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Cbarr00 said:
Dwight is the only one who has shown aggression so we know its freezer camp for him. He is not terrible with the girls but we still don't want an aggressive Roo no matter how good he may treat them. We just don't know when we will do it.
Our second in the pecking order is Big Red, he has never shown aggression and isn't too terrible with the girls. He respects his place under Dwight now. From what we've seen, he does not challenge him often. If he does it's usually over quickly. We don't want to cull him just yet.
Our third is deadpool and I've kinda known he's gonna be trouble since figuring out hes a cockerel. He has always chased Casper! Since they were around 8 weeks maybe. Casper will not challenge for a higher place anymore. Heck he will hardly defend himself when deadpool comes after him. He usually runs away and deadpool will chase him forever. Deadpool is the WORST about pulling the girls necks and trying to mount. He chased our poor girl cricket around the whole yard last night. Since being in the prefab he has tried to challenge Dwight a couple times already too. Deadpool is just not a keeper either.
So far this morning I haven't heard the usual chicken screams from trying to mount. So fingers crossed it's working with only Casper.
We may try Big Red in with the Casper and the girls and see how those dynamics work. Our neighbor, who has kept chickens for a while now, told us all the feather pulling was from too many boys and not enough girls. So I'm hesitant about putting Big Red in. I would like to see his temperament when he's alone with the girls also but I know it's not safe for Casper to be in close quarters with Deadpool so that's not an option to remove him.
Dwight, Casper, & Big Red occasionally pull the pullets but not as bad as Deadpool. Having all 4 boys pulling made things so much worse for the girls. Once we decide when to cull, we will have our prefab open again and if the the boys still haven't learned how to treat a lady they will be in the bachelor pad until their hormones have calmed down.
Click to expand...
Sounds like we’re both going through the same thing. ;)
Casper does seem like your best bet.
And Big Red is your back up?

It’s funny because I have a list of rooster names and a list of hen names.
Deadpool is on my rooster list lol. :lol:

The tricky part of all of this is how long will it take for their hormones to calm down?
Conan does have some good qualities and I keep thinking “Oh but he might grow out of that. It would be a shame to put him in the freezer if he ended up calming down.”
But I can’t wait forever. It causes too much chaos in the flock and I know my property can’t sustain enough hens for 3 roosters. It’s too many birds.
I’ll have a total of 15 large fowl hens once my new chicks are at POL.
That’s really not enough for 3 roos.
It may not even be enough for 2!

Unlike you, I don’t have anywhere to sequester the boys long term. :barnie
Because of that I may have to cull sooner rather than later. :(
I really need at least 1 more prefab coop for a grow out pen but I don’t know if I could convince my husband to get one.

Right now my current prefab is my bantam coop. I have 9 bantams. Frodo has 1 adult hen and 7 pullets for a total of 8. That’s plenty for him.

I wanted to brood my 12 large fowl chicks I’m getting in the next couple of weeks in our big walk-in coop.
But it’s still not enough room with 4 adults and 5 teenagers in there too! :he:hit

I felt doing that would make integration a breeze.
Now I have to put them in the garage again...
Hopefully they’ll feather out quickly since I’m brooding with a heat plate instead of a lamp. And it’s summertime too.
I just read about a lady in a different thread who’s chicks are already outside at just under 4 weeks and doing great.
 
Our 27 meaties went outside in May with a chicken tractor at 2 weeks. The batch of 10 pulletts are 4 weeks today. They have been off heat for 3 plus weeks and outside in the grow out pen for over 2 now. At 3 days they decided no more hot plate and piled in the corner. After 3 nights the heat got taken out.
 
I am just loving Moana's eggs. Look at those cute speckles!

IMG_20180702_171051.jpg


Still waiting on everyone else to lay but there has been a lot of activity around the nest box lately.
 
ChooksNQuilts said:
Sounds like we’re both going through the same thing. ;)
Casper does seem like your best bet.
And Big Red is your back up?

It’s funny because I have a list of rooster names and a list of hen names.
Deadpool is on my rooster list lol. :lol:

The tricky part of all of this is how long will it take for their hormones to calm down?
Conan does have some good qualities and I keep thinking “Oh but he might grow out of that. It would be a shame to put him in the freezer if he ended up calming down.”
But I can’t wait forever. It causes too much chaos in the flock and I know my property can’t sustain enough hens for 3 roosters. It’s too many birds.
I’ll have a total of 15 large fowl hens once my new chicks are at POL.
That’s really not enough for 3 roos.
It may not even be enough for 2!

Unlike you, I don’t have anywhere to sequester the boys long term. :barnie
Because of that I may have to cull sooner rather than later. :(
I really need at least 1 more prefab coop for a grow out pen but I don’t know if I could convince my husband to get one.

Right now my current prefab is my bantam coop. I have 9 bantams. Frodo has 1 adult hen and 7 pullets for a total of 8. That’s plenty for him.

I wanted to brood my 12 large fowl chicks I’m getting in the next couple of weeks in our big walk-in coop.
But it’s still not enough room with 4 adults and 5 teenagers in there too! :he:hit

I felt doing that would make integration a breeze.
Now I have to put them in the garage again...
Hopefully they’ll feather out quickly since I’m brooding with a heat plate instead of a lamp. And it’s summertime too.
I just read about a lady in a different thread who’s chicks are already outside at just under 4 weeks and doing great.
Click to expand...
So far we are thinking Big Red is our backup but we will need to see how he does one on one with Casper. Our kids named Deadpool! They also named one of our pullets Lil Taco! Lol.

It's hard with the hormones being so new. I've read where people said it takes about a year for them to calm down. I think the same as you about culling too early. Dwight is a good leader and protective of his flock it's just his aggression towards my husband that's the problem. I don't know if he can outgrow that or if it will just get worse. Dh has already said the second it becomes a full on attack he's gone then and there.

We had our chicks outside since we brought them home back in March. The temps were a little cool but daytime was reaching 70s already. They did just fine with the heat lamp. They were about a week old. We moved them into the prefab around 2-3 weeks and they've done fine out there since. Do you have a dog crate you could lock up the boys in for a timeout when they get too aggressive? I see a lot of people suggest when boys or bully hens don't know how to behave to lock them away for about a week that way when they are reintroduced they have to work their way back up the pecking order and calm down.
 
Soon after I posted Elsa's egg I found a green egg in the middle of the coop!

I don't know which EE it was- Belle, Kida, or Nala. They are all showing signs of being close to laying. Though I saw Nala in the nest box yesterday so I would think she would know to lay in there.
Hopefully she figures out what the nest box is for :s
IMG_20180703_102122.jpg


So excited to have a green egg!! Now all I need is blue!
Hoping one of my remaining 2 EEs lays blue!
 
Also I do not envy rooster problems- makes me happy they don't allow them where I live because otherwise I would be too tempted to keep one.

Of course the person I rehomed Kristoff, formerly known as Anna, says he is pretty well behaved and a good gentleman to the hens. :)
 

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