Rooster Chat

[rlh1]

Hello everyone. I have a question. My chicks are about 11 weeks, one of my roosters is trying to mount one of my hens. Isn't he to young for that behavior? It's just one hen, not any of the others.

 

[Folly's place]

Cockrels will mature before pullets of the same age, and try to mate. The pullets aren't ready, and will be offended (loud squaking, lots of drama!). If they all have plenty of space, extra waterers and feeders, and hiding places, usually things will work out. If he's really relentless, separate him for a while. Mary

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Even 4 week olds will try to mount,or just raise up their manes.

 

[longfeather]

We currently have 5 roosters and 24 hens. Mixed flock. We have 2 silkie roos (23 weeks old)that are 3 weeks older than our 2 black australorps and buff orpington. All were raised together. Our white silkie is head honcho right now. There isn't much squabbling they seem to have the pecking order down. They free range so there's lots of space, their coop is rather large too. However they are harassing the hens to much and affecting their laying so we are looking to downsize the roos. The Buff and white silkies are going, and one of the australorps. Just havin a hard time choosing who stays. My buff Andre is so super sweet friendly and good to his ladies as well as us and my small children. My 2 yr old can walk right up and attempt to pick him up and he just takes it like a champ so he's staying even if he's not standard of perfection".

This is Rocky he's a bit more leary and shy but also pretty mellow and gentle

Finally there is Auzzie

Any opinions?
Our flock consists of 6 buff orpington(one being a roo), 6 black australorps (2 ended up roos), 3 Eggers, 3 barred, rocks, 5 red sex links, 1 Brahma, 5 silkies (2 ended up roos) we ordeted a buff orpington rooster and one australorp from The start. We will be hatching eggs in the future or letting our broody mama's do it. We want healthy genes, but also good temperaments.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! You could keep the two that you like, and see how they mature. I'm more a fan of the cockrels who move away from me, rather than the 'friendly' ones, who may turn out to be too bold. BE VERY CAREFUL, your toddler could really be injured by a human aggressive rooster! I think that he shouldn't be picking up any chickens, for his sake and theirs. Mary

 

[JTPhillips]

Hey everyone! Well getting close to having to make the sad decision of which rooster goes :-/ I have finally balanced my flock ratio to now having 7 hens and 1 adult rooster. Unfortunately I have two Americanas that have developed into roosters.. What's the best thing to do get rid of existing older rooster or get rid of young Roos :-/?

 

[JTPhillips]

This is our current rooster.. He isn't much of one lol silkie..

 

[ShadesofSable]

I have 4 young Roosters about 4-6 months old over 16 hens between 4months and 1.5yrs. Mostly the older hens keep the boys in their place, but how long until I can expect to start looking for fertile eggs? The 2 oldest are crowing, but I haven't witnessed any of them doing the deed yet and they've been all together for several weeks now.

 

[uzisuzuki]

I love seeing everyone's roosters and how everyone takes care of them (especially the people with multiples since I now have 5). Thought I'd share a picture of mine.


This is Odysseus (2 years old). He's a Silver Sebright and the rooster that got me started with chickens. He showed up out of nowhere about 2 weeks after I started walking again (I was in a really bad car accident in 2014). No one claimed him, so I started taking care of him. He's pretty ornery and hates my rubber boots with a passion I didn't think a chicken could have.


This is his son, Memnoch (1 year old). He's a Silver Sebright/Golden Laced Polish mix. I got 2 to hatch from my original tiny flock of Odysseus and 4 GLP hens - him and a female named Mercury. Unfortunately, his mom (Athena) died last week but I'm very glad I got at least one offspring from her. For the most part, he's a lot like his mom (who was the top hen) but he's been getting a little overprotective of the remaining GLP girls lately.


This is Memnoch's son, Igor (2 months old). He got named that because he reminds me of Marty Feldman in Young Frankenstein and because he actually does have a deformity in his hip area. I haven't gotten him into the vet yet to get it checked out, but so far it hasn't stopped him from being a quirky little dude that's just as ornery as his grandpappy.


This is Ronan (the Accuser) (2 months old) and he's my first Phoenix Bantam male to hatch (I have 1 female from last year). He's definitely the head of the flock of 5 that I hatched this year and has already been unsuccessfully trying to woo some of the adult hens. He keeps trying, though.


And this is Lucien (2 months old), my first Ayam Cemani. So far, he hasn't started crowing or any interest in the ladies yet. He also has some "leakage" in his colouring, so I think that might DQ him on breeding for egg sale. I'm not sure yet on that. I keep coming across a lot of conflicting information about the AC and their colouring.

I'm hoping they can all get along in a Bro Coop/pen later this fall or I'm going to have to learn how to be a better carpenter!

 

[TheTwoRoos]

I have 4 young Roosters about 4-6 months old over 16 hens between 4months and 1.5yrs. Mostly the older hens keep the boys in their place, but how long until I can expect to start looking for fertile eggs? The 2 oldest are crowing, but I haven't witnessed any of them doing the deed yet and they've been all together for several weeks now.

They should start mating and when they do,expect plenty of fertile eggs.starting at about 4 1/2 months.