Rooster Chat

[uzisuzuki]

I have back issues and can relate to you. What are the space requirements for a mating pair of peafowl? We are thinking of adding them to our one flock just to assist my disabled rooster.
My hubby is agreeing on peafowl after the guineas are gone. So next spring I will look for a pair. Keep asking him ya never know.

For free ranging space, they utilise all of our 5.5 acres when they want. If you want to keep them penned, I'm not sure what the dimensions would be but you would want it as tall as possible so they have room to fly/perch high/fan tails. The only things that I've had to learn on the fly (I did not plan to have peafowl - male showed up last year & adopted me) are that you have to feed them well, give them a sense of security & keep them penned for at least the first 3mos you have them so they log their coop as "home" & don't take off. Making them feel like they have a good home is important if you want them to stick around. They fly really well, they have no problems walking long distances & they can be very loud. Not just during mating season; they have a clown car honk/trill they use to call to each other or as an alarm when they're not happy.

Checking out the peafowl section here might be more helpful than I can be since I'm still learning.

 

[Victoria-nola]

I have 15 roosters that I am battling to seperate from my hens. So far I am losing and trying to out think them for my hens sake because they are getting tore up. I am trying to fatten them up enough to kill and have split the pen to help accomplish this.

If you're saying you can't figure out how to round up the roosters and get them separated, all you have to do is quietly enter their area at night when they are in trance. You can pick any of them up then. That's a very traditional way.

 

[BeefChicken]

I have 10. All but 1 is banty and it came as a hen. Don't know what he is and not counting seramas and chicks lol. I have 2 coops. 1 for layers and the other for seramas and peeps. I have high doors that I leave open till they all come in. They sort themselves. Couple younger bantams (boyfriend and girlfriend) still roost in the peep pen with one young standard Old English hen (I'm told). Odd group. Seramas, roosters included, are brooding my 4 youngest peeps. Oh, the wife went to the fair and a woman there is giving us a barred rock trio and we already have 2 barred hens. Score! So 11+ they don't mind each other and neither do the ladies. Love my roosters but time will tell as many are still young and only going to tolerate the bossy older few for so long. My buddy collects Roos. Probably has 40. Top 3 run together one being my previous king roo who is only half their size. Sent him there to learn manners and he ended up working his way to the top, so that backfired. I plan on getting him back too.

 

[cabinchicky]

I have back issues and can relate to you. What are the space requirements for a mating pair of peafowl? We are thinking of adding them to our one flock just to assist my disabled rooster.
My hubby is agreeing on peafowl after the guineas are gone. So next spring I will look for a pair. Keep asking him ya never know.

For free ranging space, they utilise all of our 5.5 acres when they want. If you want to keep them penned, I'm not sure what the dimensions would be but you would want it as tall as possible so they have room to fly/perch high/fan tails. The only things that I've had to learn on the fly (I did not plan to have peafowl - male showed up last year & adopted me) are that you have to feed them well, give them a sense of security & keep them penned for at least the first 3mos you have them so they log their coop as "home" & don't take off. Making them feel like they have a good home is important if you want them to stick around. They fly really well, they have no problems walking long distances & they can be very loud. Not just during mating season; they have a clown car honk/trill they use to call to each other or as an alarm when they're not happy.

Checking out the peafowl section here might be more helpful than I can be since I'm still learning.

Thank you for your reply! Noise, ummm try Guinea! I have 2 left who think they are chickens. Hubby was raised with all type of chickens and peafowl, while his Grandmother had Guinea. Our first try with Guinea, I am not impressed with them, they have no brain what so ever. Just kicking the peafowl idea around for next year and doing research.

I have 15 roosters that I am battling to seperate from my hens. So far I am losing and trying to out think them for my hens sake because they are getting tore up. I am trying to fatten them up enough to kill and have split the pen to help accomplish this.

If you're saying you can't figure out how to round up the roosters and get them separated, all you have to do is quietly enter their area at night when they are in trance.  You can pick any of them up then.  That's a very traditional way.

X2! Wait for full dark and they are roosted . Go in the coop with a small amount of light ( red works best) and grab em off the roost and put em in a crate or some such thing. This also works if you have a rooster you need to check for his physical, we do this with my EE Fester. 3 plus inch spurs and all, he just says a lot of bad words during.

 

[microchick]

Right now I have four young cockerels from a Feb hatch that I'm trying unsuccessfully to transition over to my rooster pen. There are currently 4 roosters in the rooster pen, three of them are also from my Feb hatch. The 4 that I am trying to move over are pure blooded Buff O. The three that are already in the pen are Welsummer/Buff O crosses and matured at 12 weeks. While the Buff O cockerels at the same age are covering the hens but smaller and less aggressive in nature.

