California - Northern

[lawatt]

I raise groups of boys together all the time. If they grow up together there is usually no problem. Many of my breeding pens consist of the girls and two boys that were the top two from the group. That usually works, but sometimes it is too much for the girls and needs to be reduced to one.

I also keep bachelor pens. For the most part they get along if there is no girl involved, then they start to tussle (like teenaged boys). You'll find you can't take one out for any reason and hope to be able to return him to the pen, that won't work. Once the pen is established as belonging to the other roo, then there will be territorial warfare.

Also with bachelor pens, there will at times be a little fighting. You have to keep an eye on things. If it's a Camp Kenmore pen for me, I don't worry too much about it unless they start to do real damage to each other. If it's a spare pen for show roosters, then I really have to watch for any damage.

Some breeds get along better than others. I have a pen of bantam BR. There are 8-10 hens and 3 roosters. No one gets picked on, but the most submissive rooster spends a lot of his time standing off to the side, obviously ruled by intimidation.

In a holding pen for processing, I needed to put in a bunch of boys. There was one big cream legbar roo living there by himself. I put in five Icelandic boys, not a single fight. A couple of days later, I added one more OE boy and again no fighting. I was even amazed how seamlessly the seven boys lived together. I never once saw a fight, they probably would have been a gang of thugs if I turned them out loose, they seemed to be working together

thanks for the detail, Deb, and to all three of you for the thoughts -- so perhaps i should keep the boys in their own pen? it will be side by side with the pen with the girl chicks in it, so they'll be able to see each other easily -- will that be any different than just keeping them all together in one pen?

 

[ronott1]

thanks for the detail, Deb, and to all three of you for the thoughts -- so perhaps i should keep the boys in their own pen? it will be side by side with the pen with the girl chicks in it, so they'll be able to see each other easily -- will that be any different than just keeping them all together in one pen?

Keeping them in a separate pen is not a bad thing. Absence makes the heart grow fonder--Separating them for several days and then moving the Rooster in is a trick to get fertility up. The Hens are less likely to be over bred--or need saddles for bare backs.

The best thing to do is to experiment with them to see what combination works best for your Flock. It is never quite the same.

 

[debs_flock]

Quote: You should be able to raise the two boys right in with the girls if they are all similar ages. It's only when you have large groups of boys that it's a problem with having the girls in the pen. Then it's a constant fight to see who's on top. And if the ratio of boys to girls is too high, the girls get all torn up. Two boys should be about right.

 

[lawatt]

You should be able to raise the two boys right in with the girls if they are all similar ages. It's only when you have large groups of boys that it's a problem with having the girls in the pen. Then it's a constant fight to see who's on top. And if the ratio of boys to girls is too high, the girls get all torn up. Two boys should be about right.

thanks -- right now, there's one/two (not totally sure about one of them) in one pen with 8 girls, and another pen with three boys and two girls (they're divided up by age/hatch mom right now) -- perhaps i should do some rearranging, as the youngest are now 4.5 weeks old & probably would be fine without mom (although she's not gone back to egg laying yet, like her sister did earlier this week)

 

[PetRock]

I raise groups of boys together all the time. If they grow up together there is usually no problem. Many of my breeding pens consist of the girls and two boys that were the top two from the group. That usually works, but sometimes it is too much for the girls and needs to be reduced to one.

I also keep bachelor pens. For the most part they get along if there is no girl involved, then they start to tussle (like teenaged boys). You'll find you can't take one out for any reason and hope to be able to return him to the pen, that won't work. Once the pen is established as belonging to the other roo, then there will be territorial warfare.

Also with bachelor pens, there will at times be a little fighting. You have to keep an eye on things. If it's a Camp Kenmore pen for me, I don't worry too much about it unless they start to do real damage to each other. If it's a spare pen for show roosters, then I really have to watch for any damage.

Some breeds get along better than others. I have a pen of bantam BR. There are 8-10 hens and 3 roosters. No one gets picked on, but the most submissive rooster spends a lot of his time standing off to the side, obviously ruled by intimidation.

In a holding pen for processing, I needed to put in a bunch of boys. There was one big cream legbar roo living there by himself. I put in five Icelandic boys, not a single fight. A couple of days later, I added one more OE boy and again no fighting. I was even amazed how seamlessly the seven boys lived together. I never once saw a fight, they probably would have been a gang of thugs if I turned them out loose, they seemed to be working together

Camp Kenmore!

We just went through a whole separation process out at the farm. We have one hoop coop finished and put the Bresse trio in it. We have another one almost finished but not sure who we will put in it. All the Langshan roos, the Langshan hens, the SPPR hens, and a couple mixes were all living in the field with the horse trailer coop. We had way too many boys for the number of girls and they were being bred way too often. So, we put all of the girls (hens and pullets) in the coop & pen that the Bresse were in. They are some happy chickens! No free ranging but no being jumped by the gang! They are on vacation for at least another 3 weeks and then we will decide who goes into the breeding pens. We have another open pen that contains all the juvenile boys. Most of them are slated for the freezer with the exception of my Welsummer roo who crowed early and couldn't stay in town with me. They all are getting along fine. The roos are in the field with the exception of one black Langshan roo who has found the girl pen and does his dance around the outside of it! My friend also has a low chicken tractor that she moves around the property. She has some chicks and baby turkeys in it.

 

[ronott1]

Megan shipped 10 Pita Pinta and 2 Marraduna Basque Hatching eggs to me. One was broken so I set 11 of them.

All 10 of the Pita Pintas eggs hatched! One of the Basque eggs was a dud. I have 10 chicks from 11 set.

 

[tommysgirl]

Tommy I have never seen anything like that.

She laid something that looked like it once before but it was bigger and not fleshy like this is . More like two membranes filled with albumen joined together like these are and with a tail. This is like something you would toss out with the chicken skin.

Weird...

 

[lawatt]

Megan shipped 10 Pita Pinta and 2 Marraduna Basque Hatching eggs to me. One was broken so I set 11 of them.

All 10 of the Pita Pintas eggs hatched! One of the Basque eggs was a dud. I have 10 chicks from 11 set.

so fantastic! they all look adorable!

 

[ronott1]

She laid something that looked like it once before but it was bigger and not fleshy like this is . More like two membranes filled with albumen joined together like these are and with a tail. This is like something you would toss out with the chicken skin.

Weird...

What breed is she? I had a Golden Comet that had egg laying weirdness. She stopped laying and passed at 2 years old--Mareks cancer was the cause.

Hopefully she will recover with the treatments. Sour crop and Vent Gleet are Fungus related so that may have caused the strange thing you found today.

 

[Ali707]

Excuse me....I don't mean to be a negative Nellie here, but WHY are we getting rain in June? I am not ready for rain. My coop will be a muddy mess and my back has been killing me for a week so manual labor is a challenge to say the least!

Those are some cute chicks Ron.