Will my rooster attack the baby chicks?

[chickens really]

I usually wait until my birds are half grown before integrating them with the flock. My rooster is not violent towards human but very aggressive to the rest of the flock, especially my speckled sussexes. I also have bad experiences with new chicks around any Rhode Island Red.

Hmmm?....

 

[chickendreams24]

@Pat Mcaffee

Not knowing your flock or your preferences I hesitate to say this but I just feel it ought to be said.

We use the look but don't touch method here for most introductions and the cockerals are given a grace period when they first mature as that first surge of testosterone can cause them to do some pretty rotten things.

However any cockeral or roo that doesn't settle and learn how to act around the ladies gets separated into a cockeral grow out pen and marked for dinner. If as he grows he becomes quite handsome or seems to settle we may give him a second chance and monitor him. However if he still acts like a jerk he goes in the pot for sure.

My roosters do have their favorite ladies but we wouldn't keep a rooster that was deliberately mean to any in his flock.

We free range daily those birds that aren't separated for breeding and have several breeds and a lot of space but we keep many roosters. We are planning to go into winter with about 8 mature roosters and several immature cockerals give or take. Of course this requires a lot of space and we have three separate areas(two coops, one a two room milk house, that maxed out can hold approximately 100+ birds-we will be below this number of course for winter and plan to have between 60-80 about 20 of which are bantams) we can keep them if they don't mesh well. That being said in all of these birds no one gets picked on more than the usual pecking order disputes. Of course I realize not everyone can keep close to this many birds, we never planned to either. Lol

I do find that with choosing the birds for their temperaments and breeding/culling for it and with having multiple roosters the flock is much more tolerant of new flock mates. It makes life so much easier.

 

[Pat Mcaffee]

@Pat Mcaffee

Not knowing your flock or your preferences I hesitate to say this but I just feel it ought to be said.

We use the look but don't touch method here for most introductions and the cockerals are given a grace period when they first mature as that first surge of testosterone can cause them to do some pretty rotten things.

However any cockeral or roo that doesn't settle and learn how to act around the ladies gets separated into a cockeral grow out pen and marked for dinner. If as he grows he becomes quite handsome or seems to settle we may give him a second chance and monitor him. However if he still acts like a jerk he goes in the pot for sure.

My roosters do have their favorite ladies but we wouldn't keep a rooster that was deliberately mean to any in his flock.

We free range daily those birds that aren't separated for breeding and have several breeds and a lot of space but we keep many roosters. We are planning to go into winter with about 8 mature roosters and several immature cockerals give or take. Of course this requires a lot of space and we have three separate areas(two coops, one a two room milk house, that maxed out can hold approximately 100+ birds-we will be below this number of course for winter and plan to have between 60-80 about 20 of which are bantams) we can keep them if they don't mesh well. That being said in all of these birds no one gets picked on more than the usual pecking order disputes. Of course I realize not everyone can keep close to this many birds, we never planned to either. Lol

I do find that with choosing the birds for their temperaments and breeding/culling for it and with having multiple roosters the flock is much more tolerant of new flock mates. It makes life so much easier.

I agree to a certain extent, but I never want to lose a chick to a hen or rooster. Once they are older, they integrate a ton better. My roosters, as I have multiple, will sometimes kill the chick if they are not the father. So, I keep them in their brooder area for a while.