City Folk getting back into the flock in SC

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mrwoodboat

mrwoodboat

Chirping
7 Years
Nov 25, 2012
292
12
91
Hi All- new member from SC that has just recently started back up with chickens. I grew up on a small family farm and we always had chickens to help feed the family. Recently, we picked up 9 Buff Orpingtons that are about 5 wks old. We built a 12' x 4' tractor with a 3'x4' raised housing with 4 nesting boxes. At the same time, we built a 2' x '4 brooder box with lamps and all.

So, I guess we have committed to raising chickens again LOL.

I do have a question- when I was younger and we had chickens, we never kept more than 1 roo in the coop- as it turns out, the Buffs that I picked up were a straight run and we ended up with 5 roos and 4 hens. Right now, they are all getting along fine but I imagine I will need to cull some of the roos out- could some one give me an idea how long that may be? I do have a 20 x 20 open area for them to explore outside of the tractor so I am thinking I have enough space for now.

Thanks
Jay
 
Greetings from another South Carolinian who is definitely a newbie. Just picked up 6 chicks this afternoon to start our adventure. Found a great guy in Elgin who had "Copper Rhodes"(RIR & Black Copper Maran breeding). We ended up with 4 of the Copper Rhodes (2 weeks old) and 2 of unknown heritage (3 weeks old). They have temporary housing in the house until we can built the coop and runs. Wish me luck.
 
Hello from Kansas, Jay, and
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! Pleased you joined us! I've had similar issues with unexpected and unwanted roos. I usually cull them for frying around 16 weeks - they seem to be big enough for frying but not so old as to be tough. Much older than that and I found them to be very aggressive to each other and the hens. Good luck to you!!
 
Hello and welcome to BYC
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I agree with Redsoxs, keep them too long and you'll have fights. I think what you must do is choose the best roo in the bunch and either eat or rehome the rest when they are around 16 weeks old. Once you got about 20 posts you can place an ad in the buy sell trade section for unwanted roos

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/67/buy-sell-trade
 

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