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queenie332

queenie332

Hatching
Nov 5, 2015
7
0
7
Missouri
Hi I found this sight yesterday when I was looking for info on soft shells and if I needed to do anything about them. I am going to try feeding them back their shells, thanks whoever posted that! I have been raising chickens off and on for about 8 years. My little flock now consists of 6 hens. Just enough for us. We let them free range in the afternoons and they love it. It also cuts down on the feed costs. Does anyone else have problems with roosters? I have had 2 different ones and they are just as mean as sin!! They tear up the hens and attack us when we go outside. I have had to get rid of them but would love to have a hen raise some chicks. Any advice?? Thanks
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. Just be sure and bake those egg shells before you feed them back to your chickens so they don't develop a taste for raw eggs and become egg eaters. You can also meet their calcium needs by keeping some crushed oyster shells in a dish for them. They will eat them whenever they need the calcium. As for roosters, you have way too many for the number of hens you have. The recommended ratio of roosters to hens is 1 rooster for every 10 hens as too many roosters will be very hard physically on your hens; over-breeding them, biting and plucking the feathers from their backs and necks, battering them, and potentially, seriously injuring them. The only reason you really need a rooster is to fertilize eggs for hatching and 1 rooster can easily handle 10-15 hens in that regard. I haven't had any roosters in my flock for a couple of decades now, and my hens have laid better than ever without the added stress of having a rooster around. If you do decide you want a rooster, I would get rid of the meaner one, keep the more gentle of the two and get 4 more hens to go with him. If you are still having problems with him afterward, I would get rid of him as well. There is no good reason to keep a bad rooster. You don't want to risk injury to anyone and you don't want to breed that kind of aggression into your flock. If you just have to have a rooster, there are loads of unwanted ones available on the market and you can always find a good one. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Cheers.
 
Welcome to BYC. Great advice from Michael. If you want to raise chicks, you can buy fertile eggs when a hen goes broody.
 
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That was a good move to get rid of the mean roosters you had. There are plenty of calmer ones out there needing a good home if you decide you want to try another one (but maybe after getting a few more chickens).

If you have questions come up again about your eggs, this is a very good article from the Learning Center about egg quality problems:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems

Thanks for joining us!
 
Welcome to Backyard chickens. What breed of hens do you have? Some breeds go broody fairly often like, silkies, orpingtons, cochin's etc. Generally you can swap out their eggs (non-fertile if no rooster) for fertile eggs of any breed you desire to buy. Good broody mamas will sit and hatch chicks and care for them as they would their own.

Great way to get other breeds. Broodies beat incubators any day. The only problem with hatching your own chicks, is what to do with the inevitable baby cockerels that will show up uninvited.
 
That is a great idea to buy fertile eggs! I will have to check if anyone sells them in my little area. I live in the middle of nowhere, Missouri. I did have a hen go broody a couple of months after I got rid of that last mean rooster. I have gold lace Wyandotte's right now and before them I had buff Orpingtons. Both kinds are good layers but I think the orpingtons are gentler. The roosters from each were very bad, my girls are so much happier without a rooster. The orpingtons rooster was actually a little pet until he matured and got mean. I had bloody legs in the summer every time I got around them. I actually did start out with 10 hens and the rooster but had 2 hens die before they went out to the coop and 2 more from animal mauling's. Anyway, thanks for all the advice, I appreciate it.
 

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