Will hens take back ousted head rooster? :(

howfunkyisurchicken said:

Cull doesn't necessarily mean kill. It can mean rehome, or to simply remove from the breeding pen (to a bachelor pad for example, as previously suggested).

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Very true. As roosters are frequently for free around here, cull will likely mean off with his head. I have tried to give him and my Polish hen away as a set for incentive for pretty chicken owners, but alas it didn't work. And are roosters ever happy in a bachelor pad alone?! I just can't stomach social creatures being left away from their own kind, only allowed to see them.

chickengeorgeto said:

True, cull means to remove from the brood pen or blood line in which ever fashion that you decide is best..

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Very true.

donrae said:

And I can totally see your point in that. Chickens get complicated in your head sometimes. Pets or livestock? Most other animals are pretty clear cut. And ending something's life is never a good feeling....I'm setting here on the computer when I should be out culling three cockerels, just cause it's so not my favorite thing to do

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I hear you on the hatching all males. I've butchered 3 cockerels, I have 10 more to go as they reach the appropriate age. To show for them, I have 7 pullets. What happened to 50/50?

I've never tried re-introducing a de-throned rooster. My last guy to be booted by a son was 4 years old, and I planned on keeping the son. I really, really liked the father (Rocky) but felt his fertility was decreasing. I would have been okay with allowing him to live on the fringes of the flock but he was so depressed, as you describe your rooster. Only one elderly hen would hang with him, and he was just miserable. I finally felt he'd honestly be happier out of his misery and we butchered him. so, that was the experience I was drawing on when I said you could replace your Polish if the hens wouldn't accept him back.

do you have any Polish hens? I know they don't have a reputation for being stellar layers, but some folks here have had hens that really churned out the eggs. maybe your boy will have some production type genes to pass on.....of course, you've got to get a pullet off him to find out

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Exactly! He is extremely depressed!! All day long he has literally just sat slumped around in the garden, as physically small and droopy as possible. I did just give him some actual feed (aside from garden pecking) and some water. It took him a few minutes, but he went and ate at least.
He strikes me that he wouldn't be happy on the fringes at all. Plus I don't have the fenced space for him, or the coop. I had to use a dog crate when the babies were around, and I don't want to deal with separating again until we get a decent permanent structure and pen up. Even if I did give him my single Polish hen. Which she has not ever been interested in mating that I have seen. And not a stellar layer- maybe 2-3 a week in the high lay time?
I agree with the replace if they won't accept him back. I lost him this morning, and as horrid as it sounds, I had really hoped he fixed my problem of culling him for me by disappearing. (What a chicken I am! lol). He had just made himself insanely small and smooshed next to a plant barrel so I couldn't see him.

You mention all males- I let the hen keep 6 eggs. Never really candled or anything, so no clue on viability. 3 were duds. 3 hatched- ALL cockerels. Urgh lol

Right now I think he is going to retire to my parents hens. If he gets along with the hens and doesn't crow my parents nutty (unlikely, as the noise is going to be the killer so to speak, as they are insanely sensitive to roosters. Notice I said I had 3 babes before? Yeah, I gave them one last year for Christmas ((wrapped in a box and everything! It was awesome lol)) . He lasted 2 months maybe before he 'well, he just disappeared' lol. I think they will try harder to tolerate this guy because they know how much I like him. lol (I was in tears this morning when I saw how dejected he was. )
And the trade off they will get from me is that the plan had always been that I would be the breeder/grower of the hens for both our houses, thereby preventing us buying and raising chicks.
We both received all these birds from a family friend who brooded out too many babies and had to get rid of young adolescents. I have absolutely no desire to brood chicks on my own. Nor the space or real ability to keep the dogs or cats away from them in the house. And my BO hen did a stellar job with these 3 roosters it seems. (I doubt she can be to blame for their male hormones kicking in lol). Heck she had the whole lot of hens, the dad rooster, and 3 curious barn cats to defend against, and did great.

