Rooster cast out

[Lisanfloyd]

My silkies hatched out 7 chicks in October. 3 of them are roosters. Dad has always been good to all of them. Yesterday, I found the most dominant of the babies (now full grown) hiding, weak and badly bloodied, in a nest box. I removed him, cleaned him up and got him hydrated. The afternoon was a nice 50 degrees so I let them free range and tried to allow the injured rooster back in the flock. He stayed on the outskirts for a while, but when he got close, all 3 of the other roosters went after him. He ran away with no attempt to fight back. After observing for a while and him being cornered in the coop, I separated him again. Why would this happen? He seems miserable. He’s not really eating and acts disoriented. Why did they all turn on him?

 

[sourland]

Very likely he challenged his father and as they fought the brothers joined in. Once deposed it is generally impossible to reintegrate such a rooster. There may very well be more fights for dominance. How many hens do you have?

 

[Lisanfloyd]

Very likely he challenged his father and as they fought the brothers joined in. Once deposed it is generally impossible to reintegrate such a rooster. There may very well be more fights for dominance. How many hens do you have?

In that group, 11 hens. (4 sisters born in October.) I lost one in January.
The two roosters that remain with dad are smaller and less dominant. This guy is a spitting image of his dad… matured faster than the other two.

 

[Mrs. K]

With him out of the picture, the other roosters may change too. You have too many roosters, and that is more than likely going to lead to more fighting. Roosters are where romance meets reality as AArt says. I say they are a crap shoot, and the more you have, the bigger the chance of it going wrong.

 

[Lisanfloyd]

With him out of the picture, the other roosters may change too. You have too many roosters, and that is more than likely going to lead to more fighting. Roosters are where romance meets reality as AArt says. I say they are a crap shoot, and the more you have, the bigger the chance of it going wrong.

How do you all manage your roosters??? I even bought 9 pullets to help balance out the chickens I had and then broody silkie hid her eggs where I couldn’t see them and could barely get to them. 14 eggs from 3 moms,7 clearly growing. I pitched the other 7. 3/7 are roosters. I’m right back where I started. I have 3 coops with 6 roosters (1, 2 and the three silkies) and 28 hens and now an isolated rooster. I can’t keep expanding. I’m feeling like this chicken thing isn’t for me. It’s constant heartbreak. (Almost two years in)

 

[Mrs. K]

Sometimes, I think that chickens are not for people with great sensibilities. You really can't keep all of them, some will be vicious and some of them will die. They just don't make the best of forever friends.

I keep a flock and the individual birds may come into it, and may leave it. I have made those hard decisions to cull birds. Never with joy, and at first it was hard to do. But often times afterwards, my flock is so much happier, that has become my motto, solve so that there is peace in the flock. I have a very realistic understanding of how many birds I can keep.

I refuse to feel guilty for giving a bird a good life, and a quick end.

Mrs K

 

[Tonyroo]

Planned management is important when it come to chicken keeping. After all you are caring for there well being.

Consider rehoming, selling, culling some of them. You might have to many birds to manage by yourself.

 

[Lisanfloyd]

Sometimes, I think that chickens are not for people with great sensibilities. You really can't keep all of them, some will be vicious and some of them will die. They just don't make the best of forever friends.

I keep a flock and the individual birds may come into it, and may leave it. I have made those hard decisions to cull birds. Never with joy, and at first it was hard to do. But often times afterwards, my flock is so much happier, that has become my motto, solve so that there is peace in the flock. I have a very realistic understanding of how many birds I can keep.

I refuse to feel guilty for giving a bird a good life, and a quick end.

Mrs K

Thank you for your honesty. I needed to hear this. I have lots of guilt over the hard decisions and in all honesty two of our favorites were lost due to no fault of ours. There are enormous moments of joy mixed in… they are funny and cute, and some are sweet. I need to make sure we have no more babies at all costs. We just don’t get lucky with the rooster/hen ratio. I think I will downsize slowly and maybe keep a small flock depending on how it goes. It’s certainly a ton of work for all the heartbreak.

 

[3KillerBs]

How do you all manage your roosters???

I got 6 boys in my order this past fall (all 5 of the straight run plus the extra they sent), and already had an "oops" sexing mistake due to the 90% accuracy odds).

Because they were desirable varieties, I was able to sell 1 Blue Cuckoo Marans and 3 Blue Australorps on Craislist -- sell, not give away.

I kept the Black Langshan "oops" cockerel because of his excellent temperament, and the best Blue Australorp so that I can raise purebreds.

The last remaining Blue Australorp is in my fridge "resting" as of yesterday and will become a good pot of soup or chicken and rice in due time.

I have 14 eggs in the incubator with at least 9 of them developing. No guarantees on sexing when you hatch but most likely I will have another 4-6 boys to deal with out of that batch. Since they are barnyard mixes they are unlikely to be worth anything to sell so I'll plan on eating them.

That's the hard part of raising chickens. Not fun, but necessary.

(I'm already planning to replace my Blue Australorp boy with a Splash son and am hoping to get a French Cuckoo Marans to replace the Langshan (who *might* go to my brother-in-law or another pet owner because of his combination of beauty and excellent temperament)).