seperating young roo's. right thing to do?

[lottyloo]

Today whilst i was watching the flock i noticed that a couple of Ronnie's chicks born 19.09.10 where squaring up to eachother. I new there was definatly one roo out of the 10 of them but after looking at all of them there is now definatly 3 roo's. So i have now seperated them as i feel they are old anough and are fully feathered (apart from there heads) so i will be finding these young roo's new homes.

Is the age ok for them to be seperated from there mamma?

Im happy that only 3 out of the 10 are boys

but i probably wont be so lucky with my other hen who has just hatched some eggs.

 

[Judy]

When mamas raise their own chicks they usually "kick them out" at 4 to 6 weeks.

 

[mcostas]

MIne have "squared up to each other" ever since I got them. They were raised together, the postering has on produced any major fights, hardly any fights at all.

Are they drawing blood? If it's just chest thumping and feather fluffing I think that's normal.

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

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I think that's juvenile behavior shown by males AND females. They all do it, establishing pecking order and joyfully playing. Last time we had babies, the babyroo didn't cause any harm until he was 8-9 months old. When his testosterone switched on, it was like a switch was flipped and he realized "OMG!! That's a ROOSTER! KILL IT!" (...to his own daddy rooster who's wing he slept under all his life...) Somebody here on BYC called it "Testosterone Poisoning"

We even have a few hens who lay eggs, dont look like roosters, and occasionally crow. Not the beautiful song of a roo, but crowing anyhow when the mood strikes. They face off when surprised by each other, or if they're full of scrappy in the morning, just for fun, but have never hurt each other.

In our experience, separating chickens makes them insane and despondent; they are social flock animals, and being isolated feels like deadly to them. They establish their pecking order, its a lot of social work, and it really upsets them to be forced into isolation. When we separated our babyroo for attacking his dad, he and his sister just went nuts, so we kept those two together separated from the rest of the flock, and eventually rehomed them as a sibling pair. The two of them did not handle being apart at all, it was all crying and inconsolable flapping, etc.....

That was just our experience, and we're not the most experienced. I hope it works out well for your flock, too. Now I understand why young roosters are renamed "Stewpot" etc.... but I really don't think the testosterone switch will flip until a few months. You have plenty of time to work out your spaces, fences, pens.....garden decor.....landscaping.....

There's also blinders, used by pheasant raising ranches, which allow the birds to stay comfortably together without "seeing the enemy", so they don't fight.

 

[Kansaseq]

I've raised a few clutches now, and never separated out the roos. My experience has been that the roos that grow up together seem to get along pretty well. But then I've even introduced (slowly) immature roos to my older, senior roos, and they all get along, too. Not saying my experience is typical, though. I guess if yours start to really fight seriously and draw blood, then separate them.

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

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That's what we're hoping for this time around. Then again, the kind lady who took our babyroo told us the mixed breeds tend to be the trouble roo's. In her yard, she says everybody gets put in place and all goes well. Except the occasional mutt rooster.

 

[Kansaseq]

I've hatched out several 'mutt' roos, and none have been aggressive. Have a Barnevelder/EE roo in with my Barnevelder roo, and no fights. I think it really depends on the personality of the individual roo.

 

[michickenwrangler]

We separated our roos when the younger got to be about 3 months old. The EE and the cochin rooster flare up their hackles and glare at one another through the fence but they don't fight. They probably would if they were still together.

 

[Tropical Chook]

All my roosters hang out together until freezer camp time. BTW, all mine are Thai games which are famous for fighting, and yet I rarely have problems with them. With that said, last week two youngsters were at it the whole day, and then in a moment of madness, the one charged off and challenged the "VERY BIG" head rooster, and he paid for that mistake with a broken leg, which in turn meant freezer camp immediately. It all happened so quickly I couldn't believe it. One strike from the head rooster, and the youngsters leg was snapped. That is however, the only time one of the youngsters have been stupid enough to challenge the head roo, and I sure hope the others saw what happens when you do.

They're all off to freezer camp soon anyway, but I hate to see them get injured. I only have enough hens for one rooster, although I do have a load of fuzzy butts running about, and more to hatch within days

 

[shchinchillas]

We just have a back yard flock, not wanting to breed mainly just for egg use. However we ended up with several roos. My "adult" flock has 10 hens, and 6 roo's. There are 3 roo's that are dominant, and the other 3 roo's tend to just lay low and hang out with the rest. I haven't noticed anyone really fighting unless one of the low roo's will try to mate with a hen. Normally the hen kicks his butt, and one of the higher roo's comes in. I'm still tossing the idea around to get rid of 3 of the roos. Keeping my two sex links and a silky roo and getting rid of the other 3 silky roos.

My "teenage" flock Has atleast 1 phoenix rooster and 1 sumatra rooster. There are 15 silkies in the group as well, and I honestly don't know who is a roo or a hen at this point with them. These guys also don't bother each other. The phoenix hens however give me the most problems. They are forever squaring off with other chickens and squabbling. As well as the smallest Sumatra, but it has never turned into anything. They are just testing out the pecking order. We'll see how things go as these guys get a little bit bigger and are introduced into the main flock.

My "baby" flock is only 3 weeks old at this point, and several of them are squaring off. They'll remain together, and when they get larger will also be put into the main flock.


We'll most likely end up roo heavy, and some will have to go. Because we aren't breeding but are using them for eggs, and the silkies just to have around for "show" we really don't need the roo's. I know we'll keep the Phoenix roo, most likely the Sumatra roo and 3 of my org. roo's.