TOO MANY ROOSTERS

[sarahconnor]

We have 19 hens and two roosters. One is dominant and the other is lame (I actually saved him but his foot is club but he does great). They do well together as the lame one runs when Alpha pecks him so they have things nicely worked out. A friend got four babies for a photo shoot then asked us to take them as they live in an apartment. We were already raising new chicks and two new geese. Well lo and behold there is a rooster in with them. He is real cute but how in the world will I introduce him to the group in about 6 weeks when the babies are ready to join the flock. A couple of years ago we sadly found a new rooster who joined them dead in the morning. I cried because I don't know what happened and felt horrible I DO NOT want this to happen again.
Thanks in advance for the great advice I know I will get.

 

[sourland]

In my experience adult roosters have not been hard on juveniles. I'd try introducing him along with the pullet chicks, but expect normal pecking order abuse from the flock. Just monitor things carefully and have a plan 'B' in mind if things go South. Good luck.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You are right, you don't know what happened. It may have had nothing to do with him being male. How old was he and how old were the other males you had when that happened?

How old is the young male now? How old will he be when you are ready to integrate him? I agree with Sour, my adult roosters aren't hard on male chicks while they are still chicks, they don't treat them any different than the pullets. But if they are old enough to be seen as a rival you can have issues.

I don't know how much room you have or what your long term plans are for all those males, but I'd be looking to integrate all the new chicks as young as possible. And as Sour said, have a plan B for him and the pullets if things don't go well.

 

[sarahconnor]

In my experience adult roosters have not been hard on juveniles. I'd try introducing him along with the pullet chicks, but expect normal pecking order abuse from the flock. Just monitor things carefully and have a plan 'B' in mind if things go South. Good luck.

Thanks very much. That is what I thought would happen last year. But we found the younger dead and only his legs were left. He was eaten. There is a narrow gap in our fence where maybe a predator could have squeezed through but if that had happened it was a first and last. None of our birds have ever been injured once we locked them down. There is mayhem for the first few days when the new ones join in, but I never witnessed that before. Thanks for the reply!!!

 

[sarahconnor]

You are right, you don't know what happened. It may have had nothing to do with him being male. How old was he and how old were the other males you had when that happened?

How old is the young male now? How old will he be when you are ready to integrate him? I agree with Sour, my adult roosters aren't hard on male chicks while they are still chicks, they don't treat them any different than the pullets. But if they are old enough to be seen as a rival you can have issues.

I don't know how much room you have or what your long term plans are for all those males, but I'd be looking to integrate all the new chicks as young as possible. And as Sour said, have a plan B for him and the pullets if things don't go well.

Thanks!! He is about 10-12 weeks old. Generally we take the babies up to side yard when their heads hit the top of their brood home which is roughly 16 weeks. I would say our little guy that died was about 16 weeks old when we took him up, everyone else was great . Our completely fenced in side yard is about 6 ft by 24 feet. It’s pretty muddy when it rains or just hard packed clay when it’s dry with a pool, baby pool. The house is attached and

is about 8x8 and tall enough for us to walk in. A ramp allows birds to be in or out. It’s pretty nice.
The babies are still on non medicated feed. I put a picture up so you can see him. He didn’t smile. Lol. Below are two more photos of him.