One of my 'girls' is a BOY! When should he be separated?

[TaylorChicks]

Our sweet chickies are now 7 weeks old (a couple are 9 weeks). One of my 7 week old EE chickens is crowing like crazy, has a bad attitude, is getting extra fancy feathers, and just looks 'different' from the others. So, I'm assuming she is acutally a HE! Ah, well. We don't want a rooster, as we only have 7 chickens total and we are just raising the chickens for fun and eggs.

When should he be separated from the girls? We are torn on whether we will keep him as a meat chicken or try to find him another home.

 

[DuginMT]

Yep, he is looking a little masculine and if he's crowing he's most likely a rooster. Kind of hard to tell with the EE's though because they don't grow much comb or wattles. I wouldn't worry about separating them, most roosters will help to protect your flock. My 13-week old roo gets along great with the girls, and does no damage to them. Even if you keep him through to egg-laying time and he begins to breed, it is fine to eat fertilized eggs - you can't tell the difference. If the crowing is a problem with your neighbors or he becomes aggressive or starts damaging the hens then I hope you can re-home him as he is a very pretty bird!

 

[TaylorChicks]

Thanks so much for your reply. We are very novice chicken people so this site has been so very helpful!

I think we will keep him as long as he is nice to the girls and not aggressive toward us. We live in the country, so neighbors won't be a problem. Can we keep him separated from the ladies and perhaps let him free range around the yard? We have a really small flock and I just wonder if he will pester the poor hens being confined in their run. We don't want to free range all our chickens.

 

[DuginMT]

You could try that, he likely won't go far as they like to stay with the flock. He would be more of a target for predators but I guess if you had to pick one to lose it sounds like you would pick the rooster! I am keeping mine as long as possible as he is super-friendly (he's a Buff Orpington), does not peck the girls much (one of my Rhode Island Red pullets is actually much more aggressive than the rooster), and I think he will turn out to be quite a majestic large fowl. The only problem is one of my neighbors does not like roosters crowing in the morning. Luckily he hasn't crowed yet! Hoping I can talk him into accepting the rooster if I give them some eggs every week.

 

[Eggcessive]

He may grow on you because he is going to be a handsome guy. I would keep him as long as you want. He will get a bit frisky with the girls between 4 and 5 months, and it looks a lot rougher than it really is. He will love those hens, and he should be protective of them and find them treats in the yard. If you want to try free ranging them just try it in the evening about an hour before dark because they will come back in their own. He won't have much meat on him to eat until he is between 16-20 weeks old.

 

[TaylorChicks]

I am fine free ranging the chickens sometimes but my worry is predators from above. Will hawks dive down and get them? There was one circling their run the first day they were out there.

This may be a dumb question, but I'm asking it anyway! So here it is: As long as we collect the eggs daily, we don't run into a 'chicken fetus' situation in the kitchen, right?? And if we collect them and refrigerate them right away, they will not develop, right?

 

[DuginMT]

That's right, just collect the eggs daily and refrigerate them and no fetuses will develop. I even read on this site you could forget to pick eggs for two or three days and still have no worries.

 

[DuginMT]

Yes, hawks can dive down and get them, especially if they are not full grown. That's why most chicken-keepers are covering their runs. I have to admit though that I grew up on our farm and our chickens free ranged every day and I don't ever recall losing a chicken to a raptor. We lost lots to fox, coyote, and dogs though, and even a mink one time. There are lots of stories on this site about raptor kills though, so anytime you free range there is some risk. The older and bigger a chicken gets and survives, it becomes less vulnerable and more "yard-wise". If you lose one chicken to a hawk attack and the other chickens witness it, you can bet they will be watching the skies from then on!

 

[TaylorChicks]

Thank you! Great info!