Eight Roosters

[Judy4222]

Are they to old? They are going on three months.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Unless more turn out to be roosters I should have 58 hens. Can I make a bachelor pad and have all of them in the Bachelor Pad together? Without having them separated?

None of my guys are separated. They are all living together. There are scuffles here and there. I break it up before it get's too serious, if I am there. But I have seen blood on more than one occasion.

I have 32 laying age girls.

After I posted earlier.... my daughter and I discussed my observation regarding the boys not living happily or however I put it... And thought making a visual barrier might be a good idea... I see @Mrs. K likes that idea as well.

They do become nastier after that 5 month point where she culled though. Many changes still come to them hormonally and they may try to over throw their caretaker or not.

If money is not an object, yes... build a bachelor pad! But beware of trying to keep every sick bird that comes your way. Plan ahead so you know when it's time what you have to do. I'm afraid you may be in for some heart ache... as chicken math always includes subtraction.

And with that many birds, a lot of stuff is going to happen.

But I don't mean to dampen your spirit... You GO!

Chicken keeping is a great adventure. I might keep 'em all if I could.

But I know my limits, thankfully.

I love raising birds including roosters! But it's been a huge learning experience spanning several years... and there is still tons I haven't yet experienced. I hope to learn something new each day. And BYC has been a great, helpful community!

They are usually fairly safe from mating until about 12 weeks at least. By 16 weeks most boys are there, with some exceptions... Just to kinda let you know how long you have until they need to be separated for your sanity.

The things I said about them crowing are true. But my family is OK with it. And my neighbors are far enough that it hasn't been a problem. So like I said, I'm not trying to be discouraging..

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I had no idea that a rooster could be castrated. That may be an option. If I get five castrated could they be around the roosters not castrated?

I'm not sure what age they do it. It is called caponizing. We also talked about that, but didn't feel it would work for us.

But I would presume you are talking about the vet doing it, not yourself. We were looking at doing it ourselves. Please post what it cost of you go that route!

 

[Judy4222]

Yes, the vet would do it. I'll call next week and get a price. If it is at all possible, I want to keep my birds, but, I want my hens happy too. There are a couple of others that I'm not sure about. Whew, I hope I don't have any more roosters. Thank you all for the help and advice. Who would have thought that a rooster could be castrated. Lol I'll let you know how much it will cost after I call the vet.

 

[donrae]

First, I'm not sure why you're specifying to separate them at night? All they do is sleep at night. I'd be far more concerned about keeping them off the hens during the day, especially first thing in the morning. That's when my roosters are randy.

I agree on the bachelor pad. A separate enclosure, apart from the hens. You'll just have to see how they do with each other. most of mine are fine if they've been raised together.....but it's not an absolute. For instance, I have two silkie cockerels. They've been raised together since hatch. they had three pullets with them until about 3 months ago, I pulled the pullets and left the cockerels together. Everything has been find and dandy....until this very morning. They were going at each other like crazy. I'm not much of an interventionist, so I left them to work it out. One has a torn comb and a bloody spot on his head. Just out of the blue, nothing changed. Who knows?

I think your birds are pretty old to caponize. Most vets won't do it, they're not really qualified. Mortality rate is pretty high, especially the older the bird gets.

 

[bobbi-j]

I had no idea that a rooster could be castrated. That may be an option. If I get five castrated could they be around the roosters not castrated?

Here are an article and video on caponizing that I found. Personally, I won't do it. I just can't make myself want to cut into an animal without any numbing whatsoever, and then cutting parts out of it. I can't imagine the pain it must cause. Not to mention the mortality rate. Fairly high from what I've read. Your best bet is a bachelor pad if you want to keep them.

Curious - are you planning on hatching from your flock? If so, what are you going to do with the males you end up with from that?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/210041/how-to-caponize-a-rooster-warning-graphic-pics

 

[Judy4222]

I would never do it myself. A vet would have to castrate the roosters for me, else it won't happen. I never intended on hatching any chicks. I only want to sell the eggs and have my chickens as pets. I cannot even bring myself to watch the videos of it being done. My two granddaughters are spending the weekend with me and we stopped at the tractor supply store tonight and we came home with two brand new baby ducks. That will bring me up to 9 Ducks now lol

 

[bobbi-j]

I would never do it myself. A vet would have to castrate the roosters for me, else it won't happen. I never intended on hatching any chicks. I only want to sell the eggs and have my chickens as pets. I cannot even bring myself to watch the videos of it being done. My two granddaughters are spending the weekend with me and we stopped at the tractor supply store tonight and we came home with two brand new baby ducks. That will bring me up to 9 Ducks now lol

You might want to start thinking about building a bachelor pad for your roosters soon, then. I as Donrae pointed out, many vets won't caponize a chicken (although if you find one that does, I'd be interested in knowing how much they charge, just for the sake of curiosity). I suppose they don't because of the high mortality rate and liability. That would be my guess, anyway.

When they reach sexual maturity, things can go bad pretty quickly if they start fighting. I have kept cockerels in a bachelor/grow out pen and they seemed to get along fine. They were even in sight of the pullets and hens that were free ranging. However, they were only in there for a few months before we processed them.

There is no way of knowing, of course, how all of your chickens will get along until you give it a try. They are living animals with no guarantees of anything. Just have a plan in case your roosters are like the majority and start fighting and harassing your immature pullets when their hormones hit.

 

[MollySunshine]

My first set of Chickies that hubby bought from a local tractor supply last April contained, as we discovered once they hit puberty, 15 roosters out of a baker's 3 dozen. As yourself, I enjoyed my roosters and scoured the internet for options. We decided on a bachelor pad. In an attempt to maintain pullet and roo interaction, their runs face parallel, so the pullets and roo's can see and flirt with one another. It has worked quite well! I initially thought I had 12 roo's so there remains 3 roo's with my pullets. I have since purchased 10 sexed females. In the pullet coop, all are now eating grower finisher and I supply oyster shells for the girls. The boys coop all are eating starter grower. This set up has worked out so well that I am now contemplating on a second bachelor pad for the 3 roo's that reside with the pullets. When it comes to free ranging, I simply alternate days. The boys can often be seen hanging outside the pullets run flirting.

 

[Judy4222]

I have been so distressed wondering what I was going to do with my roosters. I will ask my son to build a bachelor pad and I will also check with the vet. They are already bothering the hens. I just hope that no more end up being roosters. So upsetting when all I wanted was one rooster in the whole bunch at the very get-go. Upsetting because they are all my pets and I don't want anything bad to happen to any of them. Everyone has given me such good information and I appreciate all of it thank you so very much.