Please tell me about your "Bachelor Pads"

[KKatknap]

Hi

I have been "blessed" with a number of lovely, well-bred and (if their father is anything to go by, and I'm told he is) well-behaved Wheaten Ameraucana cockerals. I am trying to figure out what to do with them while I am waiting for someone to notice my Craigslist ad and want them. I have read a couple of posts here about people with rooster pens. Please tell me about yours and how it works out for them. How many do you have in there? How far away from the breeding pens are they?

Would it work to just let them free range, or would that just frustrate them because they can see the girls but can't touch? (I have LOTS of property, so they could go a long ways away if they wanted to....)


Thanks!

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I don't have a good photo of my current rooster pen set up but I can give you an idea of what I've got.

It's in a different location now, but mine is basically an old movable roost house that I was about to scrap out when I decided I needed a rooster pen. The boys don't seem to mind. The pen itself is made out of livestock panels and t-stakes.

If your boys were all raised together they should get along well enough. There will always be some low-level squabbling, but it usually does not get out of hand. New roosters will of course have to find their place in the pecking order so you'll want to watch them then to make sure no one is getting beat up too badly.

I don't free-range mine because they end up making a nuisance of themselves hanging around the tractors with the hens in it.

 

[KKatknap]

Thanks A.T.!!

I love the pics! Handsome guys, too! I wish I had a bush like that where they are...they look like they love it. I might have to see what I can come up with for a good perching bush.

Thanks also for the info on introducing the new guys. That's another thing I'm a little concerned about. I have a couple of good-sized boys who are @ 4 mos old free ranging right now, as well as 3 2-mo-olds and 1 1-mo-old that are in the main population currently, but will need to move out soon. They are all so happy at the moment, but I sense a need for change coming soon.