Last summer's hatch included 3 roosters. Unfortunately, the one we wanted to keep was killed by a predator when he was about 3 months old. The remaining 2 are now 8 months old. Up until the last few days, they've hung around together and gotten along well. It actually seems like they work together to breed the hens.
We have 15 hens. We allow them to free-range. We have a large cleared area behind the house with woods (full of predators) behind. Generally the chickens don't go more than 1/2 way to the woods. Two days ago, the 2 roosters had a fight. Not bad enough to leave any injuries. But there has seemed to be tension between them. Today, one of the roosters took off with 7 of the hens to the woods. I don't know when we would have realized it if they hadn't come to the swampy area which is full of water this time of year. He started crowing; my husband noticed the crowing was coming from the woods and went to investigate. He shepherded them back to the hen house area. A few hours later, the rooster took off with 9 of the hens to another area of the woods! We herded them back and locked the entire flock up in the run.
Our flock is mostly Barred Rock. Last summer, when these eggs were fertilized, we had a Barred Rock Rooster. We had 2 non-Barred Rock hens; an Americuana, and a Buff Orp/Americuana mix. I put 2 Americuana (blue) eggs under the broody hen. These roosters are both from the non-Barred Rock hens. (There is also one mixed pullet.) The rooster who was killed early on, was pure Barred Rock. If he had lived, we would probably have already culled both of these roosters. We are not sure what kind of rooster we want.
We are in a quandary. We probably shouldn't let our flock get any larger. We love to let our Mama hen raise chicks, but if she goes broody again this year, we're not sure what we will do. We have 9 three-year old hens, 2 two-year hens, and 4 eight-month old pullets. If we hatch chicks this year, we should cull some of the older hens. If we don't bring on new pullets, egg quantity (and quality???) will go down as the hens age. If we don't hatch new chicks, do we really need a rooster? Though I personally like to wake up to a crowing rooster.
So the dreaded decision. Which one do we kill? Or should be cull both of them?
Has anyone ever had a rooster try to leave like this?
We have 15 hens. We allow them to free-range. We have a large cleared area behind the house with woods (full of predators) behind. Generally the chickens don't go more than 1/2 way to the woods. Two days ago, the 2 roosters had a fight. Not bad enough to leave any injuries. But there has seemed to be tension between them. Today, one of the roosters took off with 7 of the hens to the woods. I don't know when we would have realized it if they hadn't come to the swampy area which is full of water this time of year. He started crowing; my husband noticed the crowing was coming from the woods and went to investigate. He shepherded them back to the hen house area. A few hours later, the rooster took off with 9 of the hens to another area of the woods! We herded them back and locked the entire flock up in the run.
Our flock is mostly Barred Rock. Last summer, when these eggs were fertilized, we had a Barred Rock Rooster. We had 2 non-Barred Rock hens; an Americuana, and a Buff Orp/Americuana mix. I put 2 Americuana (blue) eggs under the broody hen. These roosters are both from the non-Barred Rock hens. (There is also one mixed pullet.) The rooster who was killed early on, was pure Barred Rock. If he had lived, we would probably have already culled both of these roosters. We are not sure what kind of rooster we want.
We are in a quandary. We probably shouldn't let our flock get any larger. We love to let our Mama hen raise chicks, but if she goes broody again this year, we're not sure what we will do. We have 9 three-year old hens, 2 two-year hens, and 4 eight-month old pullets. If we hatch chicks this year, we should cull some of the older hens. If we don't bring on new pullets, egg quantity (and quality???) will go down as the hens age. If we don't hatch new chicks, do we really need a rooster? Though I personally like to wake up to a crowing rooster.
So the dreaded decision. Which one do we kill? Or should be cull both of them?
Has anyone ever had a rooster try to leave like this?
