Rooster Separation Issue

[farmgirl06]

Hello All... I need help with a dilemma I am having. My 10 beautiful chickens are just over 5 months old and I've raised them since 5 of them were 1 week old and 5 were 2 weeks old. Needless to say, I have fallen in love with ALL of them! The problem I have is that my husband refuses to eat any eggs from the flock because they are most likely fertilized. (We have 1 very busy rooster and 9 hens.) If I have to buy store-bought eggs as well, it totally defeats the purpose of having chickens here in the first place! I have reasoned with him with all of my research from this website but nothing seems to get him past his "ick!" factor!! So to make a long story less long..

Would it be better for my rooster (Angelo-seen in my avatar) to move to another home altogether or just split the run and build him a mini-coop so he is only separated from 'his girls' by a reinforced chicken wire and they can still see each other through the fence?

Thanks in advance for your wisdom and advice!

(FYI: when we bought him we thought he was a girl!)

 

[bobbi-j]

Personally, I'd let hubby be on his own. If he wants gross, tasteless, yucky store- bought eggs, let him buy them and fix them himself. I know that you know that fertized eggs are no different than non- fertilized. There is no chick growing in that egg if it has been picked the day it was laid, especially if there was no hen sitting on it. As far as what to do with your rooster, that's a choice only you can make. Personally, I'd keep things as they are and follow the above as far as DH goes. But if you really feel the need to remove him from the flock, find him a new home where he can have access to the hens (or better yet, just don't ask what his fate will be.) It would be cruel to cage him separately where he can look but not touch. (Ask your DH how he and his hormones would manage in that situation...)

 

[Bullitt]

Oh, brother. Your husband can't tell the difference between a fertilized egg and an unfertilized egg. He needs to get passed his mental issue.

If you must remove the rooster, I think the rooster would be very lonely in another pen just watching the hens. So if you must, just get rid of the rooster by finding him a new home without people with fertilized egg phobia.

By the way, is your rooster a Red Sex Link?

 

[farmgirl06]

Yes Bullitt, I am pretty sure he is a RSL... why? When I bought them from the feed store I bought 7 RSL and 7 'Rainbow Layers'. I'm almost positive I ended up with 1 EE, 1 Ameraucana, and 12 RSLs. My daughter and son-in-law begged off 4 of the RSLs though, so now I only have the 7 RSL hens & Angelo plus the EE & Ameraucana. (FYI: Angelo turned out to be the only rooster out of all 14 birds...)

I didn't mean for this to turn into a 'dog my husband' discussion however.. he is a hardworking decent man and who among us does not have a few quirks? I knew how he felt about it before I even bought the chicks but the clerk at the feed store assured me that they were most likely all girls.. my dear husband has tried to 'get over it' because Angelo really is a cool rooster. He just can't (it stems from a childhood experience). I am just looking for some suggestions that I haven't thought of to work this out. What if I still divided the run but just separated a few hens out of the flock instead of the rooster and kept the eggs separate? Would that be very hard on the separated hens? I really don't want to get rid of the rooster if I can help it... thanks again for your suggestions.

 

[appps]

Its funny because my first thought was tell your husband to buy his own eggs lol but then I remembered I never actually ate one of our own eggs when we had our rooster so shall not say that afterall lol. I knew it was stupid and they looked exactly the same but I still gave the kids ours and I had the back up store ones. (Blush)

Anyway, back to the question. Personally if you can find him a good home where you know he won't be dinner then I'm sure he would be much happier being part of someone else's flock than spending his life alone.

Edit cause I just read your reply. I don't think the seperated hens would care much. Breeders have lots of small pens with small groups in them and they do fine. When we had to get rid of our rooster I don't think the girls even noticed he was gone. Just watch your flock dynamics and choose groups that naturally hang together.

Good luck!

 

[farmgirl06]

Thank you APPPS your post was helpful. In case you were wondering, as a boy he was helping his grandma make breakfast with her chicken's eggs and when he cracked one open it held a partially formed chick (ewwwww!! Obviously overlooked at collection time for quite awhile!). I'm sure that would've done it for me, I'm lucky he eats eggs at all! LOL

 

[Trefoil]

I would do as you thought of and just separate out a couple of hens. All you would need to do is carry a sharpie with you when you collected eggs and mark the "hens only" ones. Cheap,, easy solution.

 

[farmgirl06]

Thank you Trefoil.. I will do exactly that.

 

[IrishAcreFarm]

Yes Bullitt, I am pretty sure he is a RSL... why? When I bought them from the feed store I bought 7 RSL and 7 'Rainbow Layers'. I'm almost positive I ended up with 1 EE, 1 Ameraucana, and 12 RSLs. My daughter and son-in-law begged off 4 of the RSLs though, so now I only have the 7 RSL hens & Angelo plus the EE & Ameraucana. (FYI: Angelo turned out to be the only rooster out of all 14 birds...)

I didn't mean for this to turn into a 'dog my husband' discussion however.. he is a hardworking decent man and who among us does not have a few quirks? I knew how he felt about it before I even bought the chicks but the clerk at the feed store assured me that they were most likely all girls.. my dear husband has tried to 'get over it' because Angelo really is a cool rooster. He just can't (it stems from a childhood experience). I am just looking for some suggestions that I haven't thought of to work this out. What if I still divided the run but just separated a few hens out of the flock instead of the rooster and kept the eggs separate? Would that be very hard on the separated hens? I really don't want to get rid of the rooster if I can help it... thanks again for your suggestions.

I think the seperate pen for the roo and a couple of his favorite ladies is a great idea Then everyone wins

 

[bobbi-j]

Yes Bullitt, I am pretty sure he is a RSL... why? When I bought them from the feed store I bought 7 RSL and 7 'Rainbow Layers'. I'm almost positive I ended up with 1 EE, 1 Ameraucana, and 12 RSLs. My daughter and son-in-law begged off 4 of the RSLs though, so now I only have the 7 RSL hens & Angelo plus the EE & Ameraucana. (FYI: Angelo turned out to be the only rooster out of all 14 birds...)

I didn't mean for this to turn into a 'dog my husband' discussion however.. he is a hardworking decent man and who among us does not have a few quirks? I knew how he felt about it before I even bought the chicks but the clerk at the feed store assured me that they were most likely all girls.. my dear husband has tried to 'get over it' because Angelo really is a cool rooster. He just can't (it stems from a childhood experience). I am just looking for some suggestions that I haven't thought of to work this out. What if I still divided the run but just separated a few hens out of the flock instead of the rooster and kept the eggs separate? Would that be very hard on the separated hens? I really don't want to get rid of the rooster if I can help it... thanks again for your suggestions.

Sounds like a win-win solution! Chickens are flock animals, and are happiest when they have some company. Your rooster and a few hens will be just fine together - much better than the rooster being isolated.

Thank you APPPS your post was helpful. In case you were wondering, as a boy he was helping his grandma make breakfast with her chicken's eggs and when he cracked one open it held a partially formed chick (ewwwww!! Obviously overlooked at collection time for quite awhile!). I'm sure that would've done it for me, I'm lucky he eats eggs at all! LOL

That does explain alot! I apologize if it sounded like I was being critical of your husband. You're right - we do all have our quirks...