Advice for the abundance of my cockerels

[Mamalana]

I didn't have a real plan because, I never imagined having so many chickens so fast. My chicken math was exponential growth. Lol. WD bought a property that came with 35 chickens (1 died right when we bought it of coccydiosils, an other has an impacted egg that resulted in a massive prolapsed vent). Then I was gifted eggs and got straight run chicks. I never would have imagines that not a single pullet would be hatched and 2 out of 10 chickens would be healthy pullets. I have rehomed 1 cockerel, eaten one, and am watching the others to determine which one I want to keep for breeding.

I was most attached to Moonlight, but he has turned into a trouble maker. At first I grew attached to all of them, but since eating Señor Fluffy, I'm feeling more at peace with harvesting them for food. I guess, I would prefer to eat them and get some return on our investment and nourishment for our family than give them away. There is no shortage of roosters around where we live in rural Tennessee and all my cockerels are mixed breeds (mostly half salmon favorelle).

I want to wait until they are a bit bigger though. With 41 hens, we could have 5 roosters. The cockerels get a long fine, so I was wanting to see how it all shook out before making a decision about who to keep and who to eat. Pepe is the gamecock (super docile for his breed) and as of now he is the only one breeding. We have 6 chicks from a gamehen that disappeared and returned with babies.

As know all the chickens free range all over the farm, mostly in the orchard. We have small stand offs between cockerels that havent gotten bad, but the rape is the tough part. Especially, when they gang up on a lower ranking hen or pullet. That makes me want to prep the kill cone asap.

 

[Mamalana]

Do NOT put the gamecock into the bachelor coop, that would result in a bloodbath.

Between this thread and your other one regarding the aggressive cockerel it seems as if you perhaps don't have a real clear plan for your birds. Do you eventually want one big flock or two separate flocks? Do you plan to keep a bachelor coop going or is that just until you get things sorted out? It's hard to figure out what to do when you're not really sure where you're headed.

Personally I would just keep two of the boys and remove the others- quickly. Anything else is probably just going to end up being a bunch of unnecessary drama.

So to answer your question, I'm not sure. If I had pure bred birds, I would want separate flocks. Part of the time I want to let them become a big flock and then other times I think the bachelor flock with rotational breeding would be best. To be totally transparent, I don't know.

 

[NatJ]

Hi y'all.

So this year I got 19 chicks (hatched 5, bought 10 straight run, and purchased 4 pullets). Of of those chicks, aside from the purchased pullets, I got 2 pullets. Two. So, needless to say I have a lot of cockerels. I had 3 mature hens and then we moved onto a property that came with 32 mature mating hens and 1 rooster.

The boys have gone into puberty and the flock that was young males with a handful of pullets and 3 mature hens, has turned dark. The lower ranking cockerels have begun mounting the pullets (and the mature ones).

I have 2 coops with runs, but I am not sure if I should remove the hens and pullets and put them into the coop that consists of the other flock of 33. I don't have the time, energy, or money to build a 3rd coop.

Any advice is greatly welcomed.

Obviously you can improve things by removing some of the cockerels, starting with the ones you are most sure you should not keep. Maybe leave the most promising two or three cockerels, and butcher all the rest of them.

Yes, you could put all the females with the big flock. Or if you don't want to do that, maybe take a few females from the big flock and add them to the small flock. That would change the male/female balance in their coop, especially if you pair that with removing some of the males.

I would prefer to eat them and get some return on our investment and nourishment for our family than give them away....I want to wait until they are a bit bigger though.

If they are already trying to mate, they are past the point of fastest growth. Yes, they will still grow bigger, just not as fast as they grew when they were younger. Sometimes peace in the flock is more valuable than the extra meat they would produce if you kept them longer.

With 41 hens, we could have 5 roosters.

Only if you have a set of coops that works. If the gamecock has most of the hens, and will not tolerate other cockerels, you do not have "enough" hens for very many more males.

Besides, the common advice about how many hens per rooster is based on large commercial breeding flocks with hundreds or thousands of hens. They want all the eggs fertile, while feeding the fewest possible roosters, so they have figured out what ratio works best for those conditions. In smaller backyard flocks, the individual roosters make a big difference. Sometimes one rooster will be fine with very few hens, other times a rooster will fertilize the eggs of many more hens than the commercial estimates, and sometimes a rooster will over-mate his favorite hens no matter how many other hens are present. It depends very much on the individual rooster.

The cockerels get a long fine, so I was wanting to see how it all shook out before making a decision about who to keep and who to eat.

That certainly can work, but only if you can keep the females from being abused. That means either removing the females, or moving in a bunch more females, and either way you would have to be ready to do something else if conditions change again.

As know all the chickens free range all over the farm, mostly in the orchard. We have small stand offs between cockerels that havent gotten bad, but the rape is the tough part. Especially, when they gang up on a lower ranking hen or pullet. That makes me want to prep the kill cone asap.

If you are going to eat some of them anyway, I really think the simplest solution is to butcher the troublemakers as soon as possible. You could do a bunch at once, or one each day until the problems go away, or any other pattern that you like.

 

[Geena]

So to answer your question, I'm not sure. If I had pure bred birds, I would want separate flocks. Part of the time I want to let them become a big flock and then other times I think the bachelor flock with rotational breeding would be best. To be totally transparent, I don't know.

Your cockerels may get along fine now, but that will change as they mature. With five roosters/cockerels together in one flock you would most likely end up with a lot of cockfighting and continued "gang banging", no matter how many girls are available for them. Because such behavior is not so much about the hens and much more about status and rank among the males.

Since you have 41 girls from multiple different sources rotational breeding is not needed, that's just going to make more unnecessary work for you. I would think that rotating the roosters in and out of the bachelor coop is going to cause a big hubbub whenever you reintroduce the loose one back to the coop.

It's hard when you are just getting started, because you tend to want to keep all of them and somehow make it all work out. I was there too once upon a time. But it really is best to just be decisive and carry on with whatever is going to be the least complicated and most favorable circumstances for the birds in the long run. If you have six more chicks coming up you're liable to have at least three more cockerels soon. I suggest you get that kill cone ready.