Questions... and a mean rooster...

[TheZMom]

Hello everyone!

A couple weeks back I posted about how I have 2 roosters in my small flock of 4 chickens. So I found some local chickens for sale and bought 12 of them. They are "supposedly" all hens. The guy had 35 chickens and I assumed he knew what he was talking about... So I get them home (It was dusk when we picked them up so that they would have all gone into the coop) and Im now thinking 5 COULD be roosters... I just don't know for sure, and I will be pretty upset because I paid for hens.

Anyway, last night we put the 12 new ones in the run and locked the 4 others in the coop for the night until I could figure out what to do with them. (We need to build another coop anyway and were doing that today). So this morning I went out to check on everyone,a nd I opened my coop door and let the 4 others outside the coop and run (just to free range) the other 12 locked inside the run.

My husbands rooster who weve had since birth tried to attack me SEVERAL times. Tried to climb up my leg and came at me... at first I kicked him out of pure reaction) ad pushed him away and then I backed up. Well Ive read on here that when they do that you shouldn't let it effect you. So I grabbed a nearby rake and continued about my business and every time he got feisty with me again I would push him away with the rake. He got me good in the leg once, and was not letting up. Luckily I was wearing jeans because I think he still scratched through possibly. Anwyay, so I was going to feed the other 12 while the 4 were free ranging the yard, and when I was trying to walk into the run, the **** rooster came at me again! I ended up backing away (but the door was open!!) and my other 3 ran into the run, and eventually so did the rooster. So now they are ALL TOGETHER and I cant go in there because the **** thing will get me. LOL.

I watched them for a good 20 mins and it doesn't seem like anyone was fighting... the girls seem to bee fine, but my one rooster (The nice one) was following the hens around (is this normal.ok?) and my mean rooster was just eatin gall the food. (Maybe hes was just hungry... but hes a jerk.)

So what do I do now?

 

[Twistedfeather]

How old is this rooster? A lot of roosters I've owned have attacked me, in fact they attack me all the time now that I think about it. For when our Old English Game rooster attacks we use a spray bottle on it. As I learned kicking the roosters helps not because in the chicken nature they instinctively fight to the death so as you keep doing it the rooster might keep going.

 

[centrarchid]

Lets take this in small steps. Please post pictures of mean rooster and those thought to be roosters.

 

[Mrs. K]

Well the jerk should be supper. You don't want him breeding, and really some roosters just are mean, cull him. He may have gotten all upset at the change, but really the other one did not, and it sounds like you have a bunch of roosters to pick from, so the jerk would be the first to go.

If they are all full grown and about the same size, I would just mix them up and let them sort it out. If they are full grown, there is no way an experienced poulter would NOT know who was a roos and who was not. It is fairly obvious by 10 -12 weeks.

You have already broken quarantine, so hopefully you don't get some disease. However, in the light of day, I would use a fish net, and catch at least several of the new birds and look under their feathers, close to their skin and check for parasites such as lice or mites. If you find them, treat everything.

If they are not full grown, then you best keep them separated as the older birds will not like them and will attack them. Art has a great practice in which there is a one way gate so to speak, that the smaller birds can get through, and the bigger birds cannot, so the young ones can eat in peace and escape if needed.

Mrs K

 

[TheZMom]

Thank you for the responses! I will try to get pictures of them up in a few hours.

They are all full grown chickens already laying and seem to be nice in nature. I picked them all up, they aren't afraid of me at all. I was worried about parasites as ive never had problems with mine and I can only hope I didn't get "screwed" by paying for sick or bad chickens or even roosters. Should I wait to eat the eggs? (We haven't yet I just don't know if theres anything I should worry about).

I will go take pictures of the ones in "question" and post them here so yall can help me out. (And Im sure youre going to tell me a few are roosters...as they def look like it to me...)

Oh also, the mean rooster thing: I don't think a spray bottle would work as its raining? Would he even care??

 

[centrarchid]

For short-term wear heavy clothing and simply be careful around mean rooster. Do not avoid him or strike back. Try not to look at him even when he flogs your leg. Further details on approach will need to consider the rooster more specifically. What is his breed?

 

[TheZMom]

here are pictures This is hawk my mean rooster... around 10 months old



And possible roosters I don't know the ages:







Thanks everyone

 

[centrarchid]

Suspects are hens. My approach would be nasty in there. I suspect you spend only enough time required to feed and collect eggs.

 

[TheZMom]

What do you mean? I clean their coop and like today im going to get some hay for them. Its super muddy in their run because of where we live, but it dries quickly when its not raining. They also free range in the grass on my 1 acre property. The run has no grass left because they ate it and scratched it. We only had 4 chickens before so their coop is big enough for that. Were adding a second much larger coop today for the flock to split into two flocks. They are well taken care of.

 

[centrarchid]

They look well taken care of to be sure. With ground wet it will be nasty to be in. I have some penned groups under similar conditions.