this spring. We have a pretty good ratio to hens, but the transition time has already injured one and I think gave one a heart attack. The are currently serving time in a separate pen. We free range our chickens and have various sizes. They are bigger roosters and they keep going after our oldest hens and our smallest hens..... easier to get and tend to stay in the coop, making them easier to trap.

How do you safely handle this transition?

 

[Roo5]

I’m not fully understanding what your asking,are you asking how to reintroduce them back?

 

[naturegirlmn]

Yes. How do you safely let them into the flock.

 

[Roo5]

How many hens and roosters do you have

 

[naturegirlmn]

We are working towards no more than a 7:1 ratio. We have some elderly gentleman that have little interest in doing their job anymore, so we don't count them.

We live in a very rural area with a lot of predators and have found having a good amount of roosters really helps keep our free ranging girls safe.

 

[aart]

If you must have that many males,
just keep them confined in a bachelor pad until they are older.
How old are they?

 

[naturegirlmn]

They were born midsummer last year.

 

[aart]

They were born midsummer last year.

So...7-8 months old?
Did you get them as day olds and they grew up with the flock?

Multiple males can be a problem, the competitive environment can bring out the worst of all of their behaviors. Might have worked in the past but.....not sure what to suggest. Maybe releasing one or a few of them at a time, keep the best and eat the rest.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You say they free range, which sort of implies no fences so they can go on forever. Is it really that wide open? How do they arrange themselves when they are out there? Do they split into different flocks or sort of stay in one?

When the cockerels mature enough a typical pattern is that one carves out his own territory and attracts a harem. They may make some excursions but mostly defend their own territory from other males. Until they mature enough the dominant rooster kicks them out of his flock and they form a bachelor flock until they mature enough to try to carve out their own territory or try to take the flock away from the dominant rooster. Do you have dominant mature roosters?

My dominant roosters tend to take care of their hens and don't do much to defend pullets from the cockerels. But if the cockerels are 8 to 10 months old so should any pullets be from last year. By now they should be in a dominant rooster's flock and under his protection. I'm not sure what is going on with the dynamics of your flock.

Can you identify any one or two cockerels that are doing the damage or are the most aggressive? Often you can change flock dynamics by removing one or two chickens. Instead of locking all the cockerels up I'd be tempted to lock up one or two and see how that affects flock dynamics.

 

[naturegirlmn]

We had a hen hatch out 9 roos and two hens. We have three of those, but may go down to two. One is already with the flock because he is well behaved and has great instincts. He may be the"king" someday. Roister dynamics are so interesting. We have some leaders that break of into groups of usually 4-10 girls. If 6or more, a secondary rooster tends to hang out on the edges and even alongside the top roo in that group....his wingman.lol Sometimes there is a confrontation, but usually it is pretty stable.