My pullets a Roo!!! Now what?

[Pookiebutt]

We got what we thought was a pullet only to discover recently it's a roo. He is doing some crowing but do we need to worry about him crowing more often or louder? How old are they when they start to mate and can actually mate?

 

[aart]

Yes.

He will try to start mating the pullets when he's about 13-15 weeks, it won't be pretty and the pullets will make more noise than the cockerel crowing because they won't be ready to mate for another month or two.

 

[lisefbois]

I seem to have the same problem. Only I think I may have 4 roosters in my new flock of 14. One ameraucana and 3 Bantham. Will this be a problem? I have no noise restrictions

 

[Pookiebutt]

Well we don't have any pullets just a hen. They are bonded quite nicely now.

 

[Pookiebutt]

I know people who have more than one rooster and don't seem to have any issues. They seem to have a pecking order just like the hens. I think you just have to watch out for the roosters getting to aggressive with each other.

 

[Mrs. K]

I seem to have the same problem. Only I think I may have 4 roosters in my new flock of 14. One ameraucana and 3 Bantham. Will this be a problem? I have no noise restrictions

4 roosters are way too many for a flock that size. While it is not iron-clad, a general rule is 1 roo per 10-12 head. 4 roosters are way too much. Later, when you have an established flock with older hens, often times, you can have either brothers raised together in an established flock, or a father/son raised up and do quite well with 8-12 birds, but not in a new flock-mates only flock.

While there is a strong possibility that the roosters will fight, sometimes until bloody or dead, the real problem is that you are going to have a bunch of juvenile roosterrs that are WAY over breeding your pullets LONG before your pullets are ready to be bred. The pullets will have no peace, they will have feathers pulled out, and there will be a huge amount of tension in the flock.

Persoannally I have a theory that roosters raised only with flockmates, tend to be more aggressive that roosters raised in established flocks with older birds. In those flocks, the older birds thumps some manners in them. They are NOT the biggest bird in the flock until they are considerably older.

I would cull all of them, and consider adding a rooster next year, when your pullets are older. An all hen flock is a good way to start with this hobby. You can add roosters later when you have more experience. Roosters take a little poulty experience, because way too often they become nightmares.

AArt - has a good point in that when you have multiple roosters, or really any roosters, you need to have a doable plan on how to separate them RIGHT NOW. They often don't gradually get worse, they go into the nightmare mode in an instant.

Mrs K

 

[aart]

Well we don't have any pullets just a hen. They are bonded quite nicely now.

Oh, OK, you didn't give enough information about the situation and I assumed.

I will assume again, so you only have one hen and now one cockerel?
Might be a problem if he starts to over-mate her.

 

[lisefbois]

I got my "girls" from what I thought was a reputable chicken person. I asked for hens. I didn't want roosters just layers. They're now about 14 weeks old and I know for sure 1 is a rooster and I think that of the 3 pairs of Bantham breeds I have one of each is a rooster. I might try asking around if anyone wants a rooster. We are new to the community so I'm not sure how to figure this out yet. I do appreciate the advice. Thank you

 

[lisefbois]

Could I keep the silkie rooster? Thinking he might be small enough not to cause too much of an issue??

 

[MsDejesus1]

I personally enjoy the crowing of roosters and I thankfully don't have any noise restrictions. What we did is that we have all our roosters separated. They have a good amount of space and seem to be happy. We carry them and let them run around at different times only when my husband is outside (due to predators) our hens are kept In a hen only pen.