Hello BYC!

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Avieanna

Avieanna

Hatching
5 Years
Aug 5, 2014
3
0
9
Ohio
I am new to Backyard Chickens. I have enjoyed looking at the site since April and decided to join. I want to say a big THANK YOU to all the very friendly, helpful, wonderful, and knowledgeable members out there! I have been able to find an answer to most of the questions I have had by searching through the forums. I find that I can spend hours on this site! I look up one thing and then find new things to search. This site is amazing and all the members make it so!

This is my first year with chickens and I fell in love even though they do not like to be picked up. We got 9 chickens from TSC for Easter as a gift, however, they did not get to come to our house until June. I got lucky and ended up with 6 hens and 3 roosters. I am so thankful for a place to help feed my new chicken addiction... and those that understand it!

I am excited for next year when I get to order chicks! I look forward to the chick fluff and them growing into hens I can possibly cuddle, hug, and hold. Although, I keep changing my mind on how many and what kind. I am learning from you guys to watch for that chicken math. hahaa.

Again, THANK YOU BYC for this wonderful site and all the members!! I am grateful I have a place to look up chicken questions, feel comfortable to ask them, and of course just enjoy reading about chickens.
 
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

Glad you love this site! It sure is a great site!!! Oh and we are all chicken addicts!
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One plus another chicken equals more!!

Good luck with your flock and welcome to ours! Feel free to ask your own questions now that you joined!
 
If you intend to keep the roosters, one rooster can handle 10 hens. - you would need a lot more hens to prevent them from getting overbred and damaged by 3 roosters. Plus grown roosters will usually fight over the hens. Maybe you can trade the boys for more girls - then peace will reign at your place. Hen's do fine without a rooster, they will still lay eggs But no fertile ones.
 
Welcome to BYC! Glad you decided to join our flock. We are all addicted to chickens here. :eek:) X2 on drumstick diva's advice. It's important to stick to that 10 to 1 hen to rooster ratio as too many roosters can be very hard on your hens physically; over-breeding them, biting and plucking the feathers from their necks and backs, battering them, and even potentially, seriously injuring them. I currently have 25 hens and no roosters, and I get loads of eggs without all the aggression, fighting, unproductive mouths to feed, crowing in the middle of the night, over-breeding and battering that goes along with having roosters (especially too many). My hens are stress free and seem to enjoy not having any roosters around to worry about. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your flock.
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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A lot of chickens don't like to be picked up. They don't like their feet leaving the ground. But it is a good idea to pick them up daily anyway to make them less stressed when you do need to pick them up. All my birds complain when I need to pick them up, but they get it anyway! Ha!

Enjoy this new adventure you are on and welcome to our flock!
 
I have been wanting to get rid of two of the roosters but not sure which ones. So far they are all getting along and only one has been "with" the ladies that I have seen. I am thinking it just is because they are young yet? Two of the roosters stay away from me and want nothing to do with me unless I have treats. The prettiest one was the only chicken when I got them in June that would come up to me and let me pet him. I didn't know at that time he was a he. He quickly became my favorite. The girls will come up and beg for food and eat it out of my hands but they run when I try to pet them.

My favorite rooster has now taken to attacking my boots the past week and a half. Some of my family keeps saying to keep him since he lets me pet him but I'm not sure if I should since he is starting to go after me. I won't run from him and will pick him up and hold him until he calms down. They are saying that he will tame down. Thinking that I should just get rid of him since he is already getting aggressive. Then I read something somewhere about after a year and a half they can calm down and be friendly and if not then that is pretty much their personality. I have a 4 year old son and I refuse to let him in the coop now that the rooster has been acting like that. I don't want to wait a year to see if he is nice when I have a son that I want to keep safe. Just is not worth it to me. We could enjoy some chicken pot pie or casserole.

If I get rid of all the roosters, will the hens become more friendly? I don't have restrictions on having a rooster and would like to keep one eventually but would like to be able to let my son go in coop with me and know he is safe. He likes to watch and help look for eggs, water and feed the chickens.

I read the Buff Orpington thread and those seem really nice. I was looking for a good friendly dual purpose bird that could take some cold. I am going to start reading the Brahma thread. Any other suggestions on breeds for a good dual purpose breed? Thank you!
 
Roosters mature at different rates, and with young birds the most mature one will usually be the dominant one getting all the hens for now, and will often be the friendliest to people. Agree, aggressive roosters should generally be turned into soup. With young children, he is too much of a danger, even if he gets "better" later on, aggressive roosters usually stay aggressive to some extent and you'll never be able to trust him. Most people recommend against roosters and young children in general, even normally "good" roosters can have an off day where they see a child or person as a threat.
Hens do seem to get more friendly with no roosters chasing them around or trying to "guard" them from people.
Black Australorps/ Orpingtons like you mention are really popular and make great pets, though orps are broody, Plymouth Rocks, Sussex (really like these also), Delaware and Wyandottes are some other popular breeds that are usually pretty easy to get along with, they all lay different shades of brown eggs. The Easter Egger, often sold as Ameraucana by hatcheries, are a fun breed because they usually lay green/blue eggs, and they tend to be very nice friendly birds. All are pretty cold hardy.
Not sure if you have seen them, here are a couple of links to some nice chicken breed comparison charts you might like http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html and http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/chickenbreedcomparison.pdf and http://www.mypetchicken.com/chicken-breeds/breed-list.aspx
when you have narrowed down your choices, don't forget to check the BYC Reviews section for member reviews on the different breeds. https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/category/chicken-breeds
 

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