- Jun 21, 2010
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Hello,
Glad to find this forum! I'm the caretaker of 19 chickens, 2 were bought at a small animal swap (by my neighbor) and 17 of them were hatched out this spring. I'm overrun with chickens! It was my first incubating experience and I took it seriously
It was amazing to see them hatch out and grow. Since the hatch was so successful I've had to move my chicks to ever bigger cages. Thankfully my neighbor who owns the small farm across the road has helped supply cages. It appears that I have a 50/50 ratio of male to female which brings me to the delimma... When should I separate out my pullets from the cockerls? They are going on 7 weeks old. The males test each other and charge and fluff up occasionally, no big deal yet. I've read how the males raised together generally wont fight unless there are females around but since I do have females...do you put them in separate cages in different areas of the yard? Should they not see each other at all? I thought I would separate them out when the males start bugging the hens (as the one book I read says) and put them on alternate day shifts in the yard. I'm curious if anyone has any advice or experience with this.
Thanks!
-Jen
Glad to find this forum! I'm the caretaker of 19 chickens, 2 were bought at a small animal swap (by my neighbor) and 17 of them were hatched out this spring. I'm overrun with chickens! It was my first incubating experience and I took it seriously
It was amazing to see them hatch out and grow. Since the hatch was so successful I've had to move my chicks to ever bigger cages. Thankfully my neighbor who owns the small farm across the road has helped supply cages. It appears that I have a 50/50 ratio of male to female which brings me to the delimma... When should I separate out my pullets from the cockerls? They are going on 7 weeks old. The males test each other and charge and fluff up occasionally, no big deal yet. I've read how the males raised together generally wont fight unless there are females around but since I do have females...do you put them in separate cages in different areas of the yard? Should they not see each other at all? I thought I would separate them out when the males start bugging the hens (as the one book I read says) and put them on alternate day shifts in the yard. I'm curious if anyone has any advice or experience with this. Thanks!
-Jen
