The mama hen…is a rooster?

[CreativeChicken08]

With our last run of meat birds, we got a mystery chick, who we named Chili Pepper. About a month or two later, Chili is still small and cute, and we put her with three chicks, one whom we hatched ourselves.
She sat on them, despite her not being much older than they, and she was a great mama.
But guess what, Chili is a beilefelder, and she is a HE.
Is it normal for Roos to sit on babies if given the chance?! Cuz we BELIEVED that Chili Pepper was a hen!
Now she’s obviously a rooster, though, but we have too many Roos….
What are your thoughts on this?

 

[fluffycrow]

Older babies will appear like they're mothering the younger ones. They do not do everything a true mother does. That said, there have been cases of mature males caring for young. Not completely unheard of. It's a really nice quality to have, IMO

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I wouldn't say there is anything at all odd. sounds like it was a lone young bird put with smaller birds.. it was almost certainly just sleeping with the group.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Young large fowl cockerel sitting on a much younger bantam cockerel.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Yes, we’ll keep him for sure. But if he ever gets overly aggressive, we’ll probably let him go in our forest or give him away.

If he becomes aggressive, put him down. don't give him away to someone else to deal with and absolutely do not just set him loose somewhere to starve or meet a painful death by a predator. Even aggressive males deserve a quick and humane death

 

[rosemarythyme]

Chili isn't/wasn't a rooster yet, he's still a baby. Sometimes people find that older chicks are willing to snuggle with younger ones, but it's not the same as a broody hen (or even a broody rooster, which do apparently exist) raising them.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I usually put the smallest from one group of chickens in with the next group of new hatched chicks. I don't usually care if they are a boy or a girl, just small. Then the small bird from one group will not get trampled, but also the new ones get a friend that can teach them the ropes.

 

[chicken mama 0908]

That is so strange! I have never heard of anything at all like it.

 

[Insnesnakos]

I don't know but is Chili a good dad?

 

[nuthatched]

Roosters can and will brood and raise chicks, it's not unheard of. Let's see a pic.