Rooster Advice Please!

[am7039]

So I could really use some advice with my current rooster situation. I have a flock of 21, 7 of them being cockerels. They range in age of 3 to 4 months. I created a bachelor pad that houses 3 4 month old cockerels. The other 4 are in with the flock of ladies. I have one extremely dominate silkie cockerel who thinks he is king. He has claimed all the ladies and has the other roosters in the flock acting like hens. The reality is, I just have to many roos to manage right now. The 3 that are in the bachelor pad are established and will not allow any others to integrate in. The silkie is really sweet to humans and enjoys cuddles but he is NOT nice to the ladies. He is grabbing them by the neck, the back, pulling out clumps of feathers. On a regular basis I here awful screaming from the girls. The other roos in the flock are younger and haven't really shown how they would behave with the ladies. I haven't had the heart to cull the roos just because they are roos and I did want to have at least one in the flock. Any thoughts on how I should proceed to being peace to the flock? Any suggestions on how to pick the right roo to keep with the ladies? I got myself in a bit of a mess with my love of hatching eggs knowing the risk of too many roos.

 

[April0617]

So I could really use some advice with my current rooster situation. I have a flock of 21, 7 of them being cockerels. They range in age of 3 to 4 months. I created a bachelor pad that houses 3 4 month old cockerels. The other 4 are in with the flock of ladies. I have one extremely dominate silkie cockerel who thinks he is king. He has claimed all the ladies and has the other roosters in the flock acting like hens. The reality is, I just have to many roos to manage right now. The 3 that are in the bachelor pad are established and will not allow any others to integrate in. The silkie is really sweet to humans and enjoys cuddles but he is NOT nice to the ladies. He is grabbing them by the neck, the back, pulling out clumps of feathers. On a regular basis I here awful screaming from the girls. The other roos in the flock are younger and haven't really shown how they would behave with the ladies. I haven't had the heart to cull the roos just because they are roos and I did want to have at least one in the flock. Any thoughts on how I should proceed to being peace to the flock? Any suggestions on how to pick the right roo to keep with the ladies? I got myself in a bit of a mess with my love of hatching eggs knowing the risk of too many roos.

I'm new to roosters this year, but my suggestion would be to get rid of the silkie and work your way down the line, if the next in line is a good boy with you and the girls, then you have your roo. I know it sucks to get rid of any animal that's sweet to you, but if he's that nasty to the girls, your flock will be stressed and he will pass those jerk genes on. We went through a similar situation. Our "top" boy was great with us and was actually fairly good with girls, but targeted one in particular too much. We free range, so I gave them a chance to work out the kinks, she ended up separating herself from the flock to avoid him and I lost her. My heart hurts and I lost a good girl. After that I watched who was nice to me but also who my girls seemed to react to most positively. I ended up culling two, found my other sweet boy a new home with his own flock of girls, and kept the one that the girls say they like best. So far he's been a good boy.

 

[am7039]

I'm new to roosters this year, but my suggestion would be to get rid of the silkie and work your way down the line, if the next in line is a good boy with you and the girls, then you have your roo. I know it sucks to get rid of any animal that's sweet to you, but if he's that nasty to the girls, your flock will be stressed and he will pass those jerk genes on. We went through a similar situation. Our "top" boy was great with us and was actually fairly good with girls, but targeted one in particular too much. We free range, so I gave them a chance to work out the kinks, she ended up separating herself from the flock to avoid him and I lost her. My heart hurts and I lost a good girl. After that I watched who was nice to me but also who my girls seemed to react to most positively. I ended up culling two, found my other sweet boy a new home with his own flock of girls, and kept the one that the girls say they like best. So far he's been a good boy.

