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lknipfer

lknipfer

In the Brooder
6 Years
Jun 29, 2013
16
0
22
Hello! I have been a silent follower of this site for about 8 months as I learn about chickens. After much research, I hatched 12 Buff Orps and 7 French Black Copper Marans the end of January. I am partial to the heritage, dual purpose breeds. I now have a dilemma and have been searching your site for answers and I feel I cannot make a decision and am looking for advice from all of you that have more knowledge, experience and practicality as I am now under a 7 day time pressure.

This may be a very hard question, but I need help. I have 19 chickens, 7 of which are hens that I am keeping, four Buff Orpingtons and three French Black Copper Marans. My two French Black Copper Maran roos are already challenging me and one crows 65 times a day, so they are both going into the freezer. That leaves 10 Buff Orpington roos to choose from to keep or send. I have an appt next Monday for my roos. How many roos should I keep for 7 hens? I find conflicting info of one or two. Are 7 hens enough to supply eggs for a family of four that eat a lot of eggs? Next question: You are sitting in a chair watching the 10 roos in question. How do you pick which one or two to keep? Size? Personality? Dominance? Pretty feathers? Straight legs? Big thighs or chest? What? Help! I picked the Orps on purpose as a dual purpose breed. Mostly I want eggs, but will occasionally hatch out more for meat. Some people say the Buff Orp roos get nasty as they get older no matter what, so maybe I shouldn't keep any? Lots of people seem to like the Brahmas (makes me think of bulls! lol), but I know nothing else about them. Open to any and all ideas and suggestions.

I also just hatched out two Red Dorkings that I am keeping just to raise their own chicks for meat. I started with 11 eggs and a hatch of 2 was disappointing. No idea yet if they are one of each or both the same sex.....just 5 days old. That problem will be dealt with later.

Thanks in advance for any help!
 
I am certainly not an expert in roosters.. however, I would say that 1 rooster would be more than enough for 7 hens. The rest should go. If you keep more you will constant territory squabbles over the hens and space. As far as the number of eggs... here's is what I get and you can judge for yourself. I have 6 hens... in the winter I averaged 3 eggs a day, now in the summer I averaged 5 eggs a day. So do the math. Lets use the 3 count. 3/day x 30 days a month. That is 90 eggs a month. divide by 4 people.. that's 22.5 eggs per person per month. Good luck to you with all those Roos. I do not envy you.
 
Thank you! I will keep ONE roo and increase my hens to 10...somehow....by magic....

Now I just have to figure out what criterion to apply to the 10 buff roos that I have to decide which ONE stays...or maybe none and get a brand new one, maybe a different breed?

Waiting for more help with anticipation!...
 
Greetings from Kansas and
welcome-byc.gif
! Pleased you joined us! On the question of which rooster to keep I guess I would keep the one that seems to be the most gentle on the hens. I had to send an aggressive rooster to freezer camp as he had torn the feathers off my hen's backs. And yes, as Kernel Cluck stated, I think you have enough hens to keep you well in eggs. Good luck to you!
 
Our family eats ALOT of eggs as we have different dietary restrictions and eggs are well tolerated by all. I think I would like to increase the hens to 10 with one roo. How to add hens will be a different problem I'll ask about in the future.

I was just out with my flock trying to get ideas on picking and choosing and I see that one of the buffs has two hens pinned in a corner and is beating them up. He goes. Three are smallish ding dongs that won't let me anywhere near them. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

I have a roost in my coop with 5 tiers. I know that where birds perch is an indication of their dominance. Do I want one high or low on the pole?

I know this is a lot of questions quickly, but I want to make the best decision possible and I never dreamed it would be this hard! I thought I would have my obvious one or two favorites...not happening! ;) I really like most of them which is where the difficulty lies.
 
First, welcome to BYC!! Glad you joined!!! Here is a suggestion about your Rooster situation. I would go ahead and pick two roosters for now and make another cut in the next 30 to 60 days after you have had a chance to see whitch one fitts your need. Pick two Roosters that are gental and have good genetics. A straight Comb that has around 5 points and doesn't curl over, straight legs with no sign of feathers, straight toes, good body weight, good color, good amount of tail feathers, wide body, ect.... If you look in the "Standard of Perfection" you will find helpful information about what Heritage Birds should look like. Just a Suggestion. Good Luck
 

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