I'm not sure how long you're supposed to call a cockerel a cockerel, but Sid is almost 7 months. He's just hitting that stage where has hormones are raging and I've seen some behavior that I do not like. He has hit the hormonal stage almost 3 months after his brother! The difference in their aging is incredible to me considering they came from the same place so they're brothers.
1) He does sneak attacks on us every once in awhile, but it's not every single day so right now I have not too worried about that.
2) When his brother Squatch is mating, Sid comes over and steps on the hen/pullets heads plus he pecks them. This is the behavior that I hate the most about him! I had to remove my Hen Dolly today because she has peck wounds on her plus she's missing a lot of feathers on her back. I put her with our 21 meat chicks (she's the mom of half of them).
3) He is focusing more on us then he is on his flock.
I'm wondering if we move him into his own area with his own ladies, would it help him?
We have plenty of land that we can use if we need to. I honestly was thinking about butchering him, but all the time that I have put into this rooster or cockerel means a lot to me, he was never intended to be a meat chicken. We have meat chickens for a reason and we have laying chickens for a reason, my layer flock are like my pets but they give us eggs daily. Sid is part of this laying flock.
Any help that anyone can give me is greatly appreciated or any advice that anyone can give me...
1) He does sneak attacks on us every once in awhile, but it's not every single day so right now I have not too worried about that.
2) When his brother Squatch is mating, Sid comes over and steps on the hen/pullets heads plus he pecks them. This is the behavior that I hate the most about him! I had to remove my Hen Dolly today because she has peck wounds on her plus she's missing a lot of feathers on her back. I put her with our 21 meat chicks (she's the mom of half of them).
3) He is focusing more on us then he is on his flock.
I'm wondering if we move him into his own area with his own ladies, would it help him?
We have plenty of land that we can use if we need to. I honestly was thinking about butchering him, but all the time that I have put into this rooster or cockerel means a lot to me, he was never intended to be a meat chicken. We have meat chickens for a reason and we have laying chickens for a reason, my layer flock are like my pets but they give us eggs daily. Sid is part of this laying flock.
Any help that anyone can give me is greatly appreciated or any advice that anyone can give me...
I don't mind butchering a chicken and getting my hands dirty though. I'm not squeamish about meat or animal blood.
