I know I have too many roos, help?

[Buckeye Amy]

Thank you! Would you keep any RIR roos? They seem to be nicer to me than the BRs lol.

Give them time. That will change.

 

[NatJ]

There might be nice lines and nasty lines of each breed.
One year I had 7 roosters of various breeds, and the only mean one was the Barred Rock. Both Rhode Island Reds were fine.

 

[mandymcg05]

Give them time. That will change.

I knowwww I keep hearing this. lol. But I swear for the last 2-3 weeks these BR roos are just hateful lol. I may try to get rid of a couple in each breed and see what happens with the rest. I'm not sure what else to do!

 

[Jedstar]

Yeah all 4 of my RIR roos they are placid as. All they do is come up to me for food. Now and then they will peck the hairs on my legs. But I've got 38 australorp cross chicks bout 4 weeks old now. Some of them are really cheeky. One attacked my hand this morning. I'm getting rid of all my cross breeds and just sticking to my pure RIR and pure Australorps.ive got 2big black australorp roosters and one black hen and a blue hen. Then some adult australorp cross hens.im getting rid of those. Cross breed ones.

 

[mandymcg05]

Hey guys! I wanted to post some updated pics on the RIRs I have left. We are still holding out hope at least one is a pullet. I have them colored on the ankle. Any suggestions welcome.

GREEN

ORANGE - sorry only one photo of this one!

RED - AKA BIGGUNS LOL

AND LAST YELLOW. The only one with the curved/short tail feathers.

 

[NatJ]

I think they're all males.
I'm most sure about Yellow, because his comb and wattles are the biggest and reddest of all.

The sexlinks are the same age, right? There's a really noticeable difference between their combs and these Rhode Island Red's combs! And it's most likely due to gender, because both breeds would have similar comb sizes otherwise.

Anybody crowing yet? That would be another way to settle the issue.


If you intend to butcher them, you can confirm gender: just start with the one who has the biggest comb and work your way down the line. For each bird, if you find testicles inside while you're gutting him--go on to the next one. If you find a cluster of tiny egg yolks, say "oops" and don't kill any more. (By that age, the testicles of the males are fairly easy to find when butchering.)

Confirming gender while butchering makes me feel more satisfied about having made the right decision. No more questions about whether it was "really" a male.

 

[keesmom]

They still look like they are all cockerels to me.

 

[mandymcg05]

Yes I’m pretty sure they all are. I just thought maybe yellow with that tail. Ughhh. I hate that. Yes everyone was purchased at the same time. And they were straight run versus the GCs were pullets.

 

[mandymcg05]

I think they're all males.
I'm most sure about Yellow, because his comb and wattles are the biggest and reddest of all.

The sexlinks are the same age, right? There's a really noticeable difference between their combs and these Rhode Island Red's combs! And it's most likely due to gender, because both breeds would have similar comb sizes otherwise.

Anybody crowing yet? That would be another way to settle the issue.


If you intend to butcher them, you can confirm gender: just start with the one who has the biggest comb and work your way down the line. For each bird, if you find testicles inside while you're gutting him--go on to the next one. If you find a cluster of tiny egg yolks, say "oops" and don't kill any more. (By that age, the testicles of the males are fairly easy to find when butchering.)

Confirming gender while butchering makes me feel more satisfied about having made the right decision. No more questions about whether it was "really" a male.

I really didn’t want to start butchering yet. I was hoping to find them home OR let so
Done else do the eating of them lol. And no one is crowing yet. They should be about 8 weeks. They could have had different hatch dates. And I keep seeing these hen photos. (Attached) So I’m holding out for yellow. I’m in denial I know lol.

 

[aart]

Anything with that much red at 8 weeks is a male.
Comparing to hen photos is folly..... sorry.
I slaughter cockerels at about 14-16 weeks,
still tender enough for the grill(after resting cleaned carcass 48-72 hours),
and before they start causing too much chaos in the coop.