Thought I had an accidental Rooster, turns out I have 2! What to do?

[dlaciv12]

So I have never had RIR's before and got 2 as chicks from my local farm supply. We found one was a rooster when we slept with the windows open and heard him crowing. We looked and one clearly has a spiked feathers on his tail. We traded him yesterday for a NH red laying hen. To our surprise the other hen is also a rooster! We are past the disbelieve of getting 2 roosters from hundreds of chicks that were supposed to be all female.

We never planned on having roosters but we are wondering if we do keep him what can we expect? He is 18 weeks old and is stilled chased around by the year and half old hens as part of the pecking order. I am guessing he will be "spreading his seed" soon enough and will eventually get all the girls. Will this have any effect on egg production? Will I have a bunch of broody hens? I gather eggs and refrigerate daily so what will fertilized eggs look like?

My wife likes the idea of keeping him as my flock (7 hens/1 rooster) free ranges the 1/2 acre backyard and we do have a hawk and neighborhood cats.

Oh yeah, roosters are also, technically, illegal in my town but I am not too worried about that.

 

[gryeyes]

You will never see any difference between fertilized and unfertilized eggs on the outside, nor will you taste any difference when you eat them. The only difference will be a small, white "bulls-eye" instead of the solid white dot on the yolk.

Hens don't need roosters or fertilized eggs to go broody. Heck, some of 'em don't even need EGGS to go broody; they'll set on golf balls, or nothing sometimes. It's a hormonal hen thing, with no relationship to roosters at all.

Of course, without fertilized eggs, a broody hen will never HATCH anything.

Fertilized eggs will not develop chicks unless they are incubated. Embryos will not develop unless fertilized eggs are incubated, either naturally under a hen or artificially in an incubator. If you gather eggs every day - or even once a week! - you will never find a developing chick in an egg.

*I* would keep the rooster. But I love roosters. ;-) Wouldn't have a flock without one. (Originally didn't want one, but got one the same way you did: accidentally.)

 

[MikasGirl]

Haha! We are sorta in the same boat. Our flock has 2 year old hens, 1 year old hens, and 6 month olds. Those are all ladies. We have a beautiful EE roo who is 5 months old and is having some difficulty transitioning into the mix, as well. The older girls almost completely ignore him, the 6 month olds go after him like you wouldn't believe. He is so cute, he tries to do his little dance, but he's still learning, and then the girls chase him anyway. I am pretty sure this will eventually get better as his hormones take him over and he gets bigger. I have noticed he already watches for them when birds fly around outside, and he's making little warning noises, and the girls do listen, so hopefully it just takes a bit of time. Good luck with your boys!!! You should check out the RIR roo thread