Chicken Tetris- a question about integration

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

It’s not Tetris exactly. It’s more like that kid’s game where you move the squares around to try to make the picture. Or maybe it’s a chicken rubix cube.

Anywho… I need to move some birds around and they need to move at the same time because they are occupying spaces I need. So I don’t have a great way to slowly integrate them.

I want to swap out one of the roosters/cockerels in my bachelor “flock” of 2. Cloudy and Phantom are currently roomies, but Cloudy is moving out and MJ is moving in with Phantom. Since there are no hens involved, could I just put the 2 boys together (and monitor of course). Is there any possibility that can work? The boys are 7 months and are mostly unfamiliar with one another. Phantom is used to being a bachelor. He’s the more submissive of the current pair, and is a little smaller than the new guy. MJ needs removed from his current flock (hens & older roo who is sick of his shenanigans). I predict MJ will be the more dominant of the 2. I expect squabbling- but will they figure out who’s the boss quickly?

Cloudy, the boy who is leaving the bachelor pad, is going into a new coop and getting 3 henfriends from my main big flock. Since I’m introducing girls (who get along) to a boy, could they be put together right away (again- I’d monitor). But could that possibly work? These birds are also 7 months and grew up together. Cloudy the cockerel was removed from the big flock at around 4ish months but still lived in an enclosure in the chicken yard so they still saw each other daily. He only got moved to the bachelor flock about a month ago, so he and his henfriends haven’t seen each other since then. I expect he’ll chase and mate them but thinking they might settle down after that.

I do have space for one “see don’t touch” situation but the birds will all have to move at the same time so I don’t have a good way to do this with both sets of birds. Do you think it’s easier to put 2 roosters together or to introduce hens to a rooster?

I know all birds are different and I know there will be some arguing, but is it possible this will work or am I setting myself up for failure? If anything gets too violent I will remove the birds and rethink my plan.

I’d love to hear recommendations and/or your experiences.

If it’s helpful to know, Cloudy and his lady friends are all Barnevelders. MJ and Phantom are Bielefelder mixes (brothers).

Here are Phantom & Cloudy snuggling in their bachelor pad.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You may have troubles combining cockerel who don't know each other. I would assume the one familiar with the pen will attack the other. You can bond young cockerels together, but once they sexually mature it isn't easy. I tried a bachelor pen, but the older ones just chased and mated any new cockerel added.

It may be easier to add the one cockerel back with the pullets he grew up with. He may or may not be aggressive. It depends on his personality.

 

[Jimmydodo]

You may have troubles combining cockerel who don't know each other. I would assume the one familiar with the pen will attack the other. You can bond young cockerels together, but once they sexually mature it isn't easy. I tried a bachelor pen, but the older ones just chased and mated any new cockerel added.

It may be easier to add the one cockerel back with the pullets he grew up with. He may or may not be aggressive. It depends on his personality.

I have 3 hens,I got them point of lay august 23 , just part of the family they are,well my mrs and me took our old staffy ror a walk on Monday,on our way home she spotted a chicken left at the side of a small layby a cardboard box with some straw in it nearby, she stayed with the chicken while I took the dog home,we managed to get the hen home,a lovely looking bird it is , after my Mrs cuddling for an hour or so I put it in another chicken coop my neighbour had given me,my three hens screamed the place down all day,I went to let them out the morning after, they still yelled a bit, the chicken we rescued,my Mrs called it gracey, when I went and told her gracy was a boy ,she said well I'll call him Graham,it's Friday now and the hens seem to be tolerating him but are still puffing their chest and pecking the wire of his run, I think he's a young bird , his call is a bit rusty and quiet, I think he's a faverolle,my hehs have free ranged from I got them,my problem now is we live in a built up area and come spring im worried about the elderly neighbours and the noise graham is going to make ,id love for him to go to a farm were he'll be treated good or what can I do to keep the noise down,my Mrs loves him and doesn't want him to go,id rather argue with my 3 hens than my Mrs, any feedback would be grateful

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

It may be easier to add the one cockerel back with the pullets he grew up with. He may or may not be aggressive. It depends on his personality.

