roosters close to killing each other

[victoriagoodrch]

hello. i have a cage of 21 chickens and 3/4 of them are roosters. we hatched them from our other chicken's eggs so we couldn't get rid of them ((although we are now being forced to)). many of the roosters are becoming very mean and cruel to the other roosters, even the hens sometimes. they attack each other, sometimes end up in blood, but never any serious wounds. until now. my little baby, rocky, an old english game rooster who is smaller than the rest, was attacked tonight. he is always the one to break up the fights so we are very concerned as to why he was chosen as the victim. he's full of scabs, bruises, and dried blood. we obviously separated him, but now i'm just scared. should we get rid of most of the roosters? should we keep rocky separate from now on? will they end up killing each other? if it helps, this is how badly rocky is bruised ((bad quality but it's almost 10:00pm)):

PLEASE help us figure out what to do. thank you.

 

[iwiw60]

Good grief, with that many roos I think you should be planning a "butchering day" real soon. No sense wasting that much meat. And with them not being that old they should be downright tasty yet!

 

[boyswillbeboys]

I'd be sending the majority of those Roos to freezer camp, personally.

 

[keesmom]

You need to do something ASAP with those males. Advertise them on the Maine thread, haul them to one of the Augusta or Waterville TSC swaps, list them on craigslist, take them to Jason's butcher shop, or some other option that occurs to you. Then separate those poor pullets and whatever cockerel you like.

I suppose you could keep them all in a bachelor pad but I certainly would not want to pay to feed that many freeloaders.

 

[iwiw60]

You need to do something ASAP with those males. Advertise them on the Maine thread, haul them to one of the Augusta or Waterville TSC swaps, list them on craigslist, take them to Jason's butcher shop, or some other option that occurs to you. Then separate those poor pullets and whatever cockerel you like.

I suppose you could keep them all in a bachelor pad but I certainly would not want to pay to feed that many freeloaders.

Freezer camp....that's a good one!!

 

[victoriagoodrch]

You need to do something ASAP with those males. Advertise them on the Maine thread, haul them to one of the Augusta or Waterville TSC swaps, list them on craigslist, take them to Jason's butcher shop, or some other option that occurs to you. Then separate those poor pullets and whatever cockerel you like.

I suppose you could keep them all in a bachelor pad but I certainly would not want to pay to feed that many freeloaders.

we are planning on advertising them this weekend. we're only keeping three of the roosters, including rocky. thank you for the advice! and for everyone else, we're way too attached to them to have them killed, but if someone takes them and uses them for meat, that's none of our business.

 

[iwiw60]

we are planning on advertising them this weekend. we're only keeping three of the roosters, including rocky. thank you for the advice! and for everyone else, we're way too attached to them to have them killed, but if someone takes them and uses them for meat, that's none of our business.

That sounds like the best alternative for you for sure. The only thing I would add is this: you have 21 ladies if I read your original post correctly...keeping 3 roos for that number of hens will most likely still be too many...me personally? I'd keep only 2 roos at most. Wishing you all the best and here's hoping you can "clear the decks" of all the others quickly!

 

[specsussex]

If you have 21 chickens and 3/4 are roosters, that means you only have 5 or 6 pullets? If that is correct, you should only keep one roo, and I would think about maybe buying some more pullets for even that one... IMHO.

 

[BayBay Peepers]

I'd have to agree. We ended up with 2 roosters on accident for a group of 8 ladies and it was a complete nightmare until we rehomed to camp grill-out. Best of luck to you.

 

[boyswillbeboys]

That's true, I currently have 6 boys for 34 girls, 11 of which are not laying yet, and that is to much, I just haven't decided who's going to stay and who is going to go.