What to do, build another coop, give away chickens, or give away a rooster?

[PirateGirl]

What if you gave away a few hens with the roo? It might be easier to find someone to take him if you gave away say 2-3 hens plus a roo. Just a thought. It might relieve some of the stress on your current situation too.

 

[Criticalicious]

If you offer the rooster on Craig's List for free, odds are someone will come get him almost immediately. Even after they sort out the hierarchy, it can take anywhere from a few weeks to a year for the different groups to gel and accept each other as one tribe.

 

[cmom]

The is no use crying over spilled milk. Plenty of people on this forum think they are quarantining their chickens but they really aren't. Sometimes there are serious problems because of that but often there are not. You are where you are so lets look at point forward, where do you go from here. Most people that don't bother to quarantine don't have serious issues so you are not guaranteed a disaster.

How old are these different groups of chickens? What I'm mainly looking for is whether the females are laying yet, that will determine their maturity level. Do you have cockerels or mature roosters? How much room do you have, in feet or meters, in each coop, each run, and do you free range? If you have multiple coops and/or runs how do they interconnect? I'm trying to determine what you are working with. It sounds like those three new ones may be young.

You have plenty of hens for two roosters. Shadrack, for example, has three hens per rooster and they do fine. They are generally mature hens and roosters, not immature pullets and cockerels, and he has lots of room, like totally free range. You say you don't have a lot of room. Room is typically the issue but maybe you will be OK. Personalities of individual chickens and ages can make a difference too.

If you give or sell one rooster to someone else you have lost control. They might eat it. If you can't accept that, and some people can't, that is not a good option for you. Just don't ever hatch eggs, some of those may be male.

I don't know enough about your facilities or flocks to give much specific advice. If you isolate one rooster will the other hens accept the Silkie rooster? Probably. Eventually. But not necessarily as flock master. With living animals you don't get guarantees as far as behaviors, about anything can happen. He could wind up being boss of a nice flock of bantam and full sized hens. He could remain subordinate to the dominant hen. He may be killed or seriously injured before they reach that point. I can't tell you what will happen.

If you are going to keep both males probably your least stressful way forward would be to build a new coop/run and keep them separated. At least have some place handy to quickly put one of the males in if things get too rough.

So far it sounds like you are not doing that badly, though it is still early. My definition of a successful integration is that no one gets hurt. So far so good but what happened last night at bed time? Where did they all want to sleep and how did they get along?

There are no cut and dried right or wrong answers to your questions. It's that way with living animals. I wish you luck.

I pretty much agree. I had some friends that were given some birds and they didn't have any diseases but did have mites and fleas. I have been lucky the couple of times that I have taken some birds others didn't want but I did quarantine them. Even though the likelihood is nothing will happen, I didn't want to take the chance. My flocks are closed flocks so I do not take any birds in except for the couple of times many years ago. We have a farm swap a couple times a month and now and then someone will stop by and ask if I want a bird. I tell them to take them to the swap and I'm sure they can find it a home. I don't sell birds on my property. If I have birds to sell I take them to the swap to sell. I do have my birds tested yearly by the state but I also show them at poultry shows.