First time Broody BO Sitting on Nest of 14 Eggs - 1 Week to go!

BoiseChik said:

I've looked on the BYC site for a definitive answer as to when chicks can start living outside full-time. Do you think my chicks that are being raised seperetly from the Mama hen/chicks can be cooped up at night outside? I'm thinking about giving them a seperate part of the coop to sleep in at night. One of them is about 2 1/2 weeks old and she's being raised with some older pullets that are about 4 or 5 weeks old, and now I've added two tiny Sebrights that are about 5 weeks old. They would be totally seperate and not drafty. It's getting down into the 60's and 70's at night here.

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If they have their mother to look after them there is no real reason to coop baby chicks except to protect them and their mother from danger. If your chicks are feathered then with or without their mother IMHO they can sleep outside.

As our baby chicks are developing, we are enjoying the game of 'pick out the baby rooster'. Of course we are mostly hoping for hens! So, I JUST HEARD about rooster collars to reduce or stop crowing. Wow, what a concept! I'm thinking about trying this as my little roos start to reach maturity. Wondering if you have tried these and had any luck, or if you have any tips for me. My other question is do you think it is reasonable, or possible, to think about keeping more than one of our baby roos within our flock? Like two roos, or maybe three...? I have a pair or tiny Sebrights, one roo and one pullet, so I'd like to keep him. I also bought a blue orpington from a breeder and if that chick is a roo, I'd like to keep him. His dad is a local champion. I also think there might be one or two Americana roos to choose from. Our flock has a smallish coop and a large fenced yard to free range.

https://www.facebook.com/RoosterCollars/timeline

Chickengeorgeto is right - as long as they are pretty much fully feathered your younger chicks should be fine to sleep in the outside coop. My 'golden girls' were doing fine in the outside coop this spring at 5 weeks old.


I have never heard of a rooster collar to stop crowing, and to be honest it is not something that I would ever consider, as I do not agree with anything that prevents natural chicken behaviour. It is only a personal opinion, but I believe that if you have to do something that modifies or prevents a bird's natural behaviour (debeaking, wing clipping etc) then your birds are not happy. If birds are kept in good conditions with enough space, feed, activities etc. then they shouldn't peck each other agressively or try to fly away. I only have a 75cm-high fence around my property, but my birds never even think about flying over it - they are happy enough where they are!

I assume that the idea of a rooster collar is to be able to keep a bird that naturally crows loudly in a built-up area without annoying your neighbours. However, I would question the ethics of preventing a rooster doing what he naturally does, just to satisfy our own desire to possess a particular bird.

Please don't get me wrong, BoiseChik, I'm not having a go at you for considering the idea, as I said it is only my personal opinion - others feel differently and have a right to do so.

Keeping more than one roo in a flock is certainly possible in principle, but in practice it depends upon whether the roos get on with each other, as well as the number of hens per roo. Too few hens, and the roos will fight over them, and also exhaust them with "over-attention" (if you get my drift!)