Oh no, a surprise roo!

[mendozer]

One of my 5 month old birds crowed this morning! This was a surprised as I expected all 6 to be hens. He/she is a silkie so they were straight run. I don't really want a rooster because I don't want him to harass the hens and mate with them. We're connected to this one more because it had pasty butt for almost a month so every day my wife and I bathed it's bottom, blow-dried it, and dabbed vaseline on it's butt. It got the real deal spa treatment...and all for no hen!
I know silkies are tamer than other breeds, but will he still try to mount not only the other young hens, but what about the older 4 they merged with? I have one dominant hen who's unkind as it is already with some birds. Will they fight for leadership?
I don't know what to do with him, but also my wife loves em. Her name was Dawn. I guess now it's...Don?

 

[chrissynemetz]

Well, if he's a cockerel he'll absolutely mate with the pullets. It's simply what they do. But putting him with older hens might be just the thing to keep him in line. Adult birds can be really good at teaching the hormonal young cockerels some manners.

 

[AuntieWeasel]

I wouldn't assume harassment unless you see it happening. My mother was an old hippie; she insisted on a rooster and thought that hens wouldn't be happy without a sex life. I don't really buy that (I had an all-hen flock for a long time and they were perfectly content, as far as I could tell), but still...it's perfectly natural. He's not likely to mate with anybody until both he and they are ready. If you can stand the crowing, he'll probably fit in just fine.

 

[AllenK RGV]

We hatched out 17 silkies this spring(for wifey) and built them a separate coop and run. I don't know how this happened only got 2-3 roo's to about 14 hens from the clutch. They have been crowing for a while its cute and inoffensive compared to my experience with our large fowl breeds. All of my LF Sumatra roos were culled for aggression. The two flocks aren't mingling for some reason and that is fine everyone has plenty of space.
I have shaved the silkie roo's heads so they see well enough to do their job protecting the flock and they behave like young roos. They already guard the fence line have plenty of cover for the hens and then the coop. This winter I expect the boys will be giving their lives to the hawks and that is acceptable to us if they save a hen. If they do get out with my free rangers I'm confident they would be taught some major respect. I'm not expecting any issues from these guys as they are calm. No wing flogging or challenging behavior yet when we hand feed the flock. Those Sumatra roos went hormonal by the time they were crowing.

Are you not allowed to keep roosters? How could you expect hens only from a straight run? Bottom line is I would keep it if you can, just make sure it can see so it behaves like a rooster.

 

[mendozer]

He might be kept in line by Percy, the lead hen of the older group. Time will tell. I'll just have to be more proactive about egg collecting. I don't want any hatching. Even in a few years when I want new chickens, they're all gonna be silkie crosses, making then less productive haha!

the silkies were straight run so I knew i was taking a chance. I bought two and 1 of each was had. The others I got were pullets. Do I really need to shave their heads? I might let them out when I'm in the yard, but otherwise all of them are in a 6 x 24 run enclosed.

 

[mendozer]

Well he must be of age, bc today he was mounting a few of the younger hens. At first I stopped him but since they weren't displaying distress, I let it go. Lucky guy probably performed his act like a dozen times. I'd like that kind of stamina haha.

Since I don't want to use them for reproduction, am I correct in assuming that as long as don't let them go broody, the eggs will continue to be fine to eat?

 

[AllenK RGV]

Well he must be of age, bc today he was mounting a few of the younger hens. At first I stopped him but since they weren't displaying distress, I let it go. Lucky guy probably performed his act like a dozen times. I'd like that kind of stamina haha.

Since I don't want to use them for reproduction, am I correct in assuming that as long as don't let them go broody, the eggs will continue to be fine to eat?

Yup you are correct. The eggs are fine to eat you may notice a little white bullseye ring on the yolks is all showing that was a fertilized egg.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Fertilized eggs are fine, won't develop or taste any different, as long as you pick them up regularly.