5 roosters out of 7...now what?

[babyelle]

this spring i purchased 7 straight run bantams and 7 standard hens. well 5 of the 7 bantams are roosters

. we already love them and all are very sweet with the exception of my black cochin...he is aggressive already. i think the ratio is 1 roo to 10 hens...is that correct? also, since the roosters are bantams and i do have 7 standard hens plus my two bantam hens does that change the ratio? i really do want to keep 4 of the roo's but not if that will disrupt my flock.

 

[reallyluvschickens]

I have too many roosters. I have to give two away to a farm. I'm in North Adams, MA and would like to know if anyone close by needs a 16 week old rooster. Please help.

 

[7L Farm]

One roo to 10 hens. Keep the ratio right otherwise it will cause problems within the flock. I just got rid of 14 cocks.

 

[swampcat]

Well, I guess the only way to remedy that is to get more chickens!

 

[Mr chicken dude]

Well if they were standards I would eat them but. . . You could try to give/sell them or put an ad in the paper etc. You could house them differently but then you have five different pens.


Collin

 

[CrazyChickensEverwhere]

You can have a pen for just roosters. Like pick you nicest most favorite rooster keep him with the hens, take the other 3 and put them in a pen together, DONT PUT HENS IN THERE. Just the roosters.

And the cochin, Put him on craigslist.

 

[Gonda]

I've had more than one rooster with a dozen or so hens and for the most part it worked. I did have to get rid of a third rooster once, when I noticed that some hens were possibly getting too much attention. With two (an alpha RIR and a laid back cochin) it worked. I know of someone who has a few roosters as well, in a smaller flock, and she finds it works if they grow up together, as far as getting along with each other. But I don't know if her hens are getting too much attention. She does have the option to put the flock in separate spaces in the coop and into different runs.

I haven't really figured out for sure when a hen is getting too much attention. If they constantly have bare backs, is that the signal sign? I've had that issue in the past, which is when I got rid of rooster number 3.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

The roosters might get along fine with each other because they were raised together. It is hard to say how 3 roos will do in the coop with Standard hens considering that they are bantams they may not cause as much stress as regular size roos. I have an extra bachelor coop for the roos who were raised together. My hens were showing bare backs from the extra attention from my big roos before they moved into their bachelor pad.

 

[F106A]

I've been trying to get rid of my two, white leghorn roosters for the past month-and-a-half or so. It's a local ordinance thing where I live; no roos in the city limits. (Other than that the laws are great here!) After a whole lot of "maybes", and "I might know someone" answers, I've been seriously considering chicken recipes! I finally got a positive from my local feed store when I went in last weekend for a bag of feed, and one of the employees asked if I needed any more chicks. (Yea, right!) I countered with, "Ya know anyone who wants a couple leghorn roos?" He said he did! Actually, it's a rancher that comes in, and the guy free ranges chickens. Mostly for insect control, but it's legitimate, and the feed store just told me to drop them off. They would feed and water the roos until the guy dropped by. The kids, and I dropped them off at the feed store two days ago. I was impressed. No tearful goodbye, no photos, and especially important I didn't have to butcher the roos for supper. The kids aren't ready for that yet.

So, if you all are having troubles getting rid of your roos for whatever reason you might want to try your feedstore. The local guys, not TSC! I wouldn't even consider them.

HTH,

Mark

 

[triplepurpose]

Quote:
Just because they're bantams doesn't mean they're no good to eat. I'm not sure if this is what the OP had in mind, but it's a perfectly legitimate option. And while I'm on the subject, I know a lot of people always say they "would dream of it" or that they're "not ready" for that process or whatever, but incorporating the occasional home slaughter into your lifestyle is really not a big deal on this kind of scale and doesn't preclude having a loving relationship with your birds. Also, it is a good lesson for families about where food comes from, and it really makes these kind of situations a heck of a lot simpler to deal with, and more pragmatic, in terms of rewards for your efforts, as opposed to trying to rehome or give away the extra cockerels. Raising chickens for eggs, with the occasional meat as well as a by-product, just makes so much more sense to me than single-purpose flocks... So much more for your time and money...