Can someone tell me what to do with my roosters?

[txchickie]

I ordered 16 chicks from Ideal and they are now 9 weeks old. I have 4 white leghorns (2 males, 2 females) and I *had* 12 bantys, but am now down to just 8 (we figured out that our dog has a taste for poultry). The little stinker managed to eat 4 banty hens one night.



But here's my problem, I have 12 chickens total, but 8 are roosters I love them all and I don't really want to get rid of any of them, but is it really feisable to have such an unbalanced ratio of males to females?? I'd like to have some eggs this spring and would like my bantys to hatch some chicks for us. Do I need to thin out my roosters? :|

Please be gentle with me! This is my first experience owning and raising chickens Oh and who knew you could love little birds this much!

 

[Roosterboy]

You probably should

you could always get more hens,

or get a few more and create separate pens

I don't think it would be possible

I'd say replace by getting more hens

Ideal doesn't have a minimum just a minimum amount to spend

 

[txchickie]

Quote:
I love your answer! Getting more hens sounds like a great idea

 

[smith2]

This is always tricky. You have a few options. Roos raised together don't usually fight, so you can just make a rooster pen and keep them together. You really don't want more than about 1 roo for every 8-10 hens. If roos aren't raised together they will fight and upset the hens. Some people say that if you have too many roos your hens stay upset and won't lay well. I don't know about that, but I have had too many roos. If you can keep them go ahead, but if not try to sell them or find some one to --gulp--eat them.

 

[momofdrew]

I gave 2 of my roos to 4 H... I started out with 3 girls and 3 boys...too many boys!!!

 

[txchickie]

I thought roosters weren't any good for eating? I was told the meat would be too tough?



Man, my ignorance is glaringly obvious right now!

 

[smith2]

Yes, you can eat roos. However, if they are older than about 16 weeks or so you have to slow cook them or can them. We eat young rooster just like we do pullet. I cull my extra roos and usually fry them if they are young or can them when they get older. I can't tell roo meat is any tougher than pullet at the same age.

 

[Rocky4052]

I have 20 white leghorn hens and 2 roosters. They were all brought up together. One of our roosters,(we named him Dirty Harry) decided that he was King Roo. He was going after the other roo every chance he got. He now has his own private living quarters in the coop.

It's too bad, but I had no choice. I should find a new home for him.

So, it's not always true that if they are brought up together they will get along.

 

[Beekissed]

Make some delicious cockerel soup!

 

[vickiemontana]

Hey beekissed, you still around here?