obscene amount of roosters

[w_butz]

hey everybody, just needing some advice on managing our flock.

at the end of July one of our older hens had been brooding for a while and 11 chicks were hatched

as they grew we originally thought there were only two roosters, because they were so much bigger than the others. but now i’m thinking we have 7 roosters and 4 hens. is that crazy?

all of my roommates say that is really rare and there’s no way they are all roosters. but they definitely act like it, they all fight and run in front of the group when i walk into the coop. the 4 hens (three brown ones, one white one) are much smaller and act more timid. i have not seen them laying eggs or mating yet.

we have our 3 older hens and one rooster in a separate coop near them, they crow all night. they go to bed around 5:30pm and i usually hear their first crow around 1 or 2am. is that normal?

if we really do have all these roosters, i definitely want to find another home for all but one of them. how would i go about doing that?

 

[STACEYH]

I see for sure 7 roosters in that picture. HELLO welcome to BYC.
I would post on your state thread here @ BYC. You might do facebook, craigslist. You could even cull them.Good luck. A lot of us get many roosters when hatching eggs.

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

From the feathers, i think those 7 are roosters. I would worry about the safety of the hens. I guess you need to relocate the roosters as soon as possible. I have 3 roosters, about 6 months old, and they are in a seperated pen. Mine start crowing from 6am, and there will be few peaks during the day time, 9am, 1pm, 3pm. They crow when they want food, feel something strange, or respond other roosters in the surrounding.

 

[nuthatched]

Lots of roos. Having male heavy or only males hatches aren't rare at all.

 

[ChickenLeg]

Looks like 7 roos, thatd make alott chicken n dumplins

 

[Mrs. K]

Personally, if I was happy with the mature rooster in the other group, I would cull all of these as in removing them from my flock.

Some people keep a rooster flock or a bachelor flock, but separate from the laying hens.

You can post at the feed store, sometimes a picture helps. On a public forum, and do not ask any questions as to what those people are going to do with them. Once they take the birds, it is their responsibility. A lot of time, people give roosters away for free.

Oh and sometimes the chicken gods are against you, and they are ALL roosters, if you hatch out a thousand birds, well then your average is going to be very close to 50% hens and roosters. But in a random hatch, it will be all over the place.

Mrs K

 

[Egg Snatcher]

hey everybody, just needing some advice on managing our flock.

at the end of July one of our older hens had been brooding for a while and 11 chicks were hatched

as they grew we originally thought there were only two roosters, because they were so much bigger than the others. but now i’m thinking we have 7 roosters and 4 hens. is that crazy?

all of my roommates say that is really rare and there’s no way they are all roosters. but they definitely act like it, they all fight and run in front of the group when i walk into the coop. the 4 hens (three brown ones, one white one) are much smaller and act more timid. i have not seen them laying eggs or mating yet.

we have our 3 older hens and one rooster in a separate coop near them, they crow all night. they go to bed around 5:30pm and i usually hear their first crow around 1 or 2am. is that normal?

if we really do have all these roosters, i definitely want to find another home for all but one of them. how would i go about doing that?

All roosters but the buff one. Put them on Craigslist

 

[Ridgerunner]

but now i’m thinking we have 7 roosters and 4 hens. is that crazy?

As others said, not at all. I get more hatches where I get 60% or 70% of one gender than I do where it is close to a 50-50 split. Over a couple of years my average is close to 50-50. If you look at that hatch 7-4 is just one chick away from 6-5. Would you consider a 6-5 split unusual?

all of my roommates say that is really rare and there’s no way they are all roosters.

Obviously your roommates are not mathematicians.

i definitely want to find another home for all but one of them. how would i go about doing that?

That kind of depends on where you are located. If you are in the USA a lot of people use Craigslist to advertise them. If you are in another country you may have some similar type of buy-sell-trade program.

You can go to the "Where am I? Where are you!" section of this forum and find your state or country thread if you have an active one. Chat with your neighbors.

Talk to the people at your feed store. They may have ideas or maybe a bulletin board where you can post a notice.

You can go to the "Buy Sell Trade" section of this forum and advertise them. Put your location in the thread title so you attract the attention of people you want to attract.

If you are in the USA you could chat with your county extension office. They might know somebody that would take them.

Is there a livestock auction near you? You could take them there and auction them off if they take chickens.

 

[TropicalBabies]

@w_butz welcome to byc. You have gotten some good advice. I'd like to add- Your flock looks wonderful and your boys should/could find a flock of their own. With that many boys I'd get after it b4 they start to cause trouble. I'd also separate the boys in their own area to keep the girls with less stress as you put out your adds, fliers etc. Do it all. fb, craigslist. look for the farm and/or ag sections. People are looking into having their own sustainable flocks now and looking for good boys and that you have.
I sell and rehome my boys, I vet my people and 90% of them land pretty darn good, just takes work, practice and patience on my part. I meet more amazing chicken people, make friends and have a different adventures. All part of the gig. Roll with it and have fun

 

[klb25]

My neighbor gave me four randomly hatched newborns over the summer. Three were roos.

I'd rehome them, sooner than later. I use a local livestock auction but you could also try NextDoor, Craigslist, Facebook, any local groups you have.