Roosters

[Christina Marie]

What does everyone do with too many roosters? We currently have 2 roosters with 5 hens, we have 12 more going to be added to the bunch but they are not mature yet. I know the rule is 1 rooster per 10 hens. Then we now have 7 babies which we dont know the sex of we are assuming we will have at least 1 rooster and looking for re homing to a good home with his own flock. Where should we be looking?

 

[diamondsilkies]

Wow, that's a lot of roosters! They may be a little hard to re-home right now, since so many people have bought chicks during the pandemic. That being said, I usually list an ad on Craigslist. I find that I get the most response with clear, detailed photos and descriptions. If you're looking to re-home them as pets, make sure to clarify that in the description, and price them accordingly. Free roosters or very low priced roosters are more at risk of being purchased as food.

You can also try calling feed stores in your area. Occasionally you will find one that will take in extra birds and resell them. The one I used to take mine too would even give me $5 for each one I brought in.

Another option is to start a bachelor flock. As long as there aren't any hens with them, larger groups of roosters can get along surprisingly well. Good luck!

 

[EmilyRobb]

@Christina Marie if you have a seperate area to house the roosters, like even just a partitioned pen beside the hens, that would work. When there are no hens to fight over, roosters live together peacefully for the most part. That's what I do outside of breeding season and I've never had issues. That might be your best bet to try until you can find the guys some new homes as I don't think people will be up and about necessarily with the current pandemic.