Newbie here

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Batpool88

In the Brooder
Jun 6, 2024
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Hello, I'm new to raising and owning chickens (hence why I joined the forum). My husband and I have fourteen chickens altogether, twelve are just over three months old and two we don't know as they were given to us by our neighbor last year. One of the adult hens, is (I believe) an Australorpe, the other adult hen is a mix of Rhode Island Red and something else I think, three chickens (roos) are Leghorns, two are Black Barred, one is a Buff Orpington, and the rest (including our fourth roo) are Rhode Island Reds. We decided to keep chickens to hopefully be a little more self reliant, especially with how expensive eggs are. I would love to get advice on anything chicken related, I want to make sure I'm doing this right.

I do have an issue that I would love insight on. My roosters kept trying to mate with my adult hens since the pullets aren't sexually mature yet, so I put all four roosters in the old coop that we used when we had gotten our adults from our neighbors (we were given five, but the other three have died from different reasons, so we only have the two left). Am I doing the right thing by separating them? And should I keep them separate even after the pullets are old enough to mate? I also hope the boys won't tear each other apart, although, all of the youngsters are the same age and have all been living together since we got them as chicks, and they haven't been aggressive towards each other (as far as I've seen). Thanks in advance
 
And when I mean the boys mating with them, I mean literally taking turns and fighting each other to mate with them. All three of my Leghorns were taking turns on my Australorpe, and my Rhode Island Red and one of the Leghorns were taking turns on the other adult hen. My girls kept getting cornered and I'm sure they were really stressed..hence why the boys were separated.
 
Welcome to BYC. You are doing the right thing. That many cockerels can severely injure your hens and pullets. They may start to fight each other, but they may also live peacefully. Be prepared to intervene if one gets more than a little injured/bloodied, otherwise let them work it out.
 
janiedoe said:
Welcome to BYC. You are doing the right thing. That many cockerels can severely injure your hens and pullets. They may start to fight each other, but they may also live peacefully. Be prepared to intervene if one gets more than a little injured/bloodied, otherwise let them work it out.
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Ok thank you. It was a sort of spur of the moment idea. I didn't want to hole up the adults, as they have been sleeping in a shed that was modified for them before winter started (I wasn't going to have them sleep with the younger chickens until the pullets were old enough to lay), and I couldn't keep the boys holed up in the youngster's coop because then the pullets wouldn't be able to get to food and water (my chickens forage during the daytime when it isn't raining). I'll have to have my husband get a couple more buckets and turn them into feeders to keep in the old coop for the boys.
 
Hiya, and welcome to BYC!! :frow

We just had to put a rooster down as when it started killing a hen we caught in time, we realized that's the one that killed that hen's sister two days prior. I knew it was a rooster that killed her but just wasn't sure which one it was as none were aggressive at all. Once we knew, he was destroyed.
 
Debbie292d said:
Hiya, and welcome to BYC!! :frow

We just had to put a rooster down as when it started killing a hen we caught in time, we realized that's the one that killed that hen's sister two days prior. I knew it was a rooster that killed her but just wasn't sure which one it was as none were aggressive at all. Once we knew, he was destroyed.
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IMHO, It had to be done. There's no point in keeping a bird that's dangerous to your flock.

I'm sorry for your loss
 

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