New member

[Seachooks]

Hello,
I’m Suzanne. I have a small plot of land in a coastal village on the east coast of England.
I love gardening and growing my own veg. I am a beekeeper and i also really enjoy keeping 1/2 a dozen chickens & ducks.
My first hens were a mix of breeds but i now have rescue hens. I still have 2 of my original girls (they aren’t laying any more) but all the others are rescues.
I’ve had two rescues for a year now and they have fitted in really well.
I acquired another five rescues just recently & I have had issues with the previous rescues bullying the newbies. It wasn’t serious bullying but it was enough for me to think that getting a cockerel might help to keep the peace. I was given a young bantam cockerel. Now i have another issue!!!
At first I thought that his small stature would be a good thing.
I thought a standard cockerel might be too much for the new girls. I’ve only had them a month and some of them have bald patches & of course are still finding their feet (They were caged before rescue)
I have had the cockerel separated but on the other side of a mesh fence for 5 days. I have put the girls food close to the fence so they would feed head to head and he has been seemingly making all the right moves & noises (bless him)
It was a nice sunny day today so I tried a meeting. It didn’t go well! They all ganged up on him. Even the scrawny rescues with no feathers and bare bottoms were being utterly horrible to him. He’s pretty fast on his feet. I’ll give him that, but he’s running away and not standing up to them at all.
What do you think guys? Do I supervise further meetings. Have i done the wrong thing getting a smaller cockerel? He’s young, should i give him more time on his own to man up a bit?
I wonder if i should put him in the girls coop where i want them ALL to be, & then put the girls on the other side of the fence and introduce one girl at a time? I have got the facilities to do that.
I am able to return the cockerel if he doesn’t fit in too.
Would love to know what you think?

 

[OrpingtonManiac]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Hopefully someone can help you with your cockerels

 

[Nomadicus]

Hello and Welcome to BYC. Glad to have you here with us in this fun and poultry loving community. I think you are on the right track with one lady at a time.

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC. I agree with @Nomadicus

 

[Debbie292d]

Hiya, and welcome to BYC! You've got a great idea there.

I have an issue with one silkie cockerel that's five months old being teamed up on by two cockerels that are six months old. I'm tired of finding pens and places to put Mocha, so the next time I see it, those two are going to be penned up for two-three weeks together and we'll see how they like it.

If the one by one works for one or two, but not the next, you probably have a ring leader bully there, so once you determine which one or ones it is, keep them penned away from the rest.

Good luck!

 

[Jenbirdee]

hello and welcome!
That’s a lot of crazy chicken stuff happening and just makes me wonder where did the ducks fit in?

 

[A_Sparrows_Song]

Hi! Welcome to BYC!

 

[janiedoe]

Welcome to BYC, Suzanne. Hens usually bully the young cockerels. They have to make sure he respects them. I too would seperate him from the group until he is a little more mature. Good luck.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello Suzanne, and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
I have yet to meet a young cockerel that did not need to be tuned up by older hens. I would give him more time on the other side of the fence before you let them intermingle. And when you do he needs to have a lot of room to get out of the way of those girls.

 

[Jener8or]

It sounds like you have the right amount of patience and separation areas to make this work. I know plenty of flocks that have large fowl and bantam roosters together, so I hope your integration is successful. I'm glad you have gotten a lot of good advice, so let us know how it's working out.

Thanks for joining! Welcome to BackYard Chickens!