Pullet Police?!

[newlyaddicted2chickens]

My chicken photography skills have not yet been mastered but yes I will try! Stand by lol...

 

[Lady of McCamley]

First and foremost check your zoning laws for chickens. Are you allowed to have roosters?

If not, you can receive a fine, and worse, the requirement that all your birds go.

If you can have roosters, it is imperative you only keep "nice" birds as a poorly behaved rooster can be a health risk to humans...the spurs and attacks can be serious, especially for children.

If the rooster is well behaved (which means appropriate gentle but firm handling at all times, keeping proper flock order with you as the "head" of the flock), they are delightful in the flock.

You have RIR's and Australorps which breeds can be known for aggressiveness, especially the RIR.

If you have a firm standard that no bird leaves your property, and this bird is a rooster (which behavior indicates it may be), you can "castrate" the bird...it is known as caponizing. There are videos on the internet for that. It will not prevent crowing but it definitely gentles the rooster such that some even become nursemaides for chicks.

Caponizing is not for the squeamish, and it must be done with care as you can easily kill the bird.

With loving but realistic understanding of the animal language, you can modify your flock with behavioral reinforcement so that most birds are pleasant flock members.

It is important to remember to think like a chicken though and not assume they think like us or you will have encouraged wrong behavior in your birds.

Good luck with your flock.

LofMc

 

[Faraday40]

A car chasing rooster!


Of course I have a hen that HATES squirrels. She finds pleasure in chasing them off. I thought this particular bird was a roo but she's been laying eggs for the past 3 years. She even chased off a small hawk with our roo! Definitely has an alpha personality, so we kept her chick nickname "Tyrion." She was the smallest chick with the biggest attitude! She once stole a sandwich right out of the hands of one of my students. The poor girl was quietly eating, obeying the rules, & not feeding the chickens. Tyrion jumped up into her lap & grabbed the back of the sandwich while the girl had the other end in her mouth.
Thankfully the girl found it more funny than frightening.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

That is what I am leaning towards. We live in the middle of nowhere so crowing bothering our neighbors won't be an issue. But my fiancée thinks the eggs will be weird. I told her that not all are fertilized and even if they are all you may see is a tiny white spot as long as they are collected in a timely manner. Yes?

Fertilized eggs are safe and healthy to eat. All you will see is an extra ring around the white spot (the blastoderm). No chicks form unless an egg is heated at 100 degrees for 24 hours, then the begin of embryo growth occurs.

By all means, if you are out in the boonies, it is a good idea to have a good rooster around. He can be a good protector...but more of an alerter...he won't drive off any predators. Usually he gives his life defending the flock (although some cowardly run in the other direction and hide).

With a working rooster, develop mutual respect, and you will be fine.

LofMc

 

[rIrs roost]

Just leave the bird if it is a he. Roosters are good protectors and if you want baby chicks, you don't have to order them, you can just hatch some.

x2. Also if it is a roo just always keep an eye on him. I had a roo that was the sweetest thing for a little over a year. Then one day he started spurring us. Most people cull them. But if he gets like that never turn your back to him. Also if you plan on hatching or buying more, chances are you'll get more roos . if ou don't want to get rid of them, you'll probably need to keep them separated from the hens if you have too many roos. I have around 23 hens and only 2 roos.

 

[Abriana]

That is what I am leaning towards. We live in the middle of nowhere so crowing bothering our neighbors won't be an issue. But my fiancée thinks the eggs will be weird. I told her that not all are fertilized and even if they are all you may see is a tiny white spot as long as they are collected in a timely manner. Yes?

Yes. Always collect the eggs everyday.

 

[Abriana]

Fertilized eggs are safe and healthy to eat. All you will see is an extra ring around the white spot (the blastoderm). No chicks form unless an egg is heated at 100 degrees for 24 hours, then the begin of embryo growth occurs.

By all means, if you are out in the boonies, it is a good idea to have a good rooster around. He can be a good protector...but more of an alerter...he won't drive off any predators. Usually he gives his life defending the flock (although some cowardly run in the other direction and hide).

With a working rooster, develop mutual respect, and you will be fine.

LofMc

Mine drives off predators, and more than once too.

 

[dpenning]

That is what I am leaning towards. We live in the middle of nowhere so crowing bothering our neighbors won't be an issue. But my fiancée thinks the eggs will be weird. I told her that not all are fertilized and even if they are all you may see is a tiny white spot as long as they are collected in a timely manner. Yes?

Yes. LOL! She won't know the difference unless you teach her how to tell.

 

[rIrs roost]

A car chasing rooster!


Of course I have a hen that HATES squirrels. She finds pleasure in chasing them off. I thought this particular bird was a roo but she's been laying eggs for the past 3 years. She even chased off a small hawk with our roo! Definitely has an alpha personality, so we kept her chick nickname "Tyrion." She was the smallest chick with the biggest attitude! She once stole a sandwich right out of the hands of one of my students. The poor girl was quietly eating, obeying the rules, & not feeding the chickens. Tyrion jumped up into her lap & grabbed the back of the sandwich while the girl had the other end in her mouth.
Thankfully the girl found it more funny than frightening.

lol I'd love to have a squirrel chaser. I've had a sandwich grab outta my hand more than once. My hens will run and jump to get them when I'm walking. First time it happened I chased her for a minute before I thought to myself, even if I get the sandwich back I'm not going to eat it lol. I mostly eat inside now. Oh yeah I have one that loves coffee. I can't even go outside with a cup now.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

Thank you for this response, I will give her less attention, continue to not tolerate the pecking, stop hand feeding her and give the other birds more attention

On the subject of roosters - what do you guys do if you unintentionally have a rooster? Castrate it? Leave it be? Our birds are for egg consumption, not breeding or meat.

Stipulation: no chickens will be
a) eaten/culled (unless disease/injury requires euthanasia by vet)
b) re-homed

The reason for this is that we are animal lovers and do not want to have any of our birds killed, it would break our (bleeding) hearts.
We don't want to give any up as they have become precious pets and you really can never be sure that someone who says they aren't going to eat a bird doesn't do just that the minute they get home with it.

Thanks for suggestions!

With those stipulations you limit yourself, what if you end up with a bunch of boys? Will your neighbors tolerate the noise? Are you able to protect the hens from over mating?

If the neighbors are not an issue then a bachelor pad would help, unless they fight each other... May need multiple pens to keep the bloodshed down to a minimum.

I do not eat meat, but my family does. We named our maybe a rooster Teri, short for Teriaki just in case.

No matter what your plan is for extra boys you will need a plan.

Good luck

Gary