How big is your flock - number of hens? How big is the coop/run? For 4 roosters/cockerels it wouldn't be out of the question to have at least 50 hens so each can have a decent harem and minimize competition for breeding rights.
Not that it matters in the slightest, but there are:
Females:
- 4x Silver-laced
- 1x Black hen
- 1x Blue pullet
- 1x Chocolate pullet
- 1x Lavender pullet
- 2x White (one pullet and one hen)
Males:
- 1x Silver-laced - 2.5 years
- 1x Silver-laced - 6 months
- 1x White - 6 months
- 1x Blue - 1 year
The Silver-laced and White Orpington cockerels just began attempting to breed this month. They are not very good at it. Suede (the Blue Orpington) has been with Hollywood since he was about five months old. English Orpingtons mature at a much slower rate than many other breeds and he didn't begin crowing until after nine months and breeding until 10. There have been zero issues with the four of them together until Suede was injured by the gander and even then the other three males didn't actively attack or flog him, but he was very nervous around the other birds and when he would run away they took advantage of the situation to simply bully him with their presence.
In regards to the size of their run; you can see this image for additional clarification:
The light pink lines is the original pen. The black lines designate the fenced in backyard with a five foot fence, versus the 3.5 foot chain link fence you can just make out in the bottom right corner of that area against the house. The fenced in back yard they had access to every day is approximately 5,400 square feet. Their pen is something like 600 square feet.
Since the incident I have moved the Orpingtons, separated out by color (sort of) into their own pen in the barn you see to the bottom left corner of the image. The barn is divided into three sections each about 300 square feet. The blue lines are where the pens will be expanded at the end of the month and will come out at least an additional 20 feet, making each of the breeding pens about 500 square feet.
If this rooster does recover he is no longer part of the flock hierarchy and there is a better than average choice that the remaining 3 roosters will kill him when reintroduced.
As this is not my first time raising chickens I am aware that mixing adult roosters generally ends poorly. Which is why I have raised the younger cockerels from three months on up with the dominant male and the 11 month old back up Silver-laced cockerel is in a tractor. Earlier in this thread I stated that the birds had been separated out, so if Suede got to go on supervised field trips to see his girls (Blue, Black, Chocolate, and Lavender currently) they were in their own pen and he was in no danger of having an encounter with the other males, thereby preserving the small amount of pride/dignity he's managed to hold on to.
It's very unlikely your rooster would test positive for P/T unless he was hatched from a hen that was positive. P/T is a vertically transmitted disease. Very rarely is it horizontally transmitted. The other reason he probably will not test positive is that it has been several decades since the last positive result occurred in the nation and it was on the east cost.
You can have him tested for AI by having a vet take a throat swab and send it to one of the 2 state labs. However of he has AI your entire flock would be infected. It is a horizontally transmitted disease and when one shows symptoms the entire flock is typically infected.
Thank you for that information.
Zoologix can send you swabs to collect for a pcr respiratory panel for about $90, and that tests for a whole list of diseases.
Thank you. Honestly MG is contagious enough that if he tested positive I'd assume they all had it. I think the $90 for a definite answer would be worth it.
On that note, assuming it is MG, is there some sort of schedule I should follow in order to keep the birds from actively showing symptoms? My understanding is it is a bit like Herpes, except of course it is a respiratory illness. But it behaves the same way. It lies dormant until the bird undergoes a great stress and then it strikes.
