10 silkies, 5 of them roosters?

[RisingSpring]

we got 10 young silkies this summer, they were about 2 months old. they were not sexed.

about 3 weeks ago, out of the blue one morning, after coming out of the coop, 4 of the silkies started having a crowing competition!! up until that point i was pretty sure 2 were roos, but being new at this whole chicken thing i really wasn't sure yet. sure enough, 4 of them were crowing up a storm that day... and now this morning, a 5th one is crowing

should i be concerned?? everyone gets along, no one ever fights. but could it be that as they are now reaching maturity they might start to have issues? i really want to keep them all, i have already had to give away a bantam rooster a few weeks ago and it broke my heart.

we also have 14 standard heritage breed chickens in the same coop, including 2 roosters. they all get along, haven't had any issues. big chickens and silkies mostly stick to their respective gangs.

any insight would be appreciated!!

 

[seminolewind]

I had hatched 3 silkies four years ago. One hen and 2 roos. They lived very happily together for 3 years, then one roo died. I would leave them and see how things go. If they were all hatchmates, you may not have trouble. I think silkies like having that family unit, and it seems to be stronger than just a flock.

 

[RisingSpring]

Quote:
yup they were all hatchmates. they seem to be a very tight family, they all sleep together at night in one giant pile

i hope others can share more stories of successfully keeping so many silkie roos!!

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
yup they were all hatchmates. they seem to be a very tight family, they all sleep together at night in one giant pile

i hope others can share more stories of successfully keeping so many silkie roos!!

Great! I actually love my silkie roos more. I think they can become very tolerent of being hugged . They are a strong family group.

 

[kbgriffiths]

I had 3 babies hatch this year, 2 are boys. THey some times will play fight (I call it chicken sumo- wrestling) where they do the stare down at one another and then pounce but thats the end of it. Most of the time they are attached at the hip (wing) getting into as much trouble together as possible. I'd let yours be until you think there is a problem.

 

[RisingSpring]

update on the silkie situation..

so it turned out that 6 out of the 10 were roosters

they started getting really rough with the girls (both the silkies and the big girls), ganging up on them and having no manners at all. unfortunetly our big bard rock rooster is still fairly wimpy, and he rarely stepped in to protect his ladies. so, monday my husband took care of 4 of the silkie roos, who went to meet their maker... very sad, it was our first time having to kill any of our chickens.

but already the vibe in the flock is so much better, i know it was the right thing to do

interesting tidbit, our one silkie roo that had a single comb and big red waddles has red skin! so i guess he wasn't a "real silkie"!