I have a flock of 15 chickens that are 7 weeks old today. I'm still not completely sure how many of these are roosters, but I'm suspecting 5, just because they have big combs. (But, 2 are black australorps, and it could just be females with big combs). I know 5 roos would be too many... but, I'd like to keep one, if I could. These are my first chickens. I am new to this. I have 7 easter eggs in the incubator, due to hatch in one week. I'm hoping for an Easter Egg roo, because I would like to make more easter egg chickens in the future. By the time these newest birds feather out, and are ready to join the others... are the older ones still young enough to merge? Or are those first "roos" (if they are) old enough to be too far ahead of the new ones, and I'll have to get rid of them? Basically, the chickens will be 8 weeks apart in age. I hope I explained this well enough. I know a lot just depends on the personality of the birds, but I'm too new for trial and error, so more interested in what the "general rule" would be. Thank you.
If you post some photos of your chickens, some of the people here might be able to tell you what they think they are. I have 8 chickens myself. I believe only 2 are hens. Sadly if thats the case Ill be keeping 2 roosters at the most 3 and giving the others away to my family. You can also check their vents to see if its a male or female. There are some images online on what to look for when sexting them
The older ones will pick on the youngsters. You will need to have a pen alongside each other where you can safely let the younger birds out so everybody can get used to each other for a while before they share space.
