Rooster Questions

[WVduckchick]

Great job everyone!

I'm wondering if one of the young "pullets" may actually be another cockerel, making the older rooster act the way he is.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Updated pictures of the birds could help determine that

Great job everyone!

I'm wondering if one of the young "pullets" may actually be another cockerel, making the older rooster act the way he is.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Great job everyone!

I'm wondering if one of the young "pullets" may actually be another cockerel, making the older rooster act the way he is.

Yes, it would be nice to see all of them Another fella in the mix would cause some problems for sure.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

I absolutely love the blue legs on the pullets.

 

[lazy gardener]

Looks like PP have pretty much covered things: agreed:

Multiple feeding/water stations. Even tossing some feed on the ground to allow bottom of pecking order birds to eat.

Pullets look like American game.

Block off nest box(es) to keep all birds out of them at night. Be sure birds have plenty of roost space, with 18" between roost and ceiling (my recommendation).

Give them lots of deep bedding in both coop and run. You can scatter some grains now and then to keep them busy looking for tid bits instead of picking on each other.

Minimum recommendation for space is 4 s.f. in coop and 10 s.f. in run per bird. American games may be more prone to aggression. So, this may be part of your problem. Are there pics of the original roo and hen? Have other posters determined breeds of those two?

 

[Enchanted1s]

Thanks for all of the replies. The coop is about 8 foot wide and 7 foot deep. The nesting box that they sleep in is about 30 inches wide and deep a little taller since I raised the roof. There are currently two roosting boards inside - I am planning to change & re-arrange them tomorrow. I have two separate feeding buckets - each have 3 feeding stations in them. They only go into their coop area to sleep and eat. They free range during the day. I did have a pen around the coop that was about 15 foot square, but I just moved this fence and now their 'pen' area is about 50 foot square.

JUST TONIGHT A LIGHT BULB CAME ON! I think it was after I raised the roof that Rudy the rooster started kicking the pullets out of the roost box! I think - the older two have decided they want to roost instead of sleeping in the laying box - which they had always chosen to do. (the laying box attached to the roost box is not being used for laying - they have another box for laying). Anyway - I am thinking this might be part of the problem? The two roosts currently in the box are not placed well - I am going to fix this tomorrow and see how things go.

I have no idea on the age of the rooster. The hen was a tiny chick when the neighbor brought them home around Easter 2017. The pullets appeared very young when they showed up in the coop around 1 Oct 17.

I too have wondered if one of these pullets are a cockerel - but I have posted pics a couple of places and everyone thinks they are both pullets. Here are some pictures of our flock. OH YES - Based on recommendations here, I did just change everyone to an all flock feed and Oyster shells are available.

Here is Rudy. Pic taken 1 Dec 17.

Here is Rudy and Tootie

Here are the pullets - I think the picture posted earlier is more current (this week). This pic was 1 Dec 17

Just because they are so darn cute! Here are our babies that are still staying inside the house. 2 Cream Legbars' and one Buff Orpington.

I will try to get some pics of Rudy's comb and foot tomorrow. THANK YOU ALL

 

[Wyorp Rock]

coop is about 8 foot wide and 7 foot deep

There are currently two roosting boards inside - I am planning to change & re-arrange them tomorrow.

Thank you for the photos and more information. When you mention that your "coop" is 8'X7' do you mean the "whole structure"? A "coop" is the house or secured sleeping area and generally contains the nesting boxes or nesting boxes are attached like yours.

"Run" is the outdoors portion. Your coop portion (to me) looks much smaller than 8X7. Not being picky here, but that could be part of your problem - just simply not enough space inside for roosting comfortably. Re-arranging the roosting and/or adding more space when you can will help.

You also need to consider the breed you are dealing with - having free range time is good. You have a gamefowl rooster and 2 gamefowl pullets (in the photos). As for Tootie, I have no clue, but would say she is a barnyard mix laying hen.

 

[Enchanted1s]

Thank you for the clarification . I guess I got confused with the terms when I ordered a 'chicken coop' in a box and was sent the whole (tiny) thing. So the box in which they sleep is small. About 30 inches square - but taller now. the top was at the top of the doors in the red outlined part in the pic above. They also have access to that laying box at night. Tooties red laying box is behind the sleeping coop but inside the structure. I tried to get a picture of the newly rearranged roosts. I am hoping they won't mind they are not level LOL.

I was not able to get close enough to Rudy for good pics of his foot and comb. I think Rosie (the scared pullet) is getting to eat. She is getting bigger and looks healthy. Most of the time, the 4 are together. It is bed time and treat time where I see the most aggression towards Rosie.

 

[KentuckyRooster]

Being gamefowl they're going to be more prone to scuffles than some other breeds. This is in their nature.

I am suspicious about the pullet who is farther away in the photo. Can you get a close up of that bird? It looks like it might have curving feathers at the tail base and long lead feathers coming in at the front of the tail if you look close. If so, this would be why he is picking on him- gamefowl are often very aggressive to other roosters.

 

[Enchanted1s]

Let me see what pics I have of Rosie. It is hard to get good, close pics of her..

Here is Tina - the friendly one - 1 Dec 17

Here is Rosie - scared of everything & everyone. 15 Dec 17