Kill the roosters or will a seperate pen help?

[sharon53]

My roosters are so aggressive with the hens that some days I'd like to kill them! But, nasty as they are, they are pets. Can I put all 6 of them in a separate pen? Of the 8 chicks I bought this spring, at least 2 are roos-they've already started attacking the bantam hens.Please help!

:cd

 

[Ms.Frizzle]

What is the rooster to hen ratio? Also, I was reading about how many of today's roosters have gotten the mating rituals bred out of them! : O Maybe you want to replace your roosters entirely and get some that are less rough.

 

[aggie9296]

a lot of people on here put roosters in a separate "batchelor" pen. They would probably prefer that to the crock pot. If they start attacking each other, might have to cull the worst offenders.

 

[andalusn]

I am not sure I understand your hen/rooster numbers.. you have 6 roosters living with your flock currently? If that is so, it's just too many. Your hens will be used very hard. You need like 1 rooster for 8 / 10 hens.

 

[jtr]

if you do get a flock roo get a delaware they are not mean and they are protective for there girls and nice to them they do not fight or anything great breed of rooster for a flock

 

[Arielle]

In anticipation of too many roosters, I have already started thinking about a piece of real estate just for the boys.

Purposely, the run is large about 25 sq feet per bird and they free range at times too; so far 3 are clearly roosters to cover 23 hens. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I learned from reading a great many posts: the more space the better, the lower the ratio of roos to hens the better and free range to allow the hens to escape. ANd finally, a coop just for boys out of sight of the girls. GL

 

[andalusn]

It's not really an exact science. In many cases roosters will get along quite well with each other as one is dominant and lets the others know it. Then they sort of pack and will often times stand in line to cover the same poor hen. This is just too hard on the hens. Removing them to their own area where they have their own girls reduces the tension a lot.

 

[sharon53]

Thanks everyone. Yup, my hen to roo ratio is really bad-4 bantam roos & 6 bantam hens; a turken roo, a red star hen, & a black star hen. Now 3 turken chicks (only 1 is a hen), a white rock hen, & 4 Golden Polish chicks (how do you tell what they are?). They're all pets & though I dislike the boys behavior I do love my birds. I'll get going on a second pen now!