Roosters!?! Oh my

[mamdoe]

So.......I bought 6 sexed chicks and thought I had bought another 6. Only to find out this morning that they were straight run.
My husband and I had talked about not keeping any roosters, but the straight run chicks were supposed to be our pets. So now I am worried that some will be roosters.
So...what do you do with your roosters? Can multiple roosters live in the same coop? And at what age can you tell if they are a rooster?

 

[Mahonri]

You can usually tell roos by the fourth week... sometimes longer in rare breeds.

You can have a bachelor pad. Too many roos with few hens spell trouble.

You can eat them?
You can rehome them.

 

[ColbyNTX]

Depends on the breed at what age you can tell. The roosters can live togather but they will fight and it is rough on the hens. I bought a dozen "straight run" one time and got a dozen roo's. That wasn't bad luck, it was somebody selling sexed cockrels as straight run. That's why I hatch all my own birds now. Some people eat their extra roo's or put them up for sale. Somebody will buy them for $5.00 or so.

 

[Big George]

Grow them to 16 weeks and process them. Its a summer great project.

 

[mamdoe]

The chicks up for debate are 2 silkies, 2 bantam cochins and a sebright.
So all small birds. The sexed hens are orpingtons and EE's. So if we have a rooster it will be a small one.

 

[Gypsy07]

Uh oh. Aren't Sebrights well known for being, um, rather 'feisty'?
I've heard they can start a fight in an empty coop!

I have two Marans roos, 14 weeks old, that I hatched out in an incubator.
So far they're getting on fine together in my coop, with nine ladies.

 

[abanjaf]

I have 13 hens housed with 2 roos. The hens are EE's, Light Brahma, BLRW, Sebrights, Polish, and Silkies. I have one BLRW roo and a Silkie roo. They are the best of friends, have never seen them fight and hope it continues to stay that way. I couldn't tell that one of the Silkies was a roo until he was a couple of months old. The feathered "spikes" on his head (vs the hen's nice little "poof") appeared long before his comb development did. I had a red bantam cochin (which I rehomed because he was a nasty little devil) whose comb development was very prominent from the beginning. I knew by the time he was 4 weeks old that he was a roo. My Sebright hens showed NO comb development whatsoever up until right before they started laying. I have no experience with Sebright roos so I don't know how feisty they are. However, my two little girls are very friendly, curious, and inquisitive and follow me around everywhere! When out in the yard, I have to be careful I don't step on them because they're constantly underfoot! You're just going to have to play the waiting game and find out who's who From the adults I have now, I placed a total of 3 roos (2 silkies and the bantam cochin). My little cochin went to the local feed store (they have free range chickens, pheasants, peacocks, ducks, geese, etc) and they did not mind adding one more to their collection. My two Silkie roos went to a local chicken farm called "Funky Chicken Farm" where the fella assured me that he could rehome them for me. There are always options for rehoming your roos. I know I'm going to have to do it again soon as I think I have at least 4 chicks that are cockerels I wait until they're at least 4 months old before rehoming them.

 

[mamdoe]

ABANJAF,
Thank you for being so helpful. I am really hoping that the cochins are not roosters. Them and the sebright are the sweetest of the bunch so far. But the silkies are my daughters favorites. I was concerned that if I had any roosters my husband would not let me keep them, but I made a joke/comment today like "Man I hope that all those chicks don't end up being roosters!" and he replied, "I wouldn't mind a rooster or two"

So at least I know now that if I do end up with some roos I won't have to rehome them all. And your right it is a waiting game. I will just have to wait and see who gets along and what their temperament is.