Rooster Problems

Date sort Score sort
blackfishfin said:
I know! I made a grave mistake by falling in love with these adorable babies! They are so friendly and love getting pets and fruits and they'll sit on your lap and go to sleep sometimes. It hurts my heart thinking that they could go to a home where someone would take advantage of their friendliness and eat them. I just can't bring myself to do it. They have names! Names, for God's sake.
Click to expand...

Believe me, I know how you feel. All six of my roosters had names and I snuggled with them since they were babies. I will never do that again. It took a lot of talking here on the forum to decide what was best for them. I gave 3 away as pets and 3 I gave to a man to eat. That's very hard to do once you've bonded with them. But you have to think of what is in the best interest of the flock and the quality of life for these roosters.
 
I must add that I worry more about the 3 I gave away as pets than the 3 I gave away to be eaten. At least with the food roosters, I know they aren't living in horrible conditions. I worry about the three living and what their life is like in another person's care. I've seen so many unkempt coops/runs and I hope they aren't living that way.
 
If the roosters are completely seperated from the hens the fighting will all but stop. Bachelor pen, as suggested, is a great route, but if you free range there will still be problems. With only 2 hens though, there's no real reason, that I can see, to have so many roos. I would cull, you could try to find someone that needs a roo, or more likely you'll find sombody that would like to eat the roo. Don't ask too many questions when you find them a new home...
Also, even for 1 rooster, 2 hens is really not enough.
 
azygous said:
Let me guess the age. Around ten weeks? Twelve weeks? Closer to six months, and you'll have a real war zone with the girls running for their lives. Yeah, if you think you have a mess now.....

You know you have too many cockerels. Waiting for them to thin out due to natural loss is not the way to manage a flock. Unless you get proactive about this dilemma, you will be miserable with the sense of loss of control.

There are no easy solutions. Some of the boys need to be weeded out immediately before you get any more attached to them. How you do this is up to you. Here are your options; choose one.

- Cull. Probably the quickest, simplest, yet most difficult. Recently I made this choice when I found myself with a potential third roo in a flock of 21.

-Rehome. I've done this in the past by taking advantage of the local radio station's free pet placement service. Both cockerels went to nice flocks where they needed a rooster. Craig's List is another such service you can take advantage of.

-Keep them segregated from the hens in a bachelor coop and run. This is really much more trouble than it's worth. It may not settle the fighting issues, and it's costly in time and materials. I've done this also. It is a waste of time. But if you look at these boys as pets, you'll figure out a way to deal with them responsibly.

In the future, select auto-sexed breeds such as Welsummers, Marans, Legbars, and sex-link hybrids to avoid accidental roos.
Click to expand...


I have an update for you guys! The two hens are doing fine and laying well. We have a bachelor flock of just roosters and all their fighting has stopped. We have had no problems with it anymore! The guineas always chase away the roosters, so the ladies have a protection squad they can run to.
 

Similar threads

Robind15
    • Like
How to handle my roosters fighting?
2
Replies
18
Views
743
Robind15
Robind15
J
    • Like
    • Wow
Gave rooster away, he came back!
Replies
8
Views
357
CrazyCochin
CrazyCochin
gila_dog
    • Like
Napoleon the rooster
Replies
1
Views
143
sourland
sourland
R
    • Like
Rooster Psychology
2
Replies
12
Views
1K
Cee
C
peasant_girl
Depressed Rooster
Replies
3
Views
1K
Littlebeanacres
L

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom