Hi there, I have a Jubilee Orpington bantam roo, a pekin bantam and a gold laced orp. They are a very happy bunch together and have been for the past 6- 12 months. I recently hatched two black pekin bantams and a lemon frizzle bantam. They are 8 weeks old and have now been outside in the coop separated from my 3 others for a good week or so. I recently discovered that my frizzle is a male (crowing very loudly!) and possibly one of the pekins. After a few days of them being separated and seemingly quite happy I decided to integrate them. I kid you not, when I turned my back to walk away after half an hour of watching them all together my gold laced orp (she is a big girl) pinned my frizzle and my roo went for him and plucked a few feathers. I was totally distraught and so were my little chicks. Every attempt I've made since to integrate ends up with more fighting between mainly my roo and the frizzle. I don't want to leave the chicks to fight it out as I'm afraid one may get fatally hurt Does anyone have any advice on what I could do? I will eventually get rid of my extra roosters once a little older (as I believe it's not good idea to have more than one, especially on such a small flock of hens) but I need to get them integrated first, especially with the one definite female bird I have, as I don't want her solely picked on. I hope I am making sense! Thanks all
At eight weeks, the chicks are still a little small and immature for the integration. Understand that after they are bigger there will still be problems. Bigger chickens pick on smaller chickens, and the rooster will not accept another rooster into his flock unless they have LOTS of room.
What's your reasoning on that? Boot the roosters you don't want and put your efforts toward intergrating the rest of your flock.
Have you provided anything for the 8-week olds to hide in, under, or behind when chased and bullied? If there are no escape provisions in place for the younger, smaller ones, integration will be impossible. On the contrary, if you provide a "panic room" set-up so the youngsters have a place they can fit into that the bigger ones cannot, they quickly learn to take full advantage of this for their safety and well being. If you place their food and water inside this safe area, they will be even more likely to benefit from it, not needing to compete for food and water with the older flock. By the time they no longer fit into the panic room, they will be old enough to compete favorably with the rest of the flock and you can then take it down.