How Long Is a Rooster a Crazy "Teenage Boy"?

[citychickinthecountry]

How long do roosters act like hormone crazy teenage boys (no offense to any males out there)?!?!?! I'm trying to find homes for 3 of my roosters, but no one seems to want roosters. So now, my only hope is that the teenage boy horomone crazy stage of their life doesn't last long and I can keep them and have one big happy family.

One other question...How many roosters is too many for a flock of 12? Here is my breakdown:

3 adult hens (~1 year old...all laying eggs)
3 roosters (definitely know they are roosters)
1 suspected rooster
1 silkie that I'm told is a rooster, but that has shown absolutely no signs of being a rooster
4 hens (not yet laying eggs)

All but the 3 adult hens are ~15 weeks old. I had always heard that you shouldn't have more than 2 roosters per 12 hens, but I'm having trouble finding this in writing. Ugh.

Thanks all.

 

[citychickinthecountry]

What really makes me angry is that I was supposed to get all hens and I ended up with so many roosters. Grrr.

I've got ads on this site, I've got feelers out with friends at work, and I am going to maybe go to a local auction. It just brings to me to tears to know that someone else might not love these guys like I do. I'm a complete mush when it comes to my chickens (and my kids, and my boyfriend, and my cat, and my gecko...).

 

[Why and Dotte]

One roo per 15, is what I go by otherwise your hens will be overbred.
I have 33 chickens and two roos, got lucky with this years hatch

Try craigslist because those boys will always be boys, or you could set up a roo pen.

 

[chickenlady08]

Yep you have to many roosters for the number of hens you have. I have been told 10 - 12 hens per rooster. I understand that it is hard to find someone to take the roosters if you have extra. I have a local feed store that they buy them from me for 6 and they sell them higher priced to discourage them being eaten.

You need some more hens if you are going to keep all those roosters. Or you need to house them seperately so they don't hurt the girls.

As far as the boys acting like a love sick teenage boy, I am not so sure. I have a 15 month old Delaware 'Jack' and a 10 month old 'JJ' and truthfully the baby is acting better at this time. Now I am not saying that he doesn't chase after a girl and pull her by the head, but Jack is trying to hold onto the Alpha spot so he is a jerk at times to my girls and to my daughter (just chases her around) and has literally attacked me many times and each time I hold him on the ground for 5 minutes and then hold him in my arms for like 10 minutes. He is usually fine for several weeks.

 

[Oven Ready]

How long do roosters act like hormone crazy teenage boys

Until about five or six months....

....then they turn into hormone crazed grown men

If you only want to collect eggs then one rooster is one too many.

If you want to breed more chickens then one rooster is fine (but don't forget every clutch that hatches will be about 50% cockerels so you need to deal with them anyway at some point).

If you are breeding, then get used to killing them off / selling them off / giving them away before they get used to killing each other. The aftermath of two cockerels really going at it is not a pretty sight. Don't think that because they don't have their leg spurs yet that can't rip each other to pieces, they can. It's a bit sad but it's just the way chickens are, you'd think they would've evolved to hatch only 10% males. Maybe this doesn't apply to all breeds but our Japanese Bantams cockerels really don't tolerate each other despite having 4 acres to wander about in and a 20-1 ratio.

Even with a 10-1 or 20-1 ratio (hens-cockerels), there comes a time when too many hens have eggs or chicks and your perfect ratio is down to 5-1 and the cockerels will start to fight and start to mate with hens on eggs or with young chicks.
Make one rooster a happy rooster, let him be the only one.

And don't forget - cockerels taste just like chicken too !!!​