How long will it take my girls to adjust to being without a rooster

[staceyl]

They are not quite 6 months (1 of the three isn't even laying yet), but they have been with him their whole lives - raised together as chicks.
Now dh wants another rooster, even though he originally wanted to eat him. I'm not so sure. He sort of stressed me out with his wanderings and the young kids in the neigborhood.

 

[IN-farmgirl]

With roosters, it is always a "love / hate" relationship!!

 

[oldcityfarmer]

Husband says you only need a rooster if you want to hatch chicks from your own flock.The hens, he says wll not miss him. They probably look arond to see if he is about to "mate". Lastly, they, the roosters, are fun as the do crow and prance in their pretty boy way.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

Mine were just fine from the second I took my roo away. One of the "head honcho" hens did try to mate one of the girls but that was just once and never seen it happen again. LOL It was the very first day he was gone. They did however seem to slow down on the laying. I went from 5-6 eggs a day from 10 hens to now 4-5

Not sure if that is because of taking the roo or becasue they are now a year and 1/2 old.

 

[chooniecat]

Our roo was 5 yrs old when we processed him and the hens(6 yrs old and 6 months old) didn't seem to care(they were watching when we processed) and even ate some of the mess. the only difference I noted for a week or so was they were not as co-hesive and would be ALL over the 2 acres they run on whereas when he was here they were more of a group. egg production did not change.

 

[19hhbelgian]

I bought a hen that was 2 years old and used to being around roosters. I didn't have any boys at the time. 2 days after I brought Sammy home, we heard this god awful noise one morning. I went out to see what was wrong, and found Sammy doing her best to crow

It was hilarious. She didn't lay for about a month after we got her, but then she started laying an egg a day! So, don't know if that actually helped you, but thought I'd share it with you.

They might go through a "mourning" stage, but

They are young, they'll bounce back quick

Honestly, I LOVE my roos... If DH wants another boy go along with it. Roos arent necessarily mean, and if you do get a mean one, I'm sure your DH wouldn't mind chicken dinner

 

[koifarm]

About 30 seconds after the roo is gone.....a hens brain is about the size of an almond nut, don't think there's much room for emotional thoughts in there.

 

[chickencrazymom]

We had to get rid of our rooster because he was NASTY , and wouldn't learn no matter what we did to him, but the funny thing is that after he was gone, our hens completely stopped laying , this went on for about 2 weeks, and then we got another rooster, they started laying within a week ! Everyone said, it's not because the roo is gone it's .... but the only thing that we did different was replace the roo ! BTW , the hens grew up with the roo , he was a mistake, but we kept him to keep the girls safe. I guess they missed their "cluckin !"

 

[staceyl]

Thanks everyone. I guess we just wait and see. When I let them out this morning they just hung out in the coop. But often they don't come running right out since the sun is coming up so late. HOpefully they can find their way out of the coop without Bruno to lead them since their food is out there. I won't be able to check for eggs until later, so we'll see.
I miss my Bruno though.