SDoni
Hatching
- Jul 20, 2016
- 3
- 0
- 7
I'm fairly new to chickens, I've had my flock of 10 for about 3 months now. I was told I was getting 9 hens and 1 rooster, but the two Barred Rocks I have are now old enough that I've determined they are definitely roos!
So total I have 3 Buff Orps (1 roo, 2 hens) 5 ISA Browns (all hens) and the 2 Barred Rock roos. The Reds were 22 weeks when I got them, and the rest about 11 weeks. All were raised together so they don't fight, and are very sweet birds.
The trouble is that now that they are a bit older, the roos have found their voices and their interest in the girls - all the girls, all the time. I realize that younger roos will be a bit more enthusiastic about mating but it's nonstop and my girls are all walking around with dots of blood on their combs.
So I separated the roos into a different run, and I'm wondering when/if I should put them all back together again.
The roos don't fight - I call them the 3 Amigos because they stick together like glue. And my girls egg production has gone up since they aren't stressed from the constant raping (lol!). But I would like to eventually keep them all together, since part of the roos job is protection.
Thoughts? (Thank you!)
So total I have 3 Buff Orps (1 roo, 2 hens) 5 ISA Browns (all hens) and the 2 Barred Rock roos. The Reds were 22 weeks when I got them, and the rest about 11 weeks. All were raised together so they don't fight, and are very sweet birds.
The trouble is that now that they are a bit older, the roos have found their voices and their interest in the girls - all the girls, all the time. I realize that younger roos will be a bit more enthusiastic about mating but it's nonstop and my girls are all walking around with dots of blood on their combs.
So I separated the roos into a different run, and I'm wondering when/if I should put them all back together again.
The roos don't fight - I call them the 3 Amigos because they stick together like glue. And my girls egg production has gone up since they aren't stressed from the constant raping (lol!). But I would like to eventually keep them all together, since part of the roos job is protection.
Thoughts? (Thank you!)