Questions?

[7sweetgirls]

Hi: I have 2 hens, 4 & 5 years old. I recently added 6 new "chicks" to my flock. They came from my sweet 6 year old green eyed, toe head, neighbor who asked "Neena" (My name is Tina, sweet nickname) can "we" please have some of the chicks from my kindergarden class project? What was I to say or do??? She promised to do her part, and I have to say she is doing pretty good at being a chicken farmer.. Well, not too long ago one of my little "hens" decided to crow.... and crow and crow and crow! Seems we have a rooster. "Hei Hei" is very cute but seems to be a bully or maybe it is our ignorance as I have never had a roo before. I personally would love to keep it, I love roosters and their beauty. The mother of my "partner" is a little afraid that we have a rapist, and of course I don't want harm done to our other girls. We have them separated at the moment. They are about 10 weeks old. My questions/concerns are should we keep him or find him a new home? I was all for finding a new home, but the more I read the more I am falling in love with having a rooster. I do have to say we are not zoned for roosters, but we do have many law breakers in the neighborhood. I plan to start the process of introducing them to the older girls this weekend. Can you keep the hens and rooster separated or is that just mean? I appreciate any help on this. Thanks

 

[SueT]

Roosters are not usually a good idea around small kids. If you want to keep him, please study forums on roosters and how to properly raise him to prevent aggressiveness. What I've learned here on BYC is this involves no handling, no hand feeding, make sure he knows you are boss and that he moves out your way at every encounter. As they become adolescents this is likely to be their roughest time, behavior-wise, dealing with hormones etc.
Good luck!