Jamiebertone
In the Brooder
Question- I have had an English Orpington (so big) rooster with a silkie rooster (but a sassy one) and five large hens (eng orps and brahmas) free ranging for 4-5 months now. They’ve been fabulous and we’ve had zero issues. The silkie was about 7 months old when we introduced them and the eng orp about 4-5 months old. We put the silkie out with them because he was being horrible to the other bantams. Originally it was just to “give him a taste of his own medicine” but he quickly adapted so well and they were a perfect flock all together. Suddenly today the eng orp started to attack the silkie incessantly. We’ve separated the eng orp (the bully) for now because when we tried to bring him back out the silkie kept hiding and being isolated which makes me scared for predators. After a day of separation will there be any chance they can go back to living in harmony? Is this just the big one coming into maturity? He’s never shown ANY aggression towards us or the other roo or even the hens. He’s a good rooster, will go back out for one hen, keeps the flock together, allows the hens to eat first etc. I will not get rid of either of them and it would be a big to-do to get the silkie back into my bantam pen, if that’s even possible- and frankly he’s literally hilarious hanging around the farm and makes us and all the guests laugh all the time so picturing him in a pen now just seems odd- he’s become kind of the mascot around here at this point. I say all that to say I am hoping to be able to re-integrate...... is this a pipe dream? Any advice or tips that may make this a reality? Thanks!
Experience indicates that the two roosters will continue to have problems now that the Orpington has matured. Given enough room that he can get away, the silky may not be injured. It's all about the larger rooster making sure that it is his DNA that gets to carry on.
