Considering killing evil chicken

[FrostRanger]

Which one is this? Definitely a cockerel. Don't go by crowing if you're trying to sex a chicken - they can start crowing at any time during their first year. If there's a more dominant peer present who starts crowing first, the other may delay crowing if he's more submissive, because crowing is a challenge to the other roosters. The pictures of the legs are also irrelevant - spurs can take a long time to grow in as well. What you should be looking at first is comb and wattles - development and color - and this guy's are huge and flaming red, a dead giveaway. He's also old enough to have all the proper saddle and hackle feathers, too, and a rooster tail. His looks are advertising his manhood quite loudly.

To add to that, females can have spurs too. The presence or lack of spurs is a poor indicator of gender

 

[Thanson]

I've never killed a chicken before and never wanted to. Up until this summer I had one rooster + 12 hens. They're all small/average, mostly 4 pounds, and all get along. They free range on one acre all day long.

This summer my favorite hen (tiny 2 pounds and broody) hatched two new chicks, one rooster and one hen, both giant, probably 7 pounds each and are now 4 months old.

The giant hen is a bully and mounts the chickens. Yesterday I started keeping her in a 300 sq ft secluded fenced area with her rooster brother, and saw the most BIZARRE thing. Toward the end of the day when it was time to go to to the coop, she escaped and was hanging out in the yard for a bit, she found a single random feather on the ground and ATTACKED the feather: grabbed it with her beak and mounted it for 5 seconds, driving it into the ground with her feet like it was another hen that she was on top of.

Then when she went to the coop at dark, she attacked the other chickens inside the coop.

The giant rooster is well-tempered but also mounts the other chickens. I don't fault him for it, but he's so much bigger than them that it's dangerous. He doesn't try to fight with my 4-pound rooster. But I think he'll be lonely if the giant hen is gone since they hang out together all day.

So I'm thinking of killing them both, sadly.

I have 11 normal sized hens and a silkie rooster. I got two more normal sized roosters and the silkie is still the boss. I had two silkie roosters, but a hawk got one. Now with the two large roosters I don't think a hawk will risk trying to get any of the hens. Everyone seems to get along okay because there is plenty of space to free range and also areas to hide from the roosters if needed. I made little wire tunnels with plant clippings that the hens can run under to escape the roosters.