Trying to add 8-10 week olds to Flock... not going well.

[Book]

I tried to add 4 pullets today (8-10 week olds) to the flock today. All the hens are about 6 months and 2 Roosters about that old as well (1 is very submissive and at the bottom of the pecking order, he doesn't even really crow...)

So as expected the older pullets gave the new ones a bit of a hard time, no big deal though. The EE rooster though, much bigger than the chicks kept trying to mate them and wouldn't leave them alone!

I put the 8-10 week olds back in the temp run.

So how do I make this work? Pull the Roo for a few days? I tried putting him in the temp run but he kept calling to his pullets who seemed very upset about him being away from them. (To think a month ago they were all chasing him off! Now they seem to love him!)

 

[olijo123]

I have always put new chickens in a cage inside the pen for a few days.That way the older chickens can see them and get used to them being there. But, I have come to find that as soon as you let them out the roosters think they have to mate with them constantly. I ended up leaving them be for the day. But I checked on them every couple hours and saw as the day went on everybody kept to themselves. Hope that helps!