Roo question

[crooked stripe]

I have buff orpingtons and black australorps and the roos seem to be picking on each other to the point of severe blood loss. Is it a fact that the roos only have the large combs and wattles? What I call hens there are no large combs and no wattles that I can see. Please give me some pointers in telling them apart. John

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

The roos comb and wattles should be bigger and redder than the females. The females are pink in color and should have a smaller comb and wattles

BTW are these babies? When mine where 5 weeks old they where picking eachothers combs. Maybe because they did not know what they where. After I got rid of a few the comb has healed up

 

[crooked stripe]

The chicks are 6 weeks old. It makes me sick to see one picked to the point they don't care anymore. I am thinking of culling 3 of the 4 roos so this kind of thing stops. I tried moving them into the coop where they have lots of room thinking it was a space issue. 10 chicks in a 4x8 coop should be enough room. ( I think) John

 

[ebaribault]

Hi John,
I think a 4 x 8 coop will be a little small for 10 chickens.
I have read that each chicken needs a min. of 4 square feet.At 4 x 8 that is 3.2 square feet.
They should be fine until they are fully grown.With 3 less roos things might calm down.

My coop is 8 x 8 for 12 hens.
Just a newbies thought.

Good luck,
Ed

 

[crooked stripe]

http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/poultry/factsheets/10.html


There are many sites with many size requirement predictions. Virginia Coop Ext Service shows inside space at 2 sq ft per bird and outside at 8 sq ft per bird. I know a poultry farmer down the street that has what seems like 100's just roaming around and what I believe is way to little housing. I spend a lot of time helping there and am amazed on how well he does and how healthy his chicken seem. He spends most all his time with his chickens. He has a chair by the barn and just sits there drinking tea and watching the chickens.

 

[silkiechicken]

6 weeks is about the times the pecking order gets put into place. The next round of bad fighting between roos will come at about 4 months or so... where some will grab and bite each other and just hold on exhausted if nobody gives up. I say keep it to one roo if you only have one coop.

 

[crooked stripe]

Thats the plan. Just was hoping the roos would get big enough for the pot. John