How do i tell which rooster is older?

[nicole]

We got 6 chicken's recently, 2 roosters and 4 hens. we realized early that one rooster was gonna have to be dinner, but which one? I was told to get rid of the older one, but have no idea which one is older, is it the most aggressive one? or is the weaker one getting too old? How does a person find out?

 

[lurky]

post pictures and i am sure you will get some good feedback.

 

[chickenlady]

Instead of going by age, why not go by temperment? Pick the one you like the best to keep. No to roosters are alike.

 

[MissPrissy]

I agree. Keep the one that is the most well behaved. You'll be sorry if you end up keeping a mean rooster and sent the nice one packing simply because of age.

 

[Kev]

Yeah keep the one with better attitude towards people and the hens.

One way to tell if a rooster is young or old is by looking at their legs. If the scales are very smooth, that is young. If the scales look sort of thick and not so smooth.. it's probably older(need to make distinction between normal older legs vs scaly leg mites though). Also the spur size can help- if the spurs never was filed or cut off or molted, on the older roosters the spurs are an inch long or longer. If there's no spur or just like a little bump, it's a very young one(year old or less).

 

[davidb]

You can tell by the spurs,the longer they are the older the roo. If it has been trimmed it will have a blunt tip and most likely be 2yrs or older

 

[chickenlover50010]

I'd pick the one that is nicer. I agree with the other people, I wouldn't want the nicest rooster to go just because he is older.

 

[shay20]

You can tell bye the size of there spears on the legs, that a great way on telling.

 

[nicole]

thank you for your responses they have been very helpfull, we are going to try taking the aggressive rooster out of the coop and letting the weaker one in for a while and see if his legs heal from being pecked.