Beautiful 3-month-old cockerels in Central Maryland

[Fishychick]

I let one of my hens sit on eggs, and now I have gone from 1 rooster and 3 hens to 4 roosters and 6 hens. I want to keep them all but only have one main run and one quarantine run, and the roosters are all large and in charge. I don’t want them to die from being eaten by humans or predators. If you can give them a good home with their own run, their own flock of hens, or a bachelor flock, things will be a lot easier with my flock and for them. I’m looking to re-home two of the roosters born on 4/15/19. I gave them all girls names to try to will them to be girls.

Georgia – mostly shiny jet black with copper highlights coming in and will get more colors later, standard comb, no feathers on feet, ear tufts, voice has already changed but not crowing yet.

Iris – mostly white with gray/blue polka dots all over his body, slightly smaller comb, one feather on each foot, ear tufts.

Their biological mother – Billie – gray/blue frizzle cochin with feathers on her feet.

Their biological father – Angel – black and gold large Easter egg rooster with tiny bubble-type comb and ear tufts. There is a good chance that daughters of Georgia and Iris would produce colored eggs.

I live in Central Maryland and am generally too busy to travel so you would have to come to me (and help me catch Georgia and/or Iris). I know few people want roosters but perhaps you are one of them? Please don't reply if you just want to eat my grand-chicks.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Just so you know, if neither is frizzled, neither is caring the gene since it is dominant.

 

[Fishychick]

Sorry, I forgot my genetics. If F is he gene for frizzling, ff would be no frizzle/no carrier, Ff would be frizzle/carrier, and FF would be frazzle (not good). So, my boys can't produce frizzling unless the hen is frizzled.

Anyway, what am I going to do with four roosters in my run which is big but not that big? I don't want to kill them so they will eventually either kill each other or kill me or kill the hens with mating. I went to pet one of the baby roosters yesterday which I've done before, and he bit me hard. We have tons of foxes and roosters. My co-worker said to let them loose but I know that would be a death sentence for them and also mean they would be attacking me every time I went outside.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

If they are mean, don't pass them on to someone else. I always have multiple roosters and there are VERY few fights and none attack me. If course, these boys are young and challenging whoever they can is a part of puberty, so there may still be hope for them.

 

[Fishychick]

The babies aren't even 3 months old yet; they aren't nasty yet. They may not like me but that's because nobody likes me. I'm getting older, and the father rooster (who I hatched in April 2018) has injured me pretty good multiple times (and that's with a snow shovel in front of me; he leaps over it and throttles me until I'm covered in bruises) but I can't kill him because I know he's just doing what instinct or higher powers are telling him to do. Iris bit me because I went to pet him while he was on roost. When off the roost, none of the chickens will even let me pet them. So, I don't try anymore. Years ago, I had a rooster that let me hug him. So, if mine will all turn out mean, that prevents them from finding new homes. So, I guess I have to let them fight it out, and I may get hurt in the future when not one but four roosters are all gunning for me when I go in the run. My brother pointed out that I can't protect all sides of myself at once. For a few years perhaps, the father will keep the younger roosters in check but eventually they will overthrow him. I had two roosters years ago, and the son tried to murder the father after a few years so I put the father in a tiny little area for the rest of his life (the father was mean to me but not the son; that's the one I could hug). Anyway, thanks everyone for nothing. I know, it's all my fault for allowing my hen to sit on eggs. I let a hen years ago do that three times and I ended up with that sweet rooster and two hens so it worked out that time. Never again. Do they sell a suit of light armor I can wear to protect myself? I guess I'm going to be building some crappy makeshift separate quarters for the roosters with no protection from the weather. I found one coop for a week's pay that could provide shelter but the boys are big. Anyway, every time I post on here, I regret it.

 

[cjisok]

If I were allowed to have roos in my county I would take them. I can't, but this article might help you, along with the articles about bachelor groups:

https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/aggressive-roosters/

Please don't let them go or provide them with inadequate shelter. People haven't said anything remotely rude to you and you're on the defensive. It is true what you said - you brought them into the world. They are ultimately your responsibility, and if you weren't prepared for about half of the chicks to be male you shouldn't have hatched them.

