They're GONE!

[countrygirl4513]

I was so pleased last night to give 7 of my roo's to a neighbor. I've been trying to get rid of them for a while now. When out of the blue a lady I use to go to church with called and told me that this man might want them. And he did. We caught them last night and now I'm down to 3 roo's. My hens will be so grateful! I did have to give " Slick" away though I hated to do it. But he was getting so dominant towards us. At least now maybe my hens will be more relaxed. I know the man was happy to get them due to the fact that the Mexicans he hires came in this morning for tobacco cutting and they won't eat grocery store chicken, only fresh,or so he told me. I hate that the roo's may end up in the cookpot but I would've eventually had to do it myself. Now it's time to get some more pullets and even out my ratio.

 

[devora]

What's a proper ratio?

 

[countrygirl4513]

1 roo to 10 hens

 

[Chickending]

I am wondering the same thing. What is the proper ratio to hens? I have three roos right now to about 30 hens.

 

[karri25]

ok, what if you have banties and standards mixed? We have 13 sex link hens to one sex link roo. We have one silkie roo to one silkie hen. We have one millie roo to two millie hens. But we accidentally got three little banty roosters. We thought that we had one roo and two hens...wrong! Problem: they are my kids. How will this all work out? It feels like we have too many roos but I don't how I will get rid of any of them.

 

[Patchofheaven]

I'm with you Karrie25, we have 9 chickens - I just found out that have 5 roos and 4 pullets. My girls are currently out numbered.

 

[countrygirl4513]

for the whole flock you should have 1 roo to every 10 hens. If you want to breed purebred you will have to keep the breeds seperate. I'm not particular, they may copulate as they please. But I'm not into show chickens. Some even seperate the hens from the roo's etc. It is all in how you want to raise your flock.
And don't get me wrong it was hard to give the roos away after all I raised them. But for the health of the hens it had to be done. Roo's are very hard on hens hopping on them at every chance. Not to mention too many roos allows for eventual cock fighting among the boys. And that can turn out deadly for some of the roo's. It's best to keep to eliminate them by culling as early as possible, but I'm a softy and couldn't do it to them. It was best for me to just give them away that way they at least didn't die by my hands. However having said that, I will slaughter my flock if it comes down to having food on the table. And at this point in our economy... who's to say,... it could be sooner than later.

 

[rosyposyosy]

i got 3 bantys. 2 out of the 3 were roos. i got rid of one, and then the other. i replaced the roos with sexed pullets - so now i have 3 pullets

 

[karri25]

Can bantys mate with standards? I know, probably a stupid question :0) (blushing)

 

[Frozen Feathers]

Quote:
Yeah they can. My little Tiny Jap Bantam roo will "ride" anything. It's kinda funny Like watching a skinny cowboy try to ride a 1200+ bull....