Surprise roosters!

[AprilLouise]

Looking for some advice involving chickens and roosters. My fiancé and I have three hens that are about a year and a half old, and then this last spring we got six more chicks from Wilco. We bought all females as we raise them for their eggs, but recently discovered that two of them are roosters. They started crowing and have become increasingly aggressive with the ladies. We have had the two roosters and 4 pullets in a separate run while they grew big enough to incorporate with the older hens. We were just about to incorporate them when we discovered the roosters, and now we aren't sure how to move forward. We are still new to chicken owning and the roosters threw us for a loop. My question(s) is, can you have two rooster together? And what do you do when they are very aggressive with the ladies. Also, what's the best way to go about incorporating them with the three older hens? Sorry for such a long post, and thank you so much for reading! And information/advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[mightymax]

Hi. I could probably help answer some of your questions if I had a little more information about your set-up and such. Like, what breed of chickens are they, are they free-ranged or penned and how large is your coop/run/nesting and roosting area. Answers to these questions would be ever so helpful with answering yours!

 

[AprilLouise]

Hi mightymax! Thanks for responding! We have several different breeds right now. One of the roosters is a buff Orpington, and the other is a russian orloff. As far as hens go the three older hens are as follows: Rhode Island Red, ameraucana, and black australorp. The four pullets in with the roosters right now are: ameraucana, black sexlink, speckled Sussex, and barred rock. The pen in whole is very big, I would say about 30ft x 20ft, and currently we have the six younger chickens, two of which are the roosters fenced off on their own section of that pen in an area about 15ft x 15ft. The roosters have become pretty aggressive with the for pullets, two in particular. One of the roosters have also acted aggressive with the older hens through the fence. Oh, also there is one main coop that the three ladder girls are in right now, that can house up to ten chickens at night, and ten there's a temporary a-frame made if 2x4s and chicken wire that the younger ones are in while enclosed in their own little area. We were going to put plywood on te sides and turn it into an additional permanent coop. Hopefully that is the information you need, looking forward to your response!

 

[mightymax]

WOW !!! Yes that's what I needed to know and more. That's great. Thank you. I'm going to turn in for the night right now, but I'll re-read your post in the morning and get back to you tomorrow. Take care and good night.

 

[AprilLouise]

Great! Thank you!

 

[wlightning3]

Hi. I'm new here as well and still cannot seem to do a lot of things on this site like posting profile pics or starting my own thread with a few personal questions. So I don't get the full effect and benefits of how this site is suppose to work. Apologize for answering your question with questions of my own. We have 5 egglayers who haven't started laying yet and one rooster who is getting extremely violent with the hens and stressing them out. Today we let the rooster free range again just to seperate them. The hens were sure more relaxed. Can anyone tell me if we can work this out and keep the rooster how will this effect eggs ? I mean I'm not educated on their reproductive cycles. If the rooster is breeding with all the hens as their laying eggs or in between etc,,, are the eggs still good to collect and eat as long as they get washed and go into the fridge daily or are they all gonna be fertilized and not edible ? Please advise. Could determine if I even wanna keep this rooster or not regardless if he settles down. Thanks and sorry I posted on your thread.

 

[bobbi-j]

Looking for some advice involving chickens and roosters. My fiancé and I have three hens that are about a year and a half old, and then this last spring we got six more chicks from Wilco. We bought all females as we raise them for their eggs, but recently discovered that two of them are roosters. They started crowing and have become increasingly aggressive with the ladies. We have had the two roosters and 4 pullets in a separate run while they grew big enough to incorporate with the older hens. We were just about to incorporate them when we discovered the roosters, and now we aren't sure how to move forward. We are still new to chicken owning and the roosters threw us for a loop. My question(s) is, can you have two rooster together? And what do you do when they are very aggressive with the ladies. Also, what's the best way to go about incorporating them with the three older hens? Sorry for such a long post, and thank you so much for reading! And information/advice would be greatly appreciated!

While it is possible to keep two roosters together, two roosters to your 7 hens will likely be stressful on your hens. I would separate the cockerels and pullets as soon as I can because they're only going to get more aggressive with them. Right now they're like teenage boys - full of raging hormones. They're just reaching sexual maturity, aren't exactly suave in their approach, and will possibly start fighting each other over the pullets.Be aware that when you put the pullets in with the older hens, there will be some scuffles and squabbles while they determine the pecking order. It's not always pretty when they do that. Just make sure there some hiding places and roosts for the little ones to escape to and extra feeders and waterers.

Hi. I'm new here as well and still cannot seem to do a lot of things on this site like posting profile pics or starting my own thread with a few personal questions. So I don't get the full effect and benefits of how this site is suppose to work. Apologize for answering your question with questions of my own. We have 5 egglayers who haven't started laying yet and one rooster who is getting extremely violent with the hens and stressing them out. Today we let the rooster free range again just to seperate them. The hens were sure more relaxed. Can anyone tell me if we can work this out and keep the rooster how will this effect eggs ? I mean I'm not educated on their reproductive cycles. If the rooster is breeding with all the hens as their laying eggs or in between etc,,, are the eggs still good to collect and eat as long as they get washed and go into the fridge daily or are they all gonna be fertilized and not edible ? Please advise. Could determine if I even wanna keep this rooster or not regardless if he settles down. Thanks and sorry I posted on your thread.

As I stated above, your rooster is full of raging hormones right now, and is acting on them. With only 5 pullets, they may be getting a little more "love" than they would like right now, but your boy may settle down as he gets older. He's still learning how to court them. A good rooster, when he matures, isn't quite so brutal with the hens, will call them over when you give treats, mine actually will feed a couple of the hens and watches over the chicks when the hen is dust bathing. Fertilized eggs are perfectly fine to eat. You don't even have to wash or refrigerate them. Actually, washing them removes their natural protective layer that helps keep the bacteria out of them . Your eggs won't start to develop into chicks until they've been incubated for at least 24 hours at around 100*. Don't let your hens set, it will be fine. As for determining if you even want a rooster, you need to think about why you would or would not want one. In my opinion, you only NEED a rooster if you want fertile eggs for hatching. You don't NEED one for protection - an alpha hen, in the absence of a rooster will often take the role as look-out and alarm the rest. They're pretty, but also loud, so you need to consider that, too. A good rooster is fun to watch. There is a chance that they may be human-aggressive, but there's also a chance that he won't. You won't know until he's a bit older. If your pullets are more relaxed without him, I'd say find him a new home unless you want to give him a chance to settle down first.

 

[AprilLouise]

Thank you for the info Bobbi-j! It's just hard because the toe that turned into rooster were actually the most friendl to us! So it's hard to think about having to "get rid" of one of them, but I guess that's the chicken owning life. I hate watching them act aggressive towards the little ladies in there with them now. Do is it kind if a situation where, the more hens a rooster has, the better?

 

[wlightning3]

Thank you for the info Bobbi, Louise ? Not sure who posted that but you covered everything in a egg Shell. We actually love the Rooster just not his viciousness right now. We have him because he was one of six we bought as chicklings Think we'll keep him and hope he settles down. Thank you again.

 

[mightymax]

It looks like I'm a little late to the party, but that's OK, less typing for me...lol !!! I totally agree with Bobbi-J's response! The only thing I'd add is just to reconfirm that it IS possible to have two roosters in the same pen without any issues. I'm doing that now. Currently have 4 roos and 3 hens. I would advise against it though !!! I'm only doing it because my flock has Marek's, so my situation warrants it. And yes, the more the merrier as far as the rooster's concerned !!!