Another option is to try a farm animal sanctuary, try to rehome them on Instagram or another platform, or to try to rehome them at a 4-H or poultry swap. Good luck.

 

[Fishychick]

I want to just delete the thread but it won't let me. My brother (who doesn't live with me) and my co-workers are pressuring me to "get rid of" three of my baby roosters. They said I "have to" and have no other option. I wanted to keep them even if it cost me time, money, and some bruised legs. So, I posted here and was told I shouldn't give mean roosters to anyone. I've had half a dozen adult roosters in my life and only two didn't try to kill me every time I went in the pen. As for poultry swaps, they always kill roosters that they collect. Yes, I knew I would get ~50% roosters but I didn't know for weeks how many eggs she was sitting on and didn't think it would be six! Once I found out, I didn't have the heart to abort any. If my mother were alive, she would have because she did it in the past. I paid mucho money for a fancy chicken pen with a quarantine area but had a falling out with the contractor, and there's nobody willing to finish it for me. The side pen was supposed to have a full house with electricity even. Since my father died, I can't "waste" money like that anymore as my job pays little, and they haven't given me a raise in 4 years. I have a Masters degree in analytical chemistry, the worst mistake of my life; there's no money or happiness in that field. Anyway, you guys can delete my post.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

I'm sorry that you're having a hard time and hope that you kind find a nice home for your cockerels. Maybe try putting an ad in the classifieds or your local craigslist. You cannot do anything about someone eating them, but that would be better than them injuring each other or, most especially, injuring you.

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

I want to just delete the thread but it won't let me. My brother (who doesn't live with me) and my co-workers are pressuring me to "get rid of" three of my baby roosters. They said I "have to" and have no other option. I wanted to keep them even if it cost me time, money, and some bruised legs. So, I posted here and was told I shouldn't give mean roosters to anyone. I've had half a dozen adult roosters in my life and only two didn't try to kill me every time I went in the pen. As for poultry swaps, they always kill roosters that they collect. Yes, I knew I would get ~50% roosters but I didn't know for weeks how many eggs she was sitting on and didn't think it would be six! Once I found out, I didn't have the heart to abort any. If my mother were alive, she would have because she did it in the past. I paid mucho money for a fancy chicken pen with a quarantine area but had a falling out with the contractor, and there's nobody willing to finish it for me. The side pen was supposed to have a full house with electricity even. Since my father died, I can't "waste" money like that anymore as my job pays little, and they haven't given me a raise in 4 years. I have a Masters degree in analytical chemistry, the worst mistake of my life; there's no money or happiness in that field. Anyway, you guys can delete my post.

Hi. Have you tried confronting them with treats? Dried mealworms or dried fly larvae work great for training. Think of them as a dog that's been strayed, try winning them over. It wouldn't hurt, hopefully will keep them from attacking. Best of luck!

 

[HeatherKellyB]

My heart goes out to you because I get it. For my very first tiny flock, I purchased 3 chicks from my daughter's school and ended up with THREE cockerels!!! Like you, we named them girl names, and I actually told my 7 year old that even though I was seriously questioning if we had any pullets, we needed to love on them & I was going to continue to refer to them as girls. Once I was finally able to accept the fact that I had cockerels, I really yearned to have a small backyard flock. I ordered 3 pullets from a hatchery and ended up receiving 6. Out of these, we have AT LEAST one more cockerel. I'm not planning on keeping any cockerels/roosters in my flock since my daughter is young and we spend a lot of time with them. Right now, we have three 8 week old cockerels and six 3 week old chicks, with at least one cockerel in that group. We do have somewhere for the 8 weekers to join a large flock, but my daughter & I are having a very difficult time parting with the barred rock cockerel since he is such a handsome sweetheart (for the moment). The barred rock started crowing on Sunday morning and one of the other cockerels started crowing Sunday evening. I'm sorry you're going through so much right now. Seems like it's everything together instead of 1 individual thing that upsetting and it's understandable. The folks here are so incredibly helpful though so please try to keep that in the back of your mind. Also, there are members from all over the place. There is a very good chance that you might be taking something in a way it wasn't meant. Our background and where we're from makes a difference in the way we respond and our wording. Tone is extremely difficult to to judge online. Best of luck to you. I wish you the very best