I tried to move two of them this last week but they were constantly being attacked by their larger hatch mates to the point that I had to move them back to the main pen yesterday so they had a chance to eat and drink and had a break from being harassed.

I had them in a transition pen for three days so the other roosters could get used to them even though they could see one another through their run fence and had only be separated for a few days. It made no difference.

Any ideas s to how I can get these roosters to accept newcomers without blood shed?

 

[hallen01]

We had them in their own pen and after It was dark, I kept hearing a thumping noise so I went out to check on it. They had all jumped back over and that was the noise we heard. I have two seperated from the rest of the group because they are the bottom of the order and were being targeted. Trying another tactic today.

 

[cabinchicky]

Right now I have four young cockerels from a Feb hatch that I'm trying unsuccessfully to transition over to my rooster pen. There are currently 4 roosters in the rooster pen, three of them are also from my Feb hatch. The 4 that I am trying to move over are pure blooded Buff O. The three that are already in the pen are Welsummer/Buff O crosses and matured at 12 weeks. While the Buff O cockerels at the same age are covering the hens but smaller and less aggressive in nature.

I tried to move two of them this last week but they were constantly being attacked by their larger hatch mates to the point that I had to move them back to the main pen yesterday so they had a chance to eat and drink and had a break from being harassed. 

I had them in a transition pen for three days so the other roosters could get used to them even though they could see one another through their run fence and had only be separated for a few days. It made no difference. 

Any ideas s to how I can get these roosters to accept newcomers without blood shed?

Give them a longer stint in the transition pen . Like 2 weeks or more, though it still may not work. Transition my last bunch for a month and still had problems from the hens not the rooster. Two weeks after they get along fine. But everyone has different situations too.Good luck!

 

[oxford hens3]

I'm new to the chicken field, but I currently have 3 Old English Game Bantams and 4 Cochins all 15 weeks old. However I definitely have 1 cochin cockerel and possibly all my bantams are too. They have all been together since week old and all get along fine now. Will it all change as they get older? I need to get some more hens to even it out a bit. But I don't want to separate my bantams unless I need to as they all hang around together and hate to be without eachother.
Thank you in advance!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I'm new to the chicken field, but I currently have 3 Old English Game Bantams and 4 Cochins all 15 weeks old. However I definitely have 1 cochin cockerel and possibly all my bantams are too. They have all been together since week old and all get along fine now. Will it all change as they get older? I need to get some more hens to even it out a bit. But I don't want to separate my bantams unless I need to as they all hang around together and hate to be without eachother. 
Thank you in advance!

They probably won't start fighting until next year in the spring as hormones surge with the increasing daylight. My large breed roosters never fight, but my bantam I can count on the get in some pretty big ones sometimes. They can get pretty bloodied, but I let them finish it. No one has ever been seriously hurt and they mostly get exhausted. Mine are 100% free range, confinement can change things.

In my rooster pen last year a buff Brahma bantam started trying to kill a mottled cochin bantam, previously everyone got along fine, but after being penned together he became aggressive. He was culled and the one being attacked was separated out.

So those trying to keep roosters in a bachelor pen you have to make sure they are compatible. I personally wouldn't be trying to add any to a group and keep batches that grew up together separate from other batches. If you have more roosters than room than it might be time to cull a few, or build some more pens. For me bachelor hood is a temporary situation for roosters.

 

[cabinchicky]

I'm new to the chicken field, but I currently have 3 Old English Game Bantams and 4 Cochins all 15 weeks old. However I definitely have 1 cochin cockerel and possibly all my bantams are too. They have all been together since week old and all get along fine now. Will it all change as they get older? I need to get some more hens to even it out a bit. But I don't want to separate my bantams unless I need to as they all hang around together and hate to be without eachother. 
Thank you in advance!

They probably won't start fighting until next year in the spring as hormones surge with the increasing daylight. My large breed roosters never fight, but my bantam I can count on the get in some pretty big ones sometimes. They can get pretty bloodied, but I let them finish it. No one has ever been seriously hurt and they mostly get exhausted. Mine are 100% free range, confinement can change things.

In my rooster pen last year a buff Brahma bantam started trying to kill a mottled cochin bantam, previously everyone got along fine, but after being penned together he became aggressive. He was culled and the one being attacked was separated out.

So those trying to keep roosters in a bachelor pen you have to make sure they are compatible. I personally wouldn't be trying to add any to a group and keep batches that grew up together separate from other batches. If you have more roosters than room than it might be time to cull a few, or build some more pens. For me bachelor hood is a temporary situation for roosters.

How would you suggest to remove spurs? My bantam EE is spurring my large EE in his head while doing the deed on his hens. No blood yet but I think it's time to disarm the lil stinker.