New to chickens and already having rooster issues

Thorner

In the Brooder
5 Years
Jul 17, 2014
25
1
26
North Central Phoenix, AZ
Hi, my name is Tanya. I live in North Central Phoenix (AZ).

In May 2014 we adopted 3 chicks from my daughter's kindergarten classroom that they had hatched from eggs. We had been wanting chickens, so we thought it would be perfect. We even built them a brand new coop that attaches to the outside wall of our home, which happens to be the outside wall to 2 bedrooms. We also fenced off about 1/4 of our backyard for a chicken run.

Well, turns out, ALL three chicks are ROOSTERS!! It happens to be illegal in Phoenix to have roosters. :( We love them, they are gorgeous, but they are VERY loud, especially when they all 3 crow AT THE SAME EXACT TIME! We were told that they are Aloha chickens, which happen to be a new breed made here in Arizona. To me, a novice, it looks like 2 are Alohas and 1 is a Rhode Island Red. One Aloha is quiet large, although smaller than the RIR, but the other is a little pipsqueak. The little one is the loudest though and very talkative. :(

Once we started to suspect they were roosters, we did go to Pratt's, the local feed store, and get 3 Plymouth Barred Rocks. They are all hens, thankfully.

So, looking for advice on keeping chickens healthy here in AZ and, once I can, will be probably posting a thread in the Re-homing section. :(

My children, hens, husband, and I will be sad to see the roosters go. They have been hand raised, hand fed, and held everyday, so they are very friendly. They will even sit down next to you or on your lap if you sit down in their run for long enough.
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! Sorry about the first three all winding up to be roos. You might also want to post in your state thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/31227/arizona-chickens for advice on dealing with your weather, but maybe you can find a local home for the roos. Craigslist, feed store bulletin boards (some feed stores will also take chickens) local 4-H clubs for a project bird, etc are all other places you might try.
 
Welcome to BYC
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Glad you joined us! So sorry to hear all 3 are roosters. They can be such wonderful pets when they've been hand raised. That should help when it comes to rehoming them. Good luck!
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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So sorry about all the roos! Definitely stop by your state thread and chat with your chicken neighbors. Maybe someone nearby can take some or all of them.

Welcome to our flock!
 
Thanks for the helpful responses. I will check on some other places. I am just a little nervous because I don't want them eaten or used in fighting. They are beautiful and our pets, so I can't stand to think of them being abused. I will also post on the AZ thread. Thanks.
 
Welcome to BYC! Glad you decided to join our flock. You have been given some good suggestions by the other members. Hopefully you can re-home those roosters. Even if roosters were legal in your area, the recommended ratio is 1 rooster for every 10 hens. The only really good reason to have a rooster in your flock is if you want fertilized eggs for hatching. Roosters will fight with each other, and an excess of them can be very hard on your hens physically; over-breeding them, injuring them with their beaks and spurs, and battering them. I currently have 25 hens, no roosters, and I get loads of eggs without feeding any non-egg laying mouths, without the aggression, fights, crowing in the middle of the night, injuries, and over-bred and battered hens that frequently goes along with having roosters (especially too many). I end up responding to members' threads, four or five times a week on average, who are having serious problems because they have too many roosters. Please feel free to ask any other questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck in re-homing your roosters.
 
I think most of the people on here have had an "oops" rooster more times than they care to remember. Sometimes feed stores will take them. It would be good if you could post an ad somewhere saying how friendly they are and could make good pets. That might attract the right kind of people to them. Welcome to BYC, hope they find good homes.
 
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Welcome fro Georgia!! I'm sorry to hear that roosters are against the law anywhere. I love the sound of a rooster, never understood why anyone wouldn't. I probably wouldn't like them right outside my bedroom window. I've heard people from the city(which means Atlanta 'round here) say that they wouldn't want a rooster waking them up in the morning. What about automobiles, trains, car horns, sirens, construction noise, and people noise in general. I'll keep my 5:00AM wake up call, Thank you very much. I'm sure you'll be able to find someone like me in AZ. EAT MORE COWS!!
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Thanks for the information on rooster to hen ratios. We might try having just one around for now, but will eventually have to get them all new homes. Still working on that part.
 

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