New to this. Need some advise.

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chickano

chickano

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I'm a first timer. Starting out with 4 rir, 4 buff orps, & 6 ameraucana . Someone just gave me a 4 month old ameraucana cockrel. I'm wondering if it was a wise decision being that my chicks are only 2 weeks old. Any helpful tips out there?
 
People are always giving away cockerels - there are a glut of them out there. If you don't intend to have fertile eggs to hatch or sell, you don't need a cockerel. Hens will lay just as many eggs without one and maybe more because they won't be stressed by over amorous males. A rooster can handle 10 hens, otherwise they can be overbred and damaged. You could always add a rooster later, and you may find one or more in the ones you are raising now.
 
Thanks for the info. I suspect I already have one in the little flock. Not sure what to do with the big guy now.
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. Drumstick diva has given you some good advice. Too many roosters will be very hard on your hens physically; over-breeding them, biting and plucking the feathers from their necks and backs, battering them, and potentially, seriously injuring them. I currently have 25 hens and no roosters, and I get loads of eggs without all of the aggression, fighting, non-productive mouths to feed, crowing in the middle of the night, and over-breeding and battering that goes along with having roosters (especially too many of them). My hens are stress free, enjoying life without any roosters around. Maybe you can re-home your rooster by listing him on Craigslist, or posting him on the bulletin board of your local feed store, or contacting your local 4h club to see if a student might want him. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck in re-homing your cockerel.
 
Michael OShay said:
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. Drumstick diva has given you some good advice. Too many roosters will be very hard on your hens physically; over-breeding them, biting and plucking the feathers from their necks and backs, battering them, and potentially, seriously injuring them. I currently have 25 hens and no roosters, and I get loads of eggs without all of the aggression, fighting, non-productive mouths to feed, crowing in the middle of the night, and over-breeding and battering that goes along with having roosters (especially too many of them). My hens are stress free, enjoying life without any roosters around. Maybe you can re-home your rooster by listing him on Craigslist, or posting him on the bulletin board of your local feed store, or contacting your local 4h club to see if a student might want him. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck in re-homing your cockerel.
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Ditto and Wecome!

If you want a rooster, it would be so sad to have to give up one you raised and have grown to love over one given to you. The age difference at this point would worry me.
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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As Drumstick Diva mentioned here, you don't really need a rooster. But if you have been given one and you also have one within your flock, you could always keep these two in their own bachelor pad together away from the hens. Usually this keeps them from fighting as long as there are no girls around. It is hard to rehome roosters, but it can be done. If you want to try to rehome them, you can do some chatting in your state thread with your chicken neighbors in hopes someone locally will take your boys. Scroll through this link to find your state thread...https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/26/where-am-i-where-are-you

Enjoy your wonderful flock and welcome to ours!
 
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You have been given some great advise. My local feed store will take extra cockerels if they have room. Good luck to you.
 
Thank you all for all the advise. It gives me a lot to consider. I do think that I will rehome this guy. He has been quite skiddish but he let me hold and him for quite a while this morning. I better let him go now before I get too attached.
 

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