Thank you so much for your response. It was very helpful in sharing your story with me. I think it's a great decision. I thought about maybe just starting a second bachelor flock and removing the silkie and trying out the other boys but the reality of having 3 seperate flocks doesnt appeal to me..lol

 

[April0617]

Thank you so much for your response. It was very helpful in sharing your story with me. I think it's a great decision. I thought about maybe just starting a second bachelor flock and removing the silkie and trying out the other boys but the reality of having 3 seperate flocks doesnt appeal to me..lol

If we had the room, it would have been tempting. Those boys can really be hard to let go

 

[am7039]

If we had the room, it would have been tempting. Those boys can really be hard to let go

For sure he will be tough to let go. He is beautiful and so cuddly

 

[Mrs. K]

The first time I had too many birds, I had a predator help me out. A stressful situation, but what I noticed almost immediately was how more relaxed the flock was, with the excess gone. After that, I was much more in tune with the tension in my flock.

My rambling point is, I would expect your flock to be under a lot of tension. Always solve for peace in the flock. I would cull anything upsetting the hens. Anything you don't like for any reason goes, whittle it down. An obvious choice usually becomes evident over time.

Two coops are nice, for all sorts of reasons. But you don't need to run them all year long.

Mrs K

 

[Flockincrazy]

So I could really use some advice with my current rooster situation. I have a flock of 21, 7 of them being cockerels. They range in age of 3 to 4 months. I created a bachelor pad that houses 3 4 month old cockerels. The other 4 are in with the flock of ladies. I have one extremely dominate silkie cockerel who thinks he is king. He has claimed all the ladies and has the other roosters in the flock acting like hens. The reality is, I just have to many roos to manage right now. The 3 that are in the bachelor pad are established and will not allow any others to integrate in. The silkie is really sweet to humans and enjoys cuddles but he is NOT nice to the ladies. He is grabbing them by the neck, the back, pulling out clumps of feathers. On a regular basis I here awful screaming from the girls. The other roos in the flock are younger and haven't really shown how they would behave with the ladies. I haven't had the heart to cull the roos just because they are roos and I did want to have at least one in the flock. Any thoughts on how I should proceed to being peace to the flock? Any suggestions on how to pick the right roo to keep with the ladies? I got myself in a bit of a mess with my love of hatching eggs knowing the risk of too many roos.

I would get rid of the silkie roo or put him in the batchler coop they will except him it won't be immediately but they will I rescue roos I currently have 25 in my batchler coop most at different ages and times of taking them in it takes time good luck

 

[am7039]

The first time I had too many birds, I had a predator help me out. A stressful situation, but what I noticed almost immediately was how more relaxed the flock was, with the excess gone. After that, I was much more in tune with the tension in my flock.

My rambling point is, I would expect your flock to be under a lot of tension. Always solve for peace in the flock. I would cull anything upsetting the hens. Anything you don't like for any reason goes, whittle it down. An obvious choice usually becomes evident over time.

Two coops are nice, for all sorts of reasons. But you don't need to run them all year long.

Mrs K

Thank you so much for your advice! I definitely need to create peace within the flock. He is a good rooster in ways. He protects the flock and makes sure they to the food first but he is just not gentle. He tends to pick on a select few more than others. I was under the impression that silkies were slow to mature but if so he was the fastest to mature out of all of them.

 

[am7039]

I would get rid of the silkie roo or put him in the batchler coop they will except him it won't be immediately but they will I rescue roos I currently have 25 in my batchler coop most at different ages and times of taking them in it takes time good luck

I am willing to give that a shot. I tried originally to put a couple of the other roosters in so I didnt have so many in the flock but the three established in the bachelor pad all gagged up on them and pinned them. I had to go in and try to break it up but they were relentless so I pulled them back out.

 

[am7039]

Just an update...I was able to rehome 2 of my roosters to a family friend. I unfortunately lost one today to a very brave fox who came on the property during the day while my boys were free ranging. That leaves 2 in the bachelor coop and 2 in the flock with hens. I have a total of 16 hens. I know it is not ideal ratio for 2 roos but so you think it might work? Or should I move one to the bachelor coop and hope they accept him?