Help! Chicken Game of Thrones! Who do I put where?

[Fishychick]

The handyman came 9/13, 9/18, 9/19, and he still has to come back another day to finish the smaller house. This is going to cost me a few thousand dollars! I put Georgia, Iris, and Dusty in the smaller run when I got home on 9/18/19. They aren't happy but too bad. They're getting along. Dusty has decided I'm bad for locking him up but, so far, just pecks my boot hard. Perky is in a dog kennel healing within the main run. Angel (dad rooster) gets along pretty well with the three older hens. The two pullets are afraid of him, of course. The wild card is Hopey. He is small, long feathered, fast, and a little nuts! I couldn't get him in the smaller run with his brothers which is good for him because they don't like him and would have hurt him. He gets along fine with daddy Angel. He ignores older hens Daffy and Billie. The problem is that the other three girls, who run and scream when on the ground, turn him on when they run and scream, and he's young and doesn't know how to impress the ladies so he just goes for the "jump on them and grab what you can" approach. Aside from spending $10K for another house and run for him, any advice on how to calm him (or the hens who run) down? They are all cuddling at night and fine then. Things are at least 60% better for the 5 hens with 3 roosters separated from them. Those 3 are large and violent in their "love" attempts.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

The handyman came 9/13, 9/18, 9/19, and he still has to come back another day to finish the smaller house. This is going to cost me a few thousand dollars! I put Georgia, Iris, and Dusty in the smaller run when I got home on 9/18/19. They aren't happy but too bad. They're getting along. Dusty has decided I'm bad for locking him up but, so far, just pecks my boot hard. Perky is in a dog kennel healing within the main run. Angel (dad rooster) gets along pretty well with the three older hens. The two pullets are afraid of him, of course. The wild card is Hopey. He is small, long feathered, fast, and a little nuts! I couldn't get him in the smaller run with his brothers which is good for him because they don't like him and would have hurt him. He gets along fine with daddy Angel. He ignores older hens Daffy and Billie. The problem is that the other three girls, who run and scream when on the ground, turn him on when they run and scream, and he's young and doesn't know how to impress the ladies so he just goes for the "jump on them and grab what you can" approach. Aside from spending $10K for another house and run for him, any advice on how to calm him (or the hens who run) down? They are all cuddling at night and fine then. Things are at least 60% better for the 5 hens with 3 roosters separated from them. Those 3 are large and violent in their "love" attempts.

Hopefully you mean 1K and not 10Kbut you probably won't be able to just "calm him down". You could try putting him in "chicken jail" for a few days

 

[Fishychick]

Chickentopia cost $20,000 last year. My father was still alive so I had him pay half of it. It includes a walkway on top to look down on the chickens with a swing and sliding board (yep, for me, a 47-year-old old hag but also my niece). I've put in another $1000 to have the little house finished that they left undone (one wall added, two doors, three windows, silicon the deck above, partial roof, and roosts). Another chicken house would cost probably $10,000, yes! They charge like $90 an hour per person! I only make $26 an hour!

Yes, I thought of putting Hope in the dog kennel when I let out Perky. Only problem? I can't catch him! He's the fastest of any of them! I could try to pull him at night but they roost above my head. It wouldn't be pretty as he flapped and bit to get away from me. He's a nut! But, I love him. When the others were born, Perky left his egg behind because Billie dumped him in the nest five days behind the others. I couldn't let him die so I incubated the last five days and raised him inside without other chickens. I tried putting him with the others but they rejected him. When he was about a month old, I put him out in the smaller run so he could see the others but be safe. That was exactly the kind of thing the extra run was supposed to be for! He was in there a few weeks. So, I loved me some Hopey, at least until, at like 3 months old, she turned in to a he!

 

[Kusanar]

Get one of these: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Heartland-...8x10-Gable-Engineered-Storage-Shed/1000075297 for $700, they offer on site setup and instillation, not sure how much, but I guarantee not more than the cost of the shed. So, we are up to around $1,400 (high estimate) for the coop, then something like this: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Blue-Hawk-10-ft-x-10-ft-x-Outdoor-Dog-Kennel-Kit/50441822 for $250 for the run, again, you can get that setup on site. Then if you want a roof on the run, just put some cattle panels and a tarp up on top.

Complete and fast setup for $1,800 or less.

 

[Kris5902]

Agree... chicken housing shouldn’t break the bank if it can be avoided. Here’s my three bachelors in their pen and my little antagonist Sammy, who likes to run back and forth between the different pens annoying all my other roosters even more than chasing and mating his four lady friends.

Tarp is getting replaced before this winter... it was patched with an older tarp

 

[Aunt Angus]

I'd love to see pics of Chickentopia! It sounds amazing.

That $90/hr seems exorbitant. Goodness. I'm in the wrong line of work.... People have offered many alternatives. I'd do some research and see what can be found.

Still holding out hope that you'll figure out what to do.

 

[Fishychick]

I haven't processed previous digital photos that I took to put them on my web site but I did just look at what I'd taken. Chickentopia is too large to see everything in one or two photos so there's no good overall photo. I'll need to take new photos because I've added more. I just don't have time to crop, resize, link, and upload all the photos.

 

[Kris5902]

I haven't processed previous digital photos that I took to put them on my web site but I did just look at what I'd taken. Chickentopia is too large to see everything in one or two photos so there's no good overall photo. I'll need to take new photos because I've added more. I just don't have time to crop, resize, link, and upload all the photos.

Too bad it sounds like a nice set up...

 

[MrPaw]

This is harsh but a fact of life. Supersizing will not solve your long term problem, reducing the rooster count eliminating the possibility of new chicks is the only way. A soft heart is detrimental to your hens. Roosters do not know better. They live to reproduce. "It's not uncommon for a rooster to mate between 10 and 30 times each day, according to the University of Georgia." Your girls do not deserve this fate - they can't do anything about the situation, it's like a rape every day. You are the human and the adult here. Put on the big girl panties. A bachelor pen is only a temporary solution until you cull the problem. Craigs List is a wonderful option, don't ask what the person taking your roosters will do with him, just be thankful they are gone. You may even find you have a bird sanctuary nearby that will take roosters. But even they get to a breaking point and won't take anymore roosters. At some point reality must be faced.

Please DO NOT release them to the wild, or the woods, etc.. You will create dangers for you and your neighbors. It would be like putting out a neon "FREE FOOD in this neighborhood/area" sign. It's a cruel and heartless thing to do.

 

[Fishychick]

Why is a bachelor pen temporary? They can live there for the rest of their life. I'm spending money to make it just as good as any other chicken house and run. I'm not letting them have more babies, and I'm not releasing anybody. I have two roosters with five hens in a large run, and I've had two roosters together before years ago.