Help - is my favorite young hen really a roo??

[Red&Yellow]

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Well, to keep him happy, get him more girls! As for breeders keeping small numbers of hens to rooster, that is, as far as I know, not a permanant thing. The breeders will keep them together for as long as they want hatching eggs from that mating. And in my experience, the bigger the rooster, the more hens he'll need. I had 17 hens with one GLW roo, and all got some feather loss on their backs, and EVERY egg was fertile.

He is a black sex-link rooster, by the way. Most BSL roos have funky silver-barrish patterns (that I've seen.)

 

[afishel]

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What is the "squat" I have pullets around this same age I know 1 maybe 2 of them are laying but I don't know how to tell WHO?? I have 3 or 4 girls that have red combs??

 

[spikennipper]

The squat is when you go near them to pet them or pick them up and they crouch down on the ground thinking you are trying to mate them

just before they start to lay they do this quite a bit especially if there is no roo present.

 

[VA Lady]

Red&Yellow :

Quote:
Well, to keep him happy, get him more girls! As for breeders keeping small numbers of hens to rooster, that is, as far as I know, not a permanant thing. The breeders will keep them together for as long as they want hatching eggs from that mating. And in my experience, the bigger the rooster, the more hens he'll need. I had 17 hens with one GLW roo, and all got some feather loss on their backs, and EVERY egg was fertile.

He is a black sex-link rooster, by the way. Most BSL roos have funky silver-barrish patterns (that I've seen.)

This is definitely a newbie question but can you (or would you even want to?) eat fertilized eggs? It definitely wouldn't be difficult to get them the same day they lay them. Also, is there anyway to separate them and still have them be happy? I can't think of any way to have that work - particularly when they need to roost together. I'm trying to figure out if there's any way to both keep "Maude" and to keep everyone content and I'm afraid that won't be possible.

 

[Red&Yellow]

Oh yes you certainly can eat fertilized eggs. (That's my favorite newbie question

) As long as you collect the eggs every day, there is no new life; unlike humans, fertilized chicken eggs only have potential for life (i.e., they need a specific environment to develop)

And now, if you have a broody or incubator, you can make more babies!!

As for 'Maude's happiness, if you have space, you could always separate him from the girls at times; perhaps 2 weeks in with hens, then two weeks out? And if you do separate him, he would probably be happiest if he could hear or see the hens.

 

[VA Lady]

This is good to know for contingency planning. We are thinking about putting a large kennel fence around the coop (with that inside the electric fence) so that when we aren't around they can have more space to run and be safe (we're in the middle of the woods and it seems like everything wants desperately to eat them). It would be pretty easy to add a smaller coop right next to the larger one. I just didn't know if it would be worse for him to hear them and not be able to be in the same space with them.