I have been letting the chickens free range for a little while each day. It's funny to watch. When I open the door to the field, mother hen and her two cronies are the first ones out followed by the 8 new ones. The new ones stick pretty close to the 3 older hens. A couple of times I've seen a couple of hawks. While the older chickens are aware of how dangerous the hawks are, the younger ones seem to be oblivious, and that worries me somewhat. So, I have decided to get a sentry for them, a rooster. I called the farm where we bought the new hens, and they have a few roosters available. We are going to take a ride up there today and pick one out. I told the owner I want the least aggressive one since I will be introducing him to an established flock, and from what I read, while everything should go well with the young hens, the older ones may give him some problems initially if they have to give up some of their status. Luckily, I have yet to take down the temporary coop, so I will put him in the back end of the run that has the temporary coop and is sectioned off from the front part of the run...and observe how the older gals interact with him at the fence. I have been reading on chicken forums about introducing new roosters. Some report no problems, some report minor problems, and some report knock down drag out brawls resulting in a lot of blood and torn combs, wattles, etc.
Darn, should have asked you if you had any roosters you wanted to sell.
