New to the rooster thing...need advice.

[phatchicken]

So - the inevitable finally happened - an accidental rooster in with my chics. He is about 10 weeks old, a California Leghorn...I am not a fan. While he is sweet with me, and my partner, he is a creep to the hens. Jumping their bones whenever the mood hits him, which is constantly. He is scaring the heck out of the older hens, as well as his girls he was raised with.

What should I be doing? He doesn't seem at all interested in watching for danger - just jumping on the poor hens. I knew we didn't need a roo to have the hens lay eggs to eat, but now that Skeeter is trying mightly to fertalize ALL the eggs - can we eat them?? I really need help, I have no idea if he needs to be seperated, if we can eat eggs after roo sits on the hen, any advice would be welcome. I may have a home for him, and think that would be best, but if I can't find a home I need some guidance.

Thanks everyone!!

 

[chicmom]

Hello!

As long as you collect the eggs daily and refrigerate them, you will not even notice the difference from a fertilized egg to an unfertile egg, so YES! By all means, eat your eggs......

Now, it sounds as though you're not real crazy about having a rooster, and I don't blame you one bit. They can be mean and they can really be too agressive mating and tear up your poor hens.

Soooo, if you don't like him, get rid of him. Problem solved! You can cull him and make a nice pot of soup with him, or simply dispose of his body, but if that's not your cup of tea, you can give him away by advertising him on craigslist or some website like that.

 

[gumpsgirl]

Fertilized eggs taste the same as non-fertilized eggs. There is no difference at all in them. Just keep them refrigerated, as already suggested, and all is good.

However, if this cockerel is driving you crazy you might want to re-home him. I'm not trying to tell you what to do, just saying.

 

[patandchickens]

Go check out the "fertile vs infertile egg" stickied thread at the top of the index in the "Incubating and Hatching Eggs" section of the forum... you will see how incredibly tiny and subtle and hard-to-see the difference is between fertile vs nonfertile eggs. As long as you keep them somewhere non-warm (e.g. fridge or cool pantry -- I wouldn't leave fertile eggs out on the kitchen counter at 85 F for a week in the summertime

) you will never even know the difference.

If you want to eat or rehome him (if you can), that is fine of course. Just be aware that most roos are very hormonal and "teenage" in the beginning, and they will settle down and develop more self-control and finesse and manners as time goes on. So what you're seeing now is probably not his *permanent* state of behavior, he's just a teenage boy whose parents are away for the weekend

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[phatchicken]

Thank you all for your advice - I feel much better now. Hopefully he will settle down a bit - and I'm happy I can eat the eggs - WHEW!! Is it advantageous to have a Roo?

 

[markb816]

I have 6 hens of different breeds that I purchased and built a sound sturdy coop for. My neighbor has 2 hens and 2 large roosters that are brothers. When I brought my hens home and got them settled in to their new coop, the rooster brothers decided to come over and visit. The bigger brother rooster decided to pack his bags and move in the coop with his new found loves of his life (my 6 newly purchased hens). Now he won't leave and has made himself part of the flock. I didn't mind and my neighbor even said that it was good that the brothers had seperated since it was starting to get a little tense with all the rooster testosterone he was having to deal with. The big brother rooster hasn't gone back to his original home and I don't think he will. I do believe he is with my flock to stay. I do let him know that I'm still the ALPHA, but he is part of the flock as well. He is not aggressive to me, but can be bothersome to the hens with all his chasing and prouncing on them, holding them down while he performs his "duties", but they must not mind too much because they follow him around and they all stick together. I kind of like him because I HOPE that he will help to guard and protect the hens, that is why I am letting him stick around, that and plus I can't chase him off, he always come back after I get tired of running after him. so all in all we have a understanding, he protects and watches over the flocks and knows that I'm the head honcho, and in return, I let him get free meals, room and board and of course the ladies(hens) he is able to "court".
Hope this helps.