So my pullet is a Roo.... now what?

[Lorije1]

I sit and stare at "the chicken formerly known as Marge" and wonder what now? He is a nice enough bird - beautiful. He is about 13-14 weeks old, EE. I have pretty much decided to keep him around.

I have 15 other chickens (that BETTER be pullets lol), a run over 300sqft and a henhouse of about 90sqft. They free-range daily in my backyard. "Marge" already lets everyone else eat the choicest treats and yesterday I noticed all of them under a huge old pecan tree and heard a hawk screaming (there were 2 circling!) ... so maybe Marge warned the flock?
I followed him around today until I cornered him and picked him up. He didn't want to be caught, but once I had my hands on him he was quiet. I carried him a little while and gave him a couple of treats by hand before setting him back with the girls.

He sounds like he will be ok... right? I will relent and keep a rooster, but I will not keep a meanie.

 

[gryeyes]

I absolutely adore my EE Carl, who was supposed to be "Carly the pullet."

Here he is, schmoozing with Buffy, the hatch mother of his first chick, which is dust bathing off to the left.

He's so handsome, and I am SO glad I didn't return him to the feed store once I realized he wasn't a pullet.

And here he is announcing something roosterish.

 

[Lorije1]

My roo has some red...so I wonder if he will look like your Carl? He is a beaut!

ETA - well, looking at it "Marge" has more

A friend said her EE roo was the friendliest / best roo she had... but she also told me Buff Orpingtons are amazingly friendly and 2 of my 3 are psycho LOL ( I know... individual personalities).

It just amazes me that this tiny little fuzzy ping pong is growing up to just "know" how to take care of the others, that hawks are bad, etc. He does seem to have a favorite - my EE "Stink" , but I can't blame him because she is one of my faves too!!

 

[crj]

I don't know. Marge has an awful small comb. Can't really see the tail. Not all roosters are mean. Wait and see what happens.

 

[cedar-run-chicks]

If he does turn out to be a "meanie" there is always Sunday dinner !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Lorije1]

CRJ - there are more pics in my thread in the gender forum "EE Pullet... right?" . Overwhelming vote is for Roo. I will have to get more current photos because even in the last week he has become a very obvious Rooster.

Cedar Run.... I thought very seriously, and I jsut can't do it. I do have a friend (same one who has the friendly EE Roo) who does butcher their chickens, so I may be able to make a donation to their Sunday dinner. Or, my neighbor has an acre and 1/2 with several chickens, and a great "bachelor pad" so I may be able to talk him into taking him - he is a beautiful bird.

 

[sandiatonimarie]

I'd give "Marge" a chance if he's a good personality. I had same thing, 9 chicks, supposed to be all hens. I was really insistent that I did not want a rooster and would swap or sell or get rid of any roosters. Fast forward 5 1/2 months and I now have 7 hens (one mysteriously died a few weeks ago) and a very beautiful Blue Wyandotte rooster.

So far Blue Boy is quite the little gentleman. Crows a few time around 6 am and again a few times before sunset. Otherwise he's pretty quiet. He is good to the hens, isn't rough with them when mating, doesn't harass them and the one hen who is the bottom of the pecking order knows that all she has to do is go stand by him if the other girls get after her too much. He has never pecked or attacked me when I go in their area. So given all that, I am glad that I didn't get rid of him, he's really fun to have around and he'll definitely get to stay around as long as he stays a gentleman.

 

[Lorije1]

The "roosterly" habits as far as crowing etc don't really bother me... ..my neighbor has 3 roosters, a couple of turkeys and several guinea fowl - so one more would just add to the choir LOL
I just didn't want fertile eggs, or a mean bird. So far he seems like an agreeable enough fella. So my friend will have to put her dumpling recipe on hold for now.

 

[hen-at-home]

I am currently struggling with the same dilemma. I started with 8 chicks and one Australorp has turned out to be a roo. I said when we first started with chickens this spring that I wouldn't keep a rooster but he's so beautiful and so far he is a pretty decent guy. I heard him crow for the first time the other day and he has been practicing on occasion. We do have neighbors and I'm not sure how they will feel about his crowing. I plan on asking them to let me know because if he bothers the neighbors I can't keep him.

I love the sound of him crowing though!

The odd thing is that he doesn't save the choicest food bits for the girls. He is rather greedy and any food that is offered he grabs at it first. He'll take a piece of watermelon and walk away with it to eat it himself. What's up with that?

 

[manichicks]

Quote:
Why do you not want fertile eggs, and do you know that once you refrigerate them they are no longer fertile? fertile eggs will come in handy when one of the girls go broody next year.