Packing Peanut turned out to be a ROO....what now?

[GreenSpirit Hydro]

The packing peanut McMurray sent me has turned out to be a Roo. What can I expect? Will I soon be over run w/ baby chicks? Will he turn mean and cause the hens to become mean or disturb there laying habits? Can anyone educate a newbie on roos?

 

[Dar]

it all depends on the roo...and you

Love the roo and make sure he knows you are boss tho..

I have meet several very well mannered roos

as long as you have enough hens the roo should not start to hurt the hens when he mounts them...and as long as you get your eggs quick you will not be over run with chicks

 

[Chicks R Friends NOT Food]

If he's only day old it will take I tihnk about 5-8 months for any baby-making proceses. Spurs take a long time to develop too. They can be nice depending on how much they are handled and how they are treated. Most roosters are nice to their ladies, especially if they grow up together. You might want to consider saddles once they start mating because roosters will rip out feathers and scratch their hens in the "process", even if they don't want or mean to. You will only get babies if your hens are broody and you allow them to hatch eggs. If you take in eggs every day or every other day even you won't get chicks. About 21 days (i tihnk?) hatches chicks, but you want to get them away a lot earlier to prevent development- even if you just put them in the fridge. Also, depending on your hen/rooseter ratio not all eggs may be fertilized. It sounds like you probably have a lot of hens so he might not make chicks with all of them. He shouldn't disturb laying habits because they have eggs rooster or not. I think that's all I want to say. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[GreenSpirit Hydro]

What do you mean by "get the eggs quickly". If we collect the eggs, put them in the frig, will they still continue to develop leaving me with an un-usable egg?

 

[GreenSpirit Hydro]

Could someone explain "broody" as well? We have 7 hens and now one crazy looking rooster. They were all raised together and do not fight thus far. I would guess they are all 5 months old, just got our 1st egg yesterday!

 

[Chickenaddict]

The only way for an egg to develop into a chick is incubation whether you use an incubator or one of the hens sits on the eggs for 21 days. If you gather the eggs everyday you will be just fine. The packing peanuts they send with hatchery orders are almost always roosters. If you didn't want a roo then you could always rehome it.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Ah, packing peanuts are always roos.

Personally, i've never kept a roo for very long. i've never met a hen that liked being mated. The process usually starts and ends with a sharp peck on the head. i am raising some young roosters now, with the intent of breeding some Showgirls. But i won't tolerate a rooster who is 1) too loud, 2) too rough with the girls, or 3) mean to me. So, i guess i will have to see how these roosters develop and hope for a nice one.

PS - The eggs won't develop baby chicks unless they are incubated. That would be 99-100 degrees. So just don't leave your eggs out baking in the sun or under a broody.

 

[Chickenaddict]

Broody is when a hen wants to sit on eggs to hatch chicks. she will spend ALOT of time in the nest gathering eggs and puffing out her feathers. They also like to growl and scream at you when you reach under her to get those eggs

 

[Chicks R Friends NOT Food]

Quote:
Scream? Glad I've never had that problem! I collected eggs from my dad's silkies they never screamed. Hatched quite a few nice chicks too... Sorry but I had to say it.
And yes, broody is pretty much Mommy-stage. I find that a lot of hens will try to get like 10 eggs stashed then sit on them till they hatch. I think they stop laying during this time. And it's actually pretty hard to hatch eggs. The fridge will stop development, just don't let her sit on them for too long or you will be cracking a baby chick into your cake mix. (Sorry for any images, but it's true). Shoot for daily collections.

 

[Kansaseq]

If you decide not to keep your roo, you can always advertise him on Craig's List,or a local BYC'er may be interested. You do have some options if you choose not to keep him. But you may get attached