rooster coop?

[SugarChick]

Thank you all so much for your input. I will be in contact with the local zoo here who has tigers and other meat eating animals. The humane society also has a program for unneeded cockerels. I still live with my parents so I can’t keep all my roosters. If I was living on my own I would keep all of them as I love roosters.

 

[SugarChick]

A bachelor pad is a common way to keep males with minimal fighting. Keep females away and make it big enough so they have room. Room is just as important in a bachelor pad as it is for any other flock of chickens.

I don't know what your goals are as far as breeding, obviously not for meat. It may be for show, for egg production, or to somehow play with genetics. I don't know how many you will hatch but a lot will be males. Depending on your goals a lot of females may be rejects also. Typically you need to raise them to a certain age to access their potential as breeders. If I knew your plans and goals it would be easier to write this but the point is that you will probably have a lot of pounds of living meat to dispose of.

It is probably illegal to dump living animals on any property without the owner's permission, whether private or government owned. There are several sound environmental reasons for that, let alone how that would be trampling on the landowners rights to manage their own property. If you can get the landowners permission by all means go for it, but dumping is generally illegal, whether what is being dumped is living or just trash.

Depending on how old those chickens are when you are ready to dispose of them you might try contacting a soup kitchen, orphanage, or some place that feeds people to see if they will accept a donation of live chickens. Not many will but you might get lucky. Your state representative or pastor may be able to help with this. Or maybe contact a zoo or some other place that could use your chickens to feed their animals.

Ethically I'd prefer to find a use for those chicken instead of basing my practice on an almost certainly illegal way of fouling the environment with them. But that is just me, I can't dictate your ethics.

What I plan on doing wit my chickens is I want to play a little with breeds and genes and colors. Also for show. I will try to not dump any of my roosters but if I ABSOLUTELY have too, I will release them as soon as I know for sure that they are roosters. About 15 weeks of age I will release them in family groups.

 

[SugarChick]

I do have a nice piece of land on a hill surrounded by palm trees and bushes away from the house. I think I might just make a pad up there for my boys. The hens and dominant rooster will be in another pad down below the hill closer to the house

 

[sourland]

Rooster flocks can work or they can result in gang breeding of the smaller/weaker roosters. Anything that changes the dynamics in a rooster flock can cause mass outbreaks of fighting.

 

[SugarChick]

I do

Rooster flocks can work or they can result in gang breeding of the smaller/weaker roosters. Anything that changes the dynamics in a rooster flock can cause mass outbreaks of fighting.

plan on putting in roosters as family groups. If I only have one rooster from a batch I will put in in slowly. Like put it in a small coop right next to to introduce

 

[sourland]

One cause for the outbreak of mayhem in an all rooster flock can be rain. When birds get wet it appears that they 'lose their identity' and mass shuffling of the pecking order can take place.

 

[SugarChick]

One cause for the outbreak of mayhem in an all rooster flock can be rain. When birds get wet it appears that they 'lose their identity' and mass shuffling of the pecking order can take place.

I live where it rains a lot! What should I do? I haven’t started my breeding program yet so I don’t have these problem but i want to know all about a pad for boys before I do start one.

 

[sourland]

@SugarChick, a lot would depend upon whether you are planning on breeding from feral Hawaiian birds. They appear to have a significant gamefowl background. I would seriously doubt that they could be safely maintained in an all rooster flock.

 

[SugarChick]

@SugarChick, a lot would depend upon whether you are planning on breeding from feral Hawaiian birds. They appear to have a significant gamefowl background. I would seriously doubt that they could be safely maintained in an all rooster flock.

I have my own flock of chickens that originated from Gerald. I caught some chicks and raised them and my flock went from there.

 

[HenHouse4Life]

What colors and genes are you trying to experiment with? What breeds?

If you're going to breed at some point then only hatch what your prospective buyers have paid for, sell as straight run. Keep only what you want for a breeding program. I see no need to end up with an entire flock of roosters, especially if you can say you would just release them if you had to. Cull or sell. Otherwise you're contributing to another problem.

Good luck