Well, probably going to rain on your parade, but instead of your heartbreak, you might need to think what is best for the chickens. It is not fun, but it is responsible.
Thing is, look past this, if you love these chickens, you will love others too.
At least separate the roosters from the pullets. Do that now. It will buy you some time to come to terms with good decisions for your birds.
Maybe you will get lucky, but really, I would not expect you to get lucky. That is a couple of decades of experience talking. Roosters in very small set ups tend not to get along, and with just a few pullets, tend to pursue them relentlessly. They can kill each other or kill a pullet. That is what tends to happen in situations such as yours from your description. Or they develop very ugly behaviors. They can also become human aggressive and attack people for no reason, people that they appeared to love. Chickens really do not love IMO, they do know who has good treats.
Right now, you are in the darling stage of cockerels, I think that is about to change. Once it changes there really is no going back to the darling stage. Once the hormones hit, the darling stage is over. Go ahead and enjoy them now, but be aware that this is apt to change - have something else set up for when it does. Set up and ready to go. Most people vastly underestimate how violent chicken can be.
Mrs K
Thing is, look past this, if you love these chickens, you will love others too.
At least separate the roosters from the pullets. Do that now. It will buy you some time to come to terms with good decisions for your birds.
Maybe you will get lucky, but really, I would not expect you to get lucky. That is a couple of decades of experience talking. Roosters in very small set ups tend not to get along, and with just a few pullets, tend to pursue them relentlessly. They can kill each other or kill a pullet. That is what tends to happen in situations such as yours from your description. Or they develop very ugly behaviors. They can also become human aggressive and attack people for no reason, people that they appeared to love. Chickens really do not love IMO, they do know who has good treats.
Right now, you are in the darling stage of cockerels, I think that is about to change. Once it changes there really is no going back to the darling stage. Once the hormones hit, the darling stage is over. Go ahead and enjoy them now, but be aware that this is apt to change - have something else set up for when it does. Set up and ready to go. Most people vastly underestimate how violent chicken can be.
Mrs K