Urgh lol. I am going to do a post in Craigslist and a local Facebook page and see if anyone might want the rooster and hen for free even. I hope I can cull (kill) future birds with no issues, but this first group is hard. My husband initially said they would all be killed at 3-4 years of age to make room for more... but he has since said 3 get stays of execution to old age- my favorite hen, his favorite, and then the BO who broods wonderfully. What homesteaders we are! lol

So knock on wood, he and his matching non-wife are going to a new retirement home tomorrow.
I know there is the possibility they may kill him or eventually give him to someone who does, and I am okay with that. I just couldn't bring myself to do it on this specific rooster. lol

Okay so how is this for odd.
He spent most of the day dejected and barely moving. In the past hour or so he got more lively and fluffed up to nearly normal. Then all the hens and his sons went to bed. He started trying to figure out how to get back to that pen to get in the coop!
So fine, I opened the connecting gate and he immediately went in the coop. So far not a peep.
So they can rearrange who is head rooster and the lower one can still stay, even after he behaved so low and beaten all day? I was positive the way he acted meant that he wouldn't be able to reintegrate safely.

I still plan to give him and his matching hen away, as it is a perfect situation. I never wanted a Polish rooster to father babies (he was a freebie), and I have 2 different families that want him.

I don't think he'll regain his place in the flock. I think bedtime and roosting is just a very strong instinct. I'm glad you've found a home for him and his lady.

I'm more on the livestock end of chicken keeping, but I will say a broody hen will have a home for life here. I hate brooding chicks myself, I'd much rather have a hen do it. And it makes her so happy!

I did finally get those cockerels culled today. That led to thoughts of eventually culling my head rooster Eric. I may have a problem with that, I'm just not sure. He's been a great partner to me in managing my flock. Well, he's only 3 this coming spring, so I've got a while to decide his fate. He's my go-to baby daddy for next year, so he's secure for a while.

Really?! The sons didn't even care much. Though he stayed on the floor of the coop, which I know was usually relegated to at least one son and some of the low hens in the past.
I grabbed him and his non-wife (as I have taken to calling her lol) off the roosts and put them in a covered dog crate in the barn. She wasn't real thrilled, but I am sure will get over it.

I want to be able to butcher them out for meat and room for better younger layers... hopefully it won't be has hard as this one. :O
I agree, I don't think I want any part of brooding chicks out- too much work and too much mess. I do want to make a coop set up that has a creep feeder for them, like they do with cows and pigs. I got tired of feeding the $$ baby feed to the adults lol. I assume they would figure it out. I can just hang the adult food out of their reach.

Good job on culling your cockerels. You live decently close to me- OR to Spokane-ish, WA- is it not too chilly to deal with the handling aspects of doing it? Granted, right now is probably perfect weather since it is so unseasonably warm. Your Eric is the same age as Afro Circus and Buffy his non-wife. I am hoping one of his sons makes a great baby daddy... Wouldn't that just be my luck if they weren't?! They are half EE, so I have no clue what that does to eggs, lol. (Is it too diluted now?)

I want to get on the livestock end of it, certainly. This was my first foray into chickens, I am about 2.5 years into having them. I want to always have them, which means I need to jump this hurdle. It is soooo nice not buying eggs. Even if feed might cost more. (I doubt it). I mean the actual act of buying and transporting them, lol. I go to a dairy up the road for milk, so I am covered on the 2 biggie go-bad-or-squished-in-the-car ones lol.

Anyhoo... Its been nice chatting chickens with you and thank you for your help!

I've been waiting for a good weather day to cull. We've had tons of rain recently. Yesterday was light rain but mostly dry, with a light wind. today was dry with periods of sun. It was cool, but not too cold. Better cool weather than hot and fighting off the flies .

I think it will be cute to be hatching out birds with little crests from the Polish blood

donrae said:

I've been waiting for a good weather day to cull. We've had tons of rain recently. Yesterday was light rain but mostly dry, with a light wind. today was dry with periods of sun. It was cool, but not too cold. Better cool weather than hot and fighting off the flies

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I think it will be cute to be hatching out birds with little crests from the Polish blood

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The fly prevention thing I was thinking was perfect for the weather right now.

As for the little crests from the Polish blood... our 3 half Polish babies didn't really get much of any crests. They got some small little wild directioned spikes behind their little combs. I sorta liked it better that way because their father initially came from a home with another huge adults rooster, who used to pluck his head feathers off. Then I got him and some of their hens, and we couldn't really ever break them all from the plucking. He would literally sit there and bow his head to his hens so they could pull them out. His non-wife had the same problem, but finally this fall finally grew her head feathers back during the molt by some miracle.