Separating pullets and cockerels

[greenthumbmama]

I am so new at all this, but someone made a comment on another thread post of mine about separating the cockerels from the pullets because they mature sexually quicker and will pester the pullets. My chicks are 6 weeks old today and we still haven't been able to tell which ones are male or female. I bought them unsexed and mixed breed from a farm store. I will never do that again. It's been a very frustrating adventure because being that I'm so uneducated about gender identifiers, it's been hard to tell. I know we have 2 cockerels for sure. A couple possible others...

Can someone help out here? At what age should they be separated and what do I do if I can't tell what gender they are? (Just for the record, I have posted several times on the gender/breed board, but I keep getting some conflicting replies ~ no offense!)

 

[sfw2]

Typically, the Breed/Gender board is your best bet. It's tough with mixed breeds, though. Good luck!

Edited because I just read the original post all the way through. )

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know what your long term goals are with your chickens, how many you plan to keep, eggs only, eggs and meat, pets, whatever. What I'm saying is I do not know what you want your mature flock to look like, how many hens and roosters. Chickens raised together get along better than chickens raised apart, then integrated.

Until they reach maturity, the pullets are just as likely to pester and dominate the cockerels as the cockerels are to dominate the pullets. It depends on the personality of the individual chickens involved. Often in a young flock, the cockerel is very low in the pecking order until he reaches full maturity and confidence. Sometimes a cockerel will mature faster than a pullet. Sometimes they don't. At 6 weeks, if you see two chicks squaring off with each other, they are just as likely to be pullets as cockerels or one of each. When they reach a level where the hormones are kicking in, you will see flock domination fights among the cocks. These will be less often and probably not as vicious if the cocks are in a bachelor flock. If you plan to keep one rooster or more than one rooster, it is better for them to be raised together with your flock. That may sound cionflicting, but it is not. The fights are overall less vicious and bloody if the final flock is raised together instead of introducing them later.

If you only want eggs or pets, you do not need a rooster. The dominant hen will probably take over most of the flockmaster duties the rooster would normally perform, such as guard duty and maintaining order.

Some people see the rooster mating the hens as pestering them. Some see it as natural. Many people report that hens are calmer if there is no rooster around. Some may say bored. It comes to a personal preference, but an all hen flock will manage fine without a rooster and usually one hen will take over those duties as I mentioned.

The recommended ratio for hens to roosters is 10 to 12 hens for each rooster. This pretty much assures all eggs are fertile yet the hens are not worn out from mating. Yet some people have ratios more of the lines of 2 roosters and 3 hens and have no problems with overmating whatever, especially if they grow up together. It depends on the personality of the individual chickens involved.

My suggestion is that you let the ones you are going to keep grow up together. If you are not going to keep some, you can separate them out after you have identified which ones are which if you wish. Until you can physically tell which are hens and roosters, I don't think you need to be in a hurry.

That's my opinion. I'm confident some others will disagree.

 

[greenthumbmama]

Thank you Ridgerunner...this helps a great deal. Plans for our flock are eggs only. We live in the city limits and city code for our town is no roosters in the city limits. We plan to respect that because we want only hens. We knew purchasing unsexed chicks would mean some of the chicks would most likely either be rehomed, or dinner

. Your reply has certainly given me some peace of mind! Thank you!

Oh yes, one more thing...a friend of mine is raising chickens like we are too. And she confirmed the same thing you said when I asked her this morning. But as they live outside city limits on 3 acres, they do have plans to keep a rooster or two!

 

[GuppyTJ]

Ridgerunner,

This is the best reply on this topic that I've been able to find. I feel so much better about many questions I've had and a few I've posed here in other threads. I have 10 unsexed chicks that are 4 1/2 weeks old, my first chicks ever. Thanks to your response, I now know that all the little sparring I see in the brooder does not mean I have 10 roos! Also, I was not looking forward to or prepared to separate the cockerals and pullets as one book (Storey's Guide, p. 318) says to do between 3 and 8 weeks old.

Thanks much, very informative and helpful.

Guppy