Tried adding young bantam rooster in with chicks

[jennaa1434]

Hello, so yesterday I brought home 4 chicks which turned a month old today, I also brought home a bantam rooster which is around 2 months old but isnt much bigger than the other chicks. I thought it would be ok since they are around the same size, but this morning I went out to feed them and one chick was bleeding and they all seem scared to death, hiding in the corner and the bantam rooster was constantly attacking them and wouldn't stop so I took the bantam rooster out and I'm thinking to cull it so it doesn't hurt them anymore. What do you guys think? Thank you!

 

[danceswithronin]

Hello, so yesterday I brought home 4 chicks which turned a month old today, I also brought home a bantam rooster which is around 2 months old but isnt much bigger than the other chicks. I thought it would be ok since they are around the same size, but this morning I went out to feed them and one chick was bleeding and they all seem scared to death, hiding in the corner and the bantam rooster was constantly attacking them and wouldn't stop so I took the bantam rooster out and I'm thinking to cull it so it doesn't hurt them anymore. What do you guys think? Thank you!

I would keep the two groups separated in the run for a few weeks with a line of one-inch netting or something between them so they can get used to each other. Not really fair to cull the rooster IMO when they haven't been integrated correctly to avoid aggression.

 

[Keeperofmunchkins]

This can happen when you introduce chicks or chickens of any age. Even my recent batch of chicks at four days old pecked the one day olds I added to the brooder until they got used to them. When they are babies the weeks make a much bigger difference so the two mo th old cockerel is much stronger than the month old chicks. Some cockerels in that situation would be OK but some will be aggressive. It's just different personalities.

I would not cull the cockerel but separate them through wire for a couple of weeks to allow them to get used to each other

 

[jennaa1434]

In this sense I just meant cull as to hand off to my friend as she has a lot of chickens on a big farm. I just don't want him to hurt the other chicks, as one was bleeding already this morning. Thank you though, I will try to sperate them and do the "see but don't touch" method for a while and see what happens.

 

[aart]

What are our goals for keeping chickens?
Bantam males can show hormonal aggression younger than some other breeds.
What kind of pullet chicks do you have?

Using the word 'cull' will rile folks up, the ones that don't understand that culling does not always mean killing.

 

[jennaa1434]

What are our goals for keeping chickens?
Bantam males can show hormonal aggression younger than some other breeds.
What kind of pullet chicks do you have?

Using the word 'cull' will rile folks up, the ones that don't understand that culling does not always mean killing.

I've raised chickens pretty much my whole life, though only hens. We've had roosters at young age before but never followed through with keeping them because we never really needed a rooster. This year we wanted to try something new and decided to get some bantams including a Bantam rooster, but the bantam rooster we didn't get until the other day where as the bantam hens are much older and with the old flock, so when we got the bantam rooster he was almost the same size as our newly 4 chicks we got that are a month old. The 4 chicks include silver laced Wyandottes, Rhode island reds, and Easter eggers, so we thought he would be ok to add with them for just a few weeks but obviously that wasn't the case. We've added many news hens in and out of different flocks and haven't had much problems, so I was curious, is this just because he's a rooster or?? Sorry and thank you guys for the advice, I've once again just never had a rooster at this age or kind before, so thank you!