All turned out to be Roosters - Need Help

[flyingchicken]

I hope someone can help me here. My GF got 6 broiler baby chicks 4 months ago, just as pets. She also thought about potential benefit of getting eggs from them at that time. She never had chickens as pets before in her life. Now, the funny part is that all 6 chickens turned out to be males lol. She doesn't want to give them away as she raised them and is emotionally attached to them. She says that if she gives them away, then her dear chickens will be eaten eventually by whoever takes them.

The issue is that now, I feel that they need hens as well to live a happy social life. I was reading somewhere that there should be one rooster for 8-10 hens. That will be too much for my GF to take care of. Any suggestion on what should she do? She thinks she can accommodate maybe 2 more chickens (hens). But I think these 6 crazy guys will be too much if she brings just 2 hens. What happens if she doesn't bring any hen? Will these 6 males spend a depressed life? or what happens if she brings only 2 hens? I am attaching a pic as well. Thank you for help in advance.

Edit: Correction, they are 3 months old.

 

[A_Fowl_Guy]

There are people who keep flocks of roosters. There is even a thread about it on here.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/rooster-flocks.72998/

 

[DobieLover]

I hope someone can help me here. My GF got 6 broiler baby chicks 4 months ago, just as pets. She also thought about potential benefit of getting eggs from them at that time. She never had chickens as pets before in her life. Now, the funny part is that all 6 chickens turned out to be males lol. She doesn't want to give them away as she raised them and is emotionally attached to them. She says that if she gives them away, then her dear chickens will be eaten eventually by whoever takes them.

The issue is that now, I feel that they need hens as well to live a happy social life. I was reading somewhere that there should be one rooster for 8-10 hens. That will be too much for my GF to take care of. Any suggestion on what should she do? She thinks she can accommodate maybe 2 more chickens (hens). But I think these 6 crazy guys will be too much if she brings just 2 hens. What happens if she doesn't bring any hen? Will these 6 males spend a depressed life? or what happens if she brings only 2 hens? I am attaching a pic as well. Thank you for help in advance.

They do not need hens to be happy. Hens will make them fight. Just keep a bachelor pad.
You can read up on this site on how to keep broilers healthy past their butcher age. It can be done. They need exercise and their food needs to be limited.
Good luck.

 

[Perris]

hello @flyingchicken ! welcome to BYC

I'm guessing she didn't realize at the time that broilers means males, usually, as they make bigger birds, so it wasn't chance that they all turned out male.
Apart from the fighting between cocks in the presence of hens, a few hens are not going to have a nice life if they were expected to have to service all those cocks, so she should either keep a roo flock as suggested, or change 4 of them for hens.

 

[Redhead Rae]

Those look like Leghorns rather than meat birds which is good news for the longevity of your birds.

Since they are leghorns and are 4 months, I wouldn't say for sure that they are all roosters. Some look rather pullet like to me. With leghorns many people confuse pullets for roosters because their combs are so big.

A Leghorn rooster would look more like this.

Hens look like this.

8-10 hens per rooster is a recommendation for the safety and well being of the hens rather than for the happiness of the rooster.

 

[MillersFarm]

Can you post a pic of them each individually? Like @Redhead Rae said those look like leghorns to me, And i think I see some pullets in that bunch.. Not too sure though but I see at least two in the bunch.

 

[Gray Farms]

Ya, those aren't broilers they are Leghorns. Just from these pics they look like pullets to me. I'd expect much more comb from 4 month old Leghorn cockerels.

 

[Molpet]

They definitely are not broilers... too skinny and too many feathers
they do not look like boys either.. look like pullets at point of lay from these pics.. I think you will be getting eggs soon
typical broiler feathering , makes them easy to pluck

eta why are they thought to be boys?

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

I don’t see rooster traits in the pictures either. At 4 months I would expect saddle feathers and at least spur buds. The wattles also seem short for roosters.

 

[flyingchicken]

Can you post a pic of them each individually? Like @Redhead Rae said those look like leghorns to me, And i think I see some pullets in that bunch.. Not too sure though but I see at least two in the bunch.

Hi thank you so much for the reply! Seriously I am very surprised (in a good way) to see so many comments indicating that these look more like pullets. I will get all the pictures from here by tomorrow and post here. Thanks again.