SheppFamilyFlock
In the Brooder
- Sep 3, 2023
- 17
- 15
- 29
I have 3 chickens that are just about a year old. We got a batch of 8 chicks last summer, 6 were roos and 2 were hens. We kept one roo and processed the rest. It's been going fine until the past few weeks, one of my poor girls has lost almost all her feathers on her back. He seems to only like the one girl.
We did get a batch of 12 chicks about a month ago, 5 of them are now about 8 weeks old and have been added to the coop, and the other 7 are about 6 weeks old and will be joining the others this weekend. It appears that the older 5 are all cockerels
hoping we get at least a few more hens from the younger ones!
I've also started collecting eggs to incubate from my older girls. I'm not sure if they'll all be fertile, or if just the ones from my roos special lady will be, but will incubate all of them nonetheless.
My question is.. what to do about the rooster? I was really hoping we'd have some more hens for him before this became an issue, but it seems we have run out of time. I have put him inside a half-built chicken tractor that we put inside the run to introduce the chicks to the flock. He's not happy about it and I'm worried he's gonna be real pissed at me when I take him out tonight to go into the coop. I just want to give my girl a break! I did also order a saddle but it won't arrive until next week.
I don't want to kill him, but that seems like the best option right now. I could try to rehome him but when I look at Kijiji in my area there are DOZENS of posts for roosters... I don't think many folks around here want them. Seeing as how we definitely have at least 5 more roos coming up, if we do get rid of the big guy, my girls will get a break and we can still get some fertile eggs next year.
Honestly now that I've written this all out I feel like I know what I need to do... But if there are any other options I would love to hear them!
We did get a batch of 12 chicks about a month ago, 5 of them are now about 8 weeks old and have been added to the coop, and the other 7 are about 6 weeks old and will be joining the others this weekend. It appears that the older 5 are all cockerels
hoping we get at least a few more hens from the younger ones!I've also started collecting eggs to incubate from my older girls. I'm not sure if they'll all be fertile, or if just the ones from my roos special lady will be, but will incubate all of them nonetheless.
My question is.. what to do about the rooster? I was really hoping we'd have some more hens for him before this became an issue, but it seems we have run out of time. I have put him inside a half-built chicken tractor that we put inside the run to introduce the chicks to the flock. He's not happy about it and I'm worried he's gonna be real pissed at me when I take him out tonight to go into the coop. I just want to give my girl a break! I did also order a saddle but it won't arrive until next week.
I don't want to kill him, but that seems like the best option right now. I could try to rehome him but when I look at Kijiji in my area there are DOZENS of posts for roosters... I don't think many folks around here want them. Seeing as how we definitely have at least 5 more roos coming up, if we do get rid of the big guy, my girls will get a break and we can still get some fertile eggs next year.
Honestly now that I've written this all out I feel like I know what I need to do... But if there are any other options I would love to hear them!
