Raising white rocks.

[Adam Patches]

I am raising 15 white rocks for meat in a large 16'x7'x4' PVC tractor. They are starting to spar like crazy in there. I have a couple questions. 1. Will the roosters kill eachother before butcher date if left together? 2. I also have 2 americaunas in there that I thought were pullets but I saw one of them very briefly puff its neck feathers up when confronted. Does that mean he is a rooster too? 3. If they are going to kill eachother how do I seperate them? So far it seems to be playfull and nobody gets hurt but the are running around in there like crazy and bowing up on eachother quite a bit. I realize the rocks may have been a bad idea to put straight run together. next time it will be cornish cross. Thanks for any help.

 

[flockman]

How old are the birds? I have 24 white rock cockerels. They are just over 7 weeks. When I have had other roosters together they did fight but it was not that bad if they were not housed with females. Mine are now free ranging with my layer flock and and old Easter egger rooster. He does not let others fight much or he intervenes. I have always raised cornish x for meat before. This is the first time I have done white rocks. I hope they are good. Good luck.

 

[Adam Patches]

I'm not sure exactly how old they are but they are maybe 3/4 full grown. I dont mind leaving them together if they wont kill eachother but I also have a area with 6 layers that if I need to I could move some into there pen. Although that may complicate feeding and sleeping arangments. I realise now it may not have been the best decision ever and am now wondering if im gonna have crowing on my hands in the city limits (where roosters are NOT allowed). Sigh.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Any rooster except for Cornish Cross will probably be crowing before it is big enough to butcher. That's because they can't be butchered as young.

Roosters are going to spar. The more closely they are confined together, the more sparring you will have. Lots of space will cut down on the sparring, but it won't eliminate it. They enjoy sparring, so it's not possible to stop it entirely. All you can do is spread them out so you don't have a lot of fighting caused by personal zones being entered.