11 cockerels gone....What a relief....

[NellaBean]

I had 11 cockerels left over from my last hatch (argh). They have been eating me out of house and home here and I was running out of space for them. They were about 12 weeks old and I finally decided to just give them away as a group so that some lucky family could have a few nice meals this winter

Put them up on craigslist and off they went Saturday morning to their new "home". These were my first hatch from my own chickens and although it was a big waste of time and money to feed them for 12 weeks only to give them away, it was interesting project and I did get a very good idea of what I can get out of my own chickens. The leghorn crosses stayed mostly white and would be good meat chickens, other than being a bit smaller. The RIR crosses were mostly black with red feathers mixed in throughout their whole body and were nice and big.....the Jersey Giant rooster seemed to mix well with my RIR girl, giving the chicks great size without being 'bony'.

Anyways, what a relief to not have 11 hungry boys to feed and clean up after. And it was perfect timing as the growout shed is now empty and freshly cleaned...just in time for an injured pullet to be isolated there. Once she is moved out, I will have this empty shed/coop (4x6) and a large (16x24) empty pen for winter.......just in case I need to isolate anyone.

What a relief!

 

[solarquail]

yea getting rid of roosters is a releif

 

[lauralou]

Definitely a relief!

If you had kept them for another month, they would have been driving you nuts! (Bless their hearts.) It's usually at about 15 to 16 weeks that I decide I can't bear to keep them for another minute.

I have 7 little cockerels currently. Four are 11 weeks old, and 3 are almost 9 weeks old. So they haven't gotten to their annoying stage yet. I'm trying to keep them as long as possible, so I can decide which one out of each group is the best one for a breeder. Wish me luck with that!

I haven't had an adult rooster on the property in ages, and here I am contemplating keeping two of them. We'll see how that works out...

 

[solarquail]

sometime there so sweet but sometimes you just wanna get the ax!

 

[NellaBean]

Well, I have 3 adult roosters still

I am keeping my Jersey Giant roo as he is awesome. My RIR rooster was up "for sale" for bad behavior with the ladies, but has mellowed out and will probably stay now. My Blue Andalusian rooster is staying only until I sell him with some of his Blue girls. 3 roosters is too hard on my girls. 2 seems to be the magic number. I really would like to downsize my entire flock so I only need my big Jersey Giant roo, but probably won't do that any time soon

 

[Bantimna]

Congrats Nella hows your Jersey Gaint Boy doing?

 

[NellaBean]

My Jersey Giant boy is doing great. He can be a bit aggressive towards strangers and has flogged me twice..........but both times were when I had been "away" from the yard for days/weeks on end, only running out at dawn and dusk to lock up. First time I go back out during daylight, he always tries to nail me. I guess because I become a "stranger". Rest of the time, he is Mr Polite and stays out of my way. When he tries to flog me, I just whallop him until he backs off and he goes back to being normal.

He is great to the girls, they all love him and fight over who gets to roost next to him at night. He knocks the other roosters off if they try to sneak some action, and is a formidable presence in the yard. He is also polite to the girls...he clucks and dances at them and if they try to get away, he just lets them go. If they squat, well....

He is also great with my young chicks. He keeps them in line but as long as they dont get pushy, he doesnt mind them at all.

He is awesome! I have 8 of his daughters currently and I think they will be fantastic layers with a bit more size than their "mothers" (RIR and White Leghorn).

I'm so glad I did NOT get rid of my Giant boy like I had tried to. His size is a bit much for the smaller girls I have, but he is gentle and polite and I have not had any problems after he got past the hormonal stage.

 

[maplesky7]

wanna nother 11?

ee's and buff orps and 2 mutts (delaware-silver laced wynn & bared rock-red star mix)

 

[Hilltopper46]

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[NellaBean]

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I have a broody sitting on 9 eggs right now........plus a few brahmas I am not so sure about. I see another half dozen cockerels in my future. If only I processed my own, I would never go hungry