Hen or Rooster?

[erinfe]

Okie dokie. What name would you like me to put: real name (if so, what is your really name?) or Backyardchickens account username?

 

[erinfe]

Erin in MA is fine. I’ll check out your page

 

[erinfe]

If you keep him you will probably have to keep him separated on and off from the pullets/hens because he will overmate them and cause them problems. Usually the ratio is 1 rooster to 10 hens. There are occasion though where you can have one rooster and two or three hens. You will just have to observe the behavior.

Also your cockerel may not have hit full puberty yet and sometimes once the hormones are in full swing they get very mean. You may want to read up on having a young cock before keeping him because it could be also dangerous for your children.

 

[Jamiesilkie]

View attachment 1464056 View attachment 1464054 View attachment 1464055 This is Dori, she is 3 1/2 months. She is part of a flock of three that we are slowly introducing to our current flock of 9.
My question is: Is she a he?
She is starting to look like a rooster and her behavior has been different than any other hen I have had. She is extremely protective of her 2 sisters, the are actually inseparable, It’s kind of cute. She is always standing tall and keeping the other 2 close by, she disciplines them if the wonder to far from her.
Is she is a rooster, what do we do? My children are very close to this flock. It would kill them to separate them.

I’m new to this, but those saddle feathers say roo as does posture.

 

[KikiLeigh02]

Well you'll definitely have to check and see if it's even a possibility for you to keep him first!

I don’t know if we can have a rooster? The neighbors probably won’t appreciate it but I can deal with that. I know I can’t raise chicks although my kids would love it. I’m sure there aren’t any vets near us that could neuter it (that’s even possible). Wouldn’t it be mean to separate him from the 2 hens he loves?

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Thanks! Any advice?

You should first probably check if you can keep roosters. If you can, I think the amount of hens you have will be fine with him.

 

[erinfe]

Our current flock is 9 hens and we are slowly assimilateing them. So the ratio would actually be perfect. We have successfully combined 3 flocks in the past with no problems. This time is going a little slower probably because of the roo. Wouldn’t it be a problem when he starts mating with them?

 

[erinfe]

You should first probably check if you can keep roosters. If you can, I think the amount of hens you have will be fine with him.

 

[erinfe]

What about the fertilized eggs?

 

[PachecoPeeps]

What about the fertilized eggs?

You can eat them as long as you don't let a chicken sit on them for a number of days or if one of your pullets/hens goes broody you can let her hatch the eggs and keep or sell the chicks.