2 of my precious hens morphed into roosters overnight!

[gertsgal]

Hi, I have had a happy flock of 4 hens and 4 pullets since august (I brought the pullets home in august). Everything has been wonderful until this past Thursday when the hubby came in and told me one of my hens was crowing. Overnight 2 of my new girls are definately roosters with my buff Orpington also being of questionable gender. Please give me some words of hope that I can keep my flock together without getting rid of anyone. I love them all and they all get along really well(so far).We never wanted any roosters but now that I have them They are part of the family.Thanks.

 

[CCFarms9559]

The only way you will be able to keep them will be to separate them. If you keep that many roos with your hens they will be barebacked and the roos will be fighting. Better start building bachelor quarters. Sometimes it works out - but that's extremely rare.

 

[caspernc]

I wish I could remember the post.....they were hens and still hens but it looked like they were trying to crow! There was a short vidio. Hens making a funny sound kind of sounds like the tread. They took away the scrach, only fed them crumble and it was just a sore throat and them tring out the egg song. Maybe that is what it is. It really did sound like they were trying to crow, alot tho.

 

[chickensrun]

My heart goes out to you.

We just traded our newly morphed roo for another pullet. My neighbors would never have tolerated the noise. My roo was a gorgeous Australorp and I am sorely going to miss her/him and those beautiful big brown eyes. We traded for another Australorp girl this morning and so far so good. I did a 'meet and greet', holding the new girl and then let my 3 girls out to free range and kept our new girl in the run alone. Tonight the 3 girls went home at dusk and I just checked and all 4 are upstairs and quiet. Tomorrow I will leave all 4 in the coop and let them figure out their pecking order. I can only hope they will be BFF. It's more traumatic than I ever thought. Best of luck with your decision.

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

I think they'll morph back in the full moon.

 

[bburn]

I'm sorry. And I know what you are going through.

29 chickens....sweet little chicks. Knew a had a few roo's.....ended up only 11 hens! They all got along great until they were about 18 weeks...then it started. And trust me when you raise them it really upsets you when they start fighting.

Now I have 11 hens in the main coop and run and a BO roo who is making a wonderful roo!
The Barred Rock roo I removed several weeks ago after the BO beat him up three days in a row. I liked this guy too! So now he has his own run and five girls in quarantine. Two hens and three pullets.

I have mostly solved my problems....but there is a mystery cochin in the main coop that I think is a roo....posted his picture several times and I get equal answer of for sure roo/for sure hen. So....there may be a third coop and run in my future as well as new girls for the cochin.

I live in the country so I can have as many as I want and can care for.

But it is hard. And sometimes so very hard to tell boy/girl!!

 

[Earthy]

We hatched eggs one year & ended up with 5 roosters & 2 hens! Because each was a loved, named pet by the time they began to show their sex, the kids (human) would have been heartbroken to have to get rid of any. I called around to a few vets asking about neutering the roosters--could almost hear them putting their hands over the phone while laughing at me...

Well, danged if we didn't have essentially no problems! My theory was that 5 roos are so busy sorting things out, there's no time for directed mischief at just one or two...Neither of the hens ever had a bare back, either; and, as there was lots of silkie blood in the mix, they even hatched out a few broods over the years--All while living in the same, snug coop. (Which was not big enough to keep the offspring for long, alas--but we always had plenty of takers for the chicks.)

These were mixed banties...we observed lots of posturing, chasing, and squawking, but almost never any blood (by which I mean, I can only think of 2 cases in over a decade), and never had a case of a wound being picked on...The pecking order seemed to continually change. I'm not sure even the roos themselves always knew how it went. It was definitely one of the most colorful and lively flocks ever.

I'd expect a big part of the success was having plenty of room and a nice fenced yard for them; though they spent many days straight cooped up during some winter spells. This year the last rooster died just before his 11th birthday. One hen, now 11+, remains.

So--miracles can happen.

 

[Mahonri]

I have a five month old that I always thought was a pullet... Now it's getting those gangly legs and is starting to look like a roo.
I hate when that happens.

 

[gertsgal]

Thank you all for your input. Every night rock them and sing show tunes to them and they are never in an enclosed space(except at night). I'm hoping all of that will help keep the testosterone down. I guess only time will tell.

 

[ScottsChickenz!]

I had a few that i thought were girls, like Debra. One day she became Debra Dude! I have 30 chickens with 8 roosters, they have all established their order. They go out during the day and come in at night. They have their own clicks with different hens and some seem to trade off. One rooster seems to be a loner, but they all sleep together fine. Sometimes the roos will form different gangs and chase another male. I have found that the Phoenix hang together and the Polish hang out in their own turf. They were raised together since they came in the mail. Good luck.