Naughty roo's breaking moms heart

[Rickovo]

That's great PluckyJen. I'm really glad your finding a way forward. Cockerels have a hard time of it and deserve to get lucky sometimes.

2 metres square each (i.e. a 2 meters per side run for 2 birds) is an absolute minimum of run space - a bit of spare preferably. I would love to have the room for more chickens. How good it would be to move to Wales I think and then think maybe its fortunate as I would have dozens of chickens! One good thing about being in the city though (with high walls and many back gardens to cross with dogs) is that we are relatively safe from foxes here.

Just a couple of points that should be obvious but I'll say them anyway if you are going to keep a flock that could breed (I know its the last thing you would be doing considering you current predicament!):

Don't inbreed your chickens. I'm guessing that you birds were all raised from chicks together? If so there's a good chance they are closely related.

If you do incubate eggs from your flock (or allow the hens to go broody on fertilised eggs) then aim for pure breeds or desirable hybrids that will find homes and harden your heart to having to cull the 50% average that will be male (you probably wouldn’t know for sure until they reach almost the same age as your cockerels are now.)

I hope you can find a home for one of the cockerels - you almost certainly will have to sooner or later.

Best of luck

 

[PluckyJen]

Seems my boy Ginger has been put in his place. Either by me standing my ground or by Roo the other rooster. He doesnt take prisoners that guy

. So its peaceful at the moment in the run. Well the boys have their run and the girls have theirs. I dug the holes today for new poles for runs. They will be 7 metres x 3 metres each run. Then they sleep in their sheltred coop at night. So excited for them! Ill post piccies soon. I may just build a small tractor or chunnel for them too for some variety.

I got my 4 from a breeder. There were loads of babies. I picked 4 from different pens. So not sure how closely related they are. With that said, ill see how it goes once the hens are matured. Im not overly keen on them having lots of babies tho. Backyard chickens as a hobby is still very new in South Africa and i would only want to breed knowing they would be appreciated and loved like mine are. Of course then theres finding homes for boys too which is tough. Still no luck on homing my boys. So we will keep them on. Ill adjust and build onto runs as we go.

Once again thumbs up for the info and suggestions Rickovo! Uv helped alot already

 

[PluckyJen]

Thought id drop by for an update. Through a family member we found a home on a farm for my two boys. It was out of the blue just when i thought they were going to stay. Their bad behaviour was curbed and they were being good boys again lol. So the new home have 44 hens for the boys! Their 6 roos are still young so everybody can establish the pecking order in time. I suggested the owners of farm use the same techniques that iv been using for bad behaviour and so far its been perfect. Was the best feeling taking them out there and seeing them skip around the new girls showing off. Their new moms n dads havent reported any problems. Boys integrated beautifully. Very happy heart in my chest knowing they are ok.

 

[Rickovo]

That's great news! Well done!