Holy crow!

[RavenEh]

On Saturday I was in the kitchen making lunch and I heard this god awful sound coming from the laundry room where our brooder is. I have a particularly plucky little roo (Luke) that likes to fight with my sweet Columbian roo (Butterscotch-the-cow) who is double his size - but the Columbian doesn't fight he just hides in the corner. So I thought it was something like that, maybe Luke had actually hurt Butterscotch, so I went flying into the laundry room.

To find Butterscotch had escaped the brooder, and perched on top of it letting out a victory "crow" (more like scratchy loud squeak).I thought it was insanely cute as I put him back inside and locked the top - but then the next morning I woke up to it, much more crow like, at 3 am, and then 4 am, and then 5 am... and then a couple times through the day when he managed to escape the brooder two more times. (They've now been relocated to the outdoor coop).

I had no idea he would crow so soon - he's around 8 weeks. Is that normal? When should I expect crowing on an average? (I know breed and personality probably affect crowing as well)

I'm wondering because I want to get the chicks separated as soon as I know their genders - I only have 6 in total, and two are roos for sure, two are hens for sure, and two I am not sure on - so I'm hoping they will crow soon and confirm for me whether they're males or females.

Someone on here told me that 1 rooster is too much for 3 hens, so I am very worried about 4 roosters with just two hens, or even 3 roosters with 3 hens - even though they're young. I don't want to separate them now, incase one of my "maybe's" turns out to be a hen, then she would really have the odds against her stuck with four roosters.

So far, the only negative behavior I've seen is from Luke, and it's strictly towards Butterscotch. I found a thread that mentioned when to separate the chicks, and it said as soon as you know their genders - so does that mean I should take the two boys out right now? The breeder I got them from assured me all but Butterscotch were hens (I now know how hard that is), but I'm learning they're not hens at all and hadn't counted on what I would do if I had more roosters than hens. Thanks!

 

[nchls school]

I have 4 8 week old serama roosters and they are crowing. Any fights I have seen are not serious; no one is injured in any way-mock battles. Separating them from the hens comes later. Crowing does not mean sexually mature. You do not need to separate the sexes until you see there is a problem-mating. And then only if the roosters are being hard on the hens.

 

[cluckcluckgirl]

I have 4 8 week old serama roosters and they are crowing. Any fights I have seen are not serious; no one is injured in any way-mock battles. Separating them from the hens comes later. Crowing does not mean sexually mature. You do not need to separate the sexes until you see there is a problem-mating. And then only if the roosters are being hard on the hens.

Well said. Roosters will crow at their own time; for some that's a few weeks and others that's a few months. The ratio of 3:3 (hens:roos) is a bit much. You could probably keep both roos with 4 hens IF they don't overmate the hens and get along with everyone.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

On Saturday I was in the kitchen making lunch and I heard this god awful sound coming from the laundry room where our brooder is. I .... find Butterscotch lettting out a victory "crow"....
I had no idea he would crow so soon....
as and carrots are both in season right now (somewhere) so i guess that you could whip up a chicken pot pie. Then if you wait a couple more months a nice big steaming pot of chicken and dumplings could be in your future. A Native American of my acquaintance says that everything works if you will only give it enough time.

Peas and carrots are both in season right now (somewhere) so you could whip up a tender Spring Chicken Pot Pie. Or wait a few months and make a nice big steaming pot of chicken and dumplings. A Native American of my acquaintance says that everything works out for the best if you will only give it time. I feel that this is one of those occasions.

 

[RavenEh]

Ok thanks, I will keep them together unless they show signs of anything dangerous. I don't want to keep that many roosters in the long run with them - it's just until they're bigger.