Please help me find a way to keep my roo. *long-ish* *pics*

[BCMominMD]

MaggieRae,
I checked out your bycwebsite. Looks like you have lots of animal experience and sense. I too ended up with an unexpected rooster with my 8 chicks. They are 21 weeks now and I am so glad to have him. He keeps everyone in line and yes he crows but usually for a reason - a very special sound means hawk above, a simple crow could mean mailman, kids in woods, husband coming home. When one of the hens got caught in a dog run, he made such a fuss, I knew to come out and rescue her. I'm just starting to get eggs and plan to take them around to the neighbors "to share the bounty"

 

[MaggieRae]

Just to update-

Lucy started crowing today... He was rather surprised he could. He's 16 weeks old tomorrow.

 

[McCord6]

As for your dad, try to have a "ALONE" talk with him, just you and him and see if you two can work things out on the Roo. I dont' think 1 roo will do much harm expecially if you living on 2 acres of land.

One thing that would be a deal breaker for me. Tell ur daddy that if you keep the roo, you would be able to breed ur hens and sell chicks to earn money for COLLEGE FUND that you would need later in life.

I would not say NO to that!

 

[MaggieRae]

Well, the roo crows.

For the first three weeks, he only crowed every now and then. Maybe twice a week?

But now he crows 5-10 times in the morning! I'm terrified he'll wake the neighbor since she works nights and sleeps in the early morning/day.
The good news is, this roo knows for a fact I'm his boss... but he doesn't recognize that superiority in my mother which could be a problem in the future. Now he's chasing my two smallest hens around and trying to mount. He's a terror to them. They're half his size! (All standards, but only 18 weeks old.)

It's a good thing he's so sweet. He lets the ladies have the best roosts and food. He even caught a worm and gave it to Cleo, one of the above mentioned small hens. He keeps the girls all together when they're free ranging. Luci and I go for walks around the neighborhood, and he's really sweet to all my neighbors too. He's never attacked me (yet).

One more issue is little kids are always coming around to see my chickens (my neighbor *my dad helped a little* built a cute cabin that he rents out.). I don't let them in the run when I'm not there, but... you never know. So far he's an angel, and even holds still for them to hold him. I've heard how roosters are bad with kids.

I just don't know what to do. I don't want to get rid of him because I'm quite fond of him, but I can't think of how I can keep him. I'll try to find a pic to show how big he's gotten.

Oh, Luci! What a conundrum you've caused!
Thank you all for all your help. I really appreciate it.

 

[MaggieRae]

Lucy the roo- part 2

Here's another post I did. He's crowing more. I just don't know what to do.

 

[featherflock]

i also live on 2 acers and my rooster is almost full grown and i never hear him in the mornings and the coop is just 20 yards away

 

[aimeeinwv]

I also keep my flock in late. I open the coop at 10ish each morning so that he doesn't bother the neighbors. Some of them aren't CRAZY about me having a loud mouth, but you may get lucky and he may not crow much at all! That would be wonderful! I say explain to Dad that he will watch for not only predators but also strange people and crow just like a dog will bark at strangers. I too got an accidental Roo, two of them out of 8 - uh! We now have 12 hens and 2 Roo's. One other good point to make is that he will protect the hens with his life. Hope you can keep "Lucy!"

 

[MaggieRae]

Quote:
He crows just to make me mad. When I'm not there in the mornings, my neighbor will sit out and listen to him and apparently he shuts up after 3-5 crows. But when I'm there, he goes off and off until I go get him so we can rock in the chair and watch the news.

And actually, the other day, lucy did crow at a strange guy. All of a sudden he was crowing and we looked over and there was some guy walking up my drive. We have a lot of trespassers, so we weren't too worried. Just told him it was private property.
And a week before that, apparently someone tried to break into the house but failed, so our joke is that we wonder if Lucy crowed at them.

 

[MaggieRae]

I am mad at that stupid rooster right now!!! He keeps trying to mount the hens! I know this is normal roo behavior but they're only 21 weeks old and not even laying yet! They freak out, and scream while running in circles but Lucy doesn't let go of their necks! He does this to all the hens but the one his size, especially my easter eggers. He did this to my mother's favorite hen today, and pulled out a mouthful of feathers. I went over to check on her and there was blood on the feathers!!! So I went and got her and she and I sat and rocked in the rocking chair for an hour or two. She napped and fussed with her feathers.

I'm still worried. What if he hurts them worse than just pulling out a few feathers? They're so much smaller than he is!
What should I do?

 

[Emzyyy]

Tape every light switch over with duct tape and leave sticky notes pleading to keep him until he gives in