Too soon to put rooster in?

[kaybats]

I have 7 BOs and 3 WRs just over 2 months old. I want to give my bachelor roo his own flock but I'm afraid it might be too soon. He's just over 6 months now. He resides very close to them and when the little girls are out free ranging, they spend a considerable amount of time milling around him (he is confined during this). But he lets them stick their heads in and peck at his treats....he seems to be taken with them. But, like I said all this takes place under close supervision and they have not had actual *contact* with each other. They can see and hear each other all the time though. I'm just afraid the little ones will get hurt or worse if the *barrier* is removed.

Any thoughts?

 

[galanie]

I'd wait until they start to lay before putting the boy in. Otherwise he'll run them ragged trying to breed and since they've no idea what he wants, they will run and scream. Once they start laying though, the game changes completely.

 

[7L Farm]

You will get a million different answers. I would let them free range together & supervise them. If the cockerel shows to much aggression I would separate him & try again later.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That is a hard one. He will want to breed with them before they are ready. When and how rough that is depends on the rooster. Some are gentlemen but some, especially the adolescents, can be pretty vigorious and rough. I'd side with Galanie in this one. He probably won't seriously injure them, but he might. He is a lot bigger and stronger than them. What you have going on seems to be working so why change it and take a chance? Adding a rooster to a flock of all hens usually goes really smothly, especially if the rooster is more mature than the pullets. It would probably work, but I don't see any real advantages to mixing them now.

 

[JodyJo]

Quote:
I have to agree here to a point...I have 13 laying hens, with my roos, but I also have 3 13 week olds, they ignore them, they are not of age yet...so, if you let yours mingle, supervised, it maybe alright, he may ignore them because of the age, or he could go after them....give it a shot, see what happens, you can always separate them again.

 

[kaybats]

Thank you all for the good sound advice. There really IS no good reason for me to rush anything. I'm just always afraid I'm gonna wait too long or not do something at the *right* time. It's taking me a minute, but I'm trying to kinda "go with my gut". Just like people, some things are standard/normal for animals in general, but some things just have to happen when they happen.

Just like when my 3 young RIRs started laying. I had to separate my other roo from HIS girls for a while for safety reasons while finishing construction. There was a slight lull in their egg production...nothing monumental, but the minute I returned him to their company, there was an obvious perk up in their egg production and temperament in general. They were definitely happier to have him back.

And once I got the new one year old girls back with their man in their own coop...what a difference. Farmer told me they were RIR---I didn't think so but found out here the hens are probably in Cinnamon queen-red star sex link-golden comet family. (Have to change sig line----but not sure what to call them...I like cinnamon queen...LOL)

 

[JodyJo]

Quote:
I have some of those, I like Cinnamon Queen also, they were sold to me as Gold Star...see below