Rooster Chat

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Wondering what the general con census is, from reading a few posts, I have the impression the topic of conversation is mainly about aggressive roosters.  I apologize if I am getting off topic for a second but I am wondering....I have a total of approximately 14 roosters.  ~6 RIR's (sweethearts), 5 Buff Orpington's and 2 silkies.  Hubby bought 3 dozen chicks this past April and out of the 3 dozen, we have these roosters.  I love my roosters!  They are well behaved, it's their surge of hormones right now that are getting the best of them.  We built a bachelor pad for them and hopefully they will receive their eviction notice this weekend.  My question is this, I would like to keep my head rooster in with the hens.  He is a RIR and right now very gentlemanly.  At the end of the day, I have to rid the coop of the males so the hens can eat.  Otherwise, they are all over them.  It becomes a free for all.  Now that the weather is changing, the roo's aren't so keen on leaving the coop.  If they act up I manually boot them out their door and they have to stay in the run until the hens are done.  I noticed the head roo yesterday and on other occasions, remain perched not bothering the hens.  Is it wise to have him remain or will just his presence cause continued stress for the pullets?  I think I know the answer but I would like to have one roo with them for protection when they free range.

Also, one irritating thing that happens and I would like to break them out of this behavior.  The roo's will mount a couple of the lower pecking order roo's.  Is it just a matter of further subdividing the roo's or do I simply put which ever offending roo at that particular time, in a day of time out?    

Your roosters are probably staying in the coop to avoid fighting. You didn't mention the size of your rooster pen. That's a lot of roosters in one pen. I once tried 4 and it turned into a fighting mess. I do break them up into compatible pairs which seems to work better. You will have to see how it goes, some roosters are more aggressive, and yours sound like they are just starting to want to mate and fight.

Rooster on rooster mating happens, I ignore it unless someone is getting hurt. Do you plan to keep all those roosters? I have often planned on keeping all mine, until they all start trying to kill each other. Give them lots of room and multiple feeding stations and hopefully it works out.

 

[MollySunshine]

The bachelor pad is 10 x 10. The free range area, I am not worried about because the property will support them. That has never been the issue. I think I neglected to mention one important factor: since the weather is changing, so isn't the light/day. I get home from work after 5 and when they are free ranging, they begin entering the coop by 5:30, 6 the latest nowadays. I attribute them staying in the coop due to this fact. They do not fight with one another, fortunately. I'm hoping that since they do not fight with one another currently and they were all brooded together, this will eliminate them fighting at all. They know where each falls in the pecking order. Are there challenges to this order? Yes, and alpha let's them know who top dog is. The challenge is never against him primarily, it is usually between the lower roo's. Yes, I intend on keeping all of my roo's. That is why we built the bachelor pad. I am hoping this will work. They really are good birds. Their hormones are the perpetrators right now. It's causing too much stress with the pullets. At one point I removed all the roo's from the coop when all their foolishness began. The pullets seemed depressed. No, I'm not imagining. Those 2 days/nights they were in the run, the coop was lifeless. Yes, it was quiet, but the pullets just sat there. The roo's were ready to be brought to the processor when someone told me no, this could work, with extra effort. So, I'm putting in the effort. Now I"m wondering if I should keep the alpha in with the pullets.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

My huge 6 month old has begin acting like a roostr.tried dancing and showing our tiny tiny banty some food and she ran him off.

 

[microchick]

I came home tonight to find my 14 month old Lavender Orpington Rooster lying on his back, dead. No warning. I had seen him breathing with his mouth open yesterday but acting normal. He was in his first molt and looking bedraggled and a bit droopy but so are all the birds his age. Given the open mouth breathing yesterday and the 'flip over' position he was in, I'm suspecting heart failure or sudden death heart attack. This is the third cockerel I've lost this summer and this is the last bird in my flock I expected this to happen to. I just had his first and only chick hatch this past June. She is half LO half BO and a little doll.

I had hoped to have more of his chicks hatch this next spring. He was a big beautiful bird.

R.I.P Larry Bird. You are with Red and Tweek now.


Larry's daughter, Dusti

and dad, Larry Bird at 8 months.

 

[Amelia Egghart]

I came home tonight to find my 14 month old Lavender Orpington Rooster lying on his back, dead. No warning. I had seen him breathing with his mouth open yesterday but acting normal. He was in his first molt and looking bedraggled and a bit droopy but so are all the birds his age. Given the open mouth breathing yesterday and the 'flip over' position he was in, I'm suspecting heart failure or sudden death heart attack. This is the third cockerel I've lost this summer and this is the last bird in my flock I expected this to happen to. I just had his first and only chick hatch this past June. She is half LO half BO and a little doll. I had hoped to have more of his chicks hatch this next spring. He was a big beautiful bird. R.I.P Larry Bird. You are with Red and Tweek now. Larry's daughter, Dusti and dad, Larry Bird at 8 months.

I'm sorry for your loss. My lovely Nero has been panting and having a rough molt, too. Should I be worried for him or is this one of those things that just happens?

 

[ChickenChaser9]

I can not figure out how to put up a new post only to reply so sorry to reply with my problem. Maybe someone can give my advise on my chicken community. It has been in he nineties here in TN for weeks so my chickens have not been laying for a long time I get it it's the heat. But they all have become hateful towards each other. the rooster has become really mean to the hens, he chases all of them and fights them over food, using his Spurs and actually pecking to the point of grabbing feathers. What is going on?

They probably don't have enough space.

 

[microchick]

I'm sorry, I posted the wrong pic of Larry's daughter:

This is Dusti:



The other picture is my Welsummer pullet, Dolly.

 

[microchick]

Thanks @chickenchaser9. She is quite the character. She follows me around like a dog and begs to be picked up. Her personality is completely different from her sires. Larry could be quite the hand full when he wanted to be but she is sweet and friendly. I was hoping to selectively breed him next spring to 6 of my Buff O hens and hatch out more BO/LO chicks. So sad that won't happen now.

 

[ChickenChaser9]

Thanks @chickenchaser9. She is quite the character. She follows me around like a dog and begs to be picked up. Her personality is completely different from her sires. Larry could be quite the hand full when he wanted to be but she is sweet and friendly. I was hoping to selectively breed him next spring to 6 of my Buff O hens and hatch out more BO/LO chicks. So sad that won't happen now.

It is tough to lose a cherished bird and of course for us breeders, can be a costly set back. I am very curious as to Dusti's heritage. How did you manage to get such a lovely yellow breast and under carriage with the black speckled wings? And how many generations of breeding did it take you to get to that point?

 

[microchick]

It is tough to lose a cherished bird and of course for us breeders, can be a costly set back. I am very curious as to Dusti's heritage. How did you manage to get such a lovely yellow breast and under carriage with the black speckled wings? And how many generations of breeding did it take you to get to that point?

Dusti is a first generation chick. Lavender Orpington cockerel over a Buff O hen. I called her my over sized robin chick. I had sent a picture of her to Larry's breeder and they were certain that with her round shape she was an Orpington and I have to agree given that she is the only chick in the flock with that shape and color.

I'm thinking that maybe I'll stumble across a LO hen in the future that I can try crossing with my Buff O cockerels. It would be interesting to see if switching the breeding order would change the color pattern. I really don't need any more roosters at the moment. I'm knee deep in them.