So yesterday I put MJ the "new" cockerel in the run alongside of Phantom (his soon to be roomate). I let Cloudy out to free-range so it wasn't 2 on 1, but Cloudy did not have any interest in leaving his buddy Phantom. While Cloudy was around, Phantom was clearly trying to be the agressor and trying to get at MJ through the fencing. We eventually convinced Cloudy to go do some other things, and as soon as he was gone, Phantom and MJ didn't seem overly concerned with one another. They paced the fence together a bit but eventually started ignoring one another. MJ was just stressed being in an unfamiliar space and alone.

Today, I'm going to (try) to do the same thing for a bit but also put Cloudy in what is going to be his new space. I say "try" because Cloudy and MJ are basically trading spaces. Cloudy has to go from his run to another enclosure otherwise I won't be able to catch him. I can let MJ out to free-range and catch him easily, but I don't know how he'll react to me carrying Cloudy. Also my mature rooster attacks MJ (and in doing so- attacks me) when I pick him up. Yesterday my husband helped with the movement but today he has to work so we'll see what happens. Wish me luck, haha!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

So yesterday I put MJ the "new" cockerel in the run alongside of Phantom (his soon to be roomate). I let Cloudy out to free-range so it wasn't 2 on 1, but Cloudy did not have any interest in leaving his buddy Phantom. While Cloudy was around, Phantom was clearly trying to be the agressor and trying to get at MJ through the fencing. We eventually convinced Cloudy to go do some other things, and as soon as he was gone, Phantom and MJ didn't seem overly concerned with one another. They paced the fence together a bit but eventually started ignoring one another. MJ was just stressed being in an unfamiliar space and alone.

Today, I'm going to (try) to do the same thing for a bit but also put Cloudy in what is going to be his new space. I say "try" because Cloudy and MJ are basically trading spaces. Cloudy has to go from his run to another enclosure otherwise I won't be able to catch him. I can let MJ out to free-range and catch him easily, but I don't know how he'll react to me carrying Cloudy. Also my mature rooster attacks MJ (and in doing so- attacks me) when I pick him up. Yesterday my husband helped with the movement but today he has to work so we'll see what happens. Wish me luck, haha!

That's generally how I end up doing it. Try one thing and see how it goes, than if if doesn't work try something else until I finally figure it out, or give up. Definitely wishing you luck. You just never know what will work and what won't until you try it out.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have 3 hens,I got them point of lay august 23 , just part of the family they are,well my mrs and me took our old staffy ror a walk on Monday,on our way home she spotted a chicken left at the side of a small layby a cardboard box with some straw in it nearby, she stayed with the chicken while I took the dog home,we managed to get the hen home,a lovely looking bird it is , after my Mrs cuddling for an hour or so I put it in another chicken coop my neighbour had given me,my three hens screamed the place down all day,I went to let them out the morning after, they still yelled a bit, the chicken we rescued,my Mrs called it gracey, when I went and told her gracy was a boy ,she said well I'll call him Graham,it's Friday now and the hens seem to be tolerating him but are still puffing their chest and pecking the wire of his run, I think he's a young bird , his call is a bit rusty and quiet, I think he's a faverolle,my hehs have free ranged from I got them,my problem now is we live in a built up area and come spring im worried about the elderly neighbours and the noise graham is going to make ,id love for him to go to a farm were he'll be treated good or what can I do to keep the noise down,my Mrs loves him and doesn't want him to go,id rather argue with my 3 hens than my Mrs, any feedback would be grateful

Not all rosters are noisy. I'd wait and see how it goes. Some people don't mind the crowing of roosters.

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

As an update-

We put the hens w/ the cockerel and they all got along swimmingly. He was tidbitting for them and made sure to woo them before getting frisky with them.

The two cockerels are not doing as well. The "newcomer" to the coop, MJ, is TERRIFIED of the resident bird, Phantom. We blocked off a part of the run so they could be side-by-side, but MJ just went in the coop and refused to come out. We gave Phantom a temporary run & coop next to MJ, and gave MJ the real coop so he could develop some familiarity. We've let them interact a few times, but it's always the same result. At this point, Phantom is over it. He is more intersetd in flirting with MJ than attacking. However MJ panics/freaks out if Phantom so much as looks at him, and then naturally Phantom attacks.

So they're still seperated, and we're still letting them interact occasionally. The concern at this point is that MJ is going to injure himself in fleeing from Phantom, so we don't want to leave them together unsupervised. But we'll keep trying because there isn't really an alternative unless we freezer camp Phantom and find MJ (too good for freezer camp) a new home.