Trying to manage randy younger roos

[goreybabe]

Hi all,
This spring we added to our flock, integrating newbies quite nicely. We planned to add a second roo and a bunch of girls. However, as the pullets grew, it became apparent that several of our "pullets" were actually cockerels. Last year started with 9 hens, 1 roo; This year added 8 hens, 4 roos, making our flock 17 hens to 5 roos.

But now we're faced with several very hormonal teenage roos, and not enough "willing" girls to go around. We are adding a 6 new pullets once they get old enough but they are only about 2 weeks old now. That would eventually give us 23 hens and 5 roos. Then we'd add a few more girls (4 perhaps) next spring to stagger ages for egg laying.

Two young roos in particular are quite rough on one of the older girls - Feathers, a bantam frizzle who is our broodiest hen. She's also the favorite of our established silkie rooster, who is mating like mad to keep his place as the head dude. Several of the older girls are now bothering Feathers too. The poor girl is even going into submissive positions for me and my kids! For now, I've separated Feathers (not by sight, but from access) from the flock and she's in a run with two of our younger spring pullets and on high-protein feed so she can recover weight and feathers from two back-to-back broods.

I'm not keen on killing any of the roos-- we have the yard space and we have predators. And once they get through their "teenage" stage and fully establish their Rooster order, I think it should be better. We just need more hens.

I'm wondering if it would work to add past-egg-prime hens (possibly no-longer laying hens) to the flock to help the younger roos "spread the love" so to speak. Will non-laying hens put up with the attentions of younger cocks? Is this something that would work as a temporary fix?

AND given the 30 day quarantine period, would it even be worth it, or would the hormonal roos be more settled by the time the older hens were introduced anyway?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Sara Ranch]

From my experience, the hormonal teenage roo's (cockerels) don't phase out of their horniness in a month or two. I have 7 month old cockerels who still go at it like mad when they have a chance with a girl. I have 4 month old cockerels who go at it like mad when they have a chance with a girl. But I also have cockerels who have no interest in girls/mating.

To better explain, I adopt chickens that need a new home. I have two flocks of girls/boy mixes. I have about four flocks of roosters. (The dynamics change with the rooster flocks. They decide themselves who is in with each flock. Based on the groups running around, it appears to be four flocks.) Occasionally a girl will "fly the coop" and want to free range with the guys. I have seen the 4 month olds - 7 month olds plus go at it, like randy roosters.

I have also adopted girlfriends for some of my boys. The boys had the right behavior when they were in a rooster flock to be a good daddy/good flock leader. The boys were randy from the start and still are.

When the cockerels are a year old, they officially become "men" (roosters.) They tend to settle down about that age.

Most of my girls are older than my boys by a year or more. The majority of the middle aged girls will allow mating. My really old girls either really want it and will pursue the young guys OR tell the young guys to bugger off with the stink eye. At the end of the day, they all figure it out. I keep an eye out to make sure no one is being over mated or hurt. I try to teach my guys to be gentle. (Yeah, who thought I would ever add THAT to my resume??)

Something to consider....adding the older girls to your flock may cause the older girls to establish a new pecking order in which they RULE. The younger girls may not like that they suddenly don't have access to the water and the food like they use to. Or that their favorite sleeping spot is no longer available.

Something to consider...pulling out some of the boys and starting a rooster flock. My boys (in general) in the rooster flocks are kind, gentle, sometimes rough house amongst themselves, but leave the girls alone. They could easily go after the girls, but don't. It's a different story if the girls come to them.

When your current babies are old enough, consider adding a cockerel/rooster to the girls to make a new flock. Make sure the girls are old enough to handle mating before you put them with a boy!!!

I hope this helps.

 

[Mrs. K]

Adding older hens is a real possibility of adding a disease that could wipe out your flock. If you have a flock of less than 8, it is a possibility, but not a financial hardship that loosing close to 30 birds would be.

I would not want more than 2 roosters for the potential 23 hens. Even with a great deal of predators, roosters are generally easy to come by, and it is a good to freshen you flock periodically with a new rooster. However, you really will not need even two roosters until next spring.

However, until then, what you really need to do, is pull all the roosters out and place them into a separate coop/run. It is best, if the second set up is out of sight of the first. Adding a second set up is a major expense, although sometimes you can get lucky and get by more cheaply. If you can't add another set up, you should reconsider your idea of keeping all of them.

If you are keeping that many birds or both sexes, you are going be more than likely raising chicks, and the whole rooster problem will get bigger and bigger. If you are going to breed birds, then you must come up with a solution to excess roosters. Separate pens or bachelor quarters, culling roosters by rehoming (limited possibilities) or dispatching them. Selling them as breeders (limited breeds) or for someone else soup pot, or eating them yourselves.

When you are talking the number of birds that you have, you will need a great deal of space, 230 square feet for the run area, but most important is the coop. Winter is coming and for the long dark days, the birds will be roosted nearly 14 hours a day. A 10x12 would be a bare minimum. If you do not have that space, your problems are going to get worse.

Adding more hens will really not fix too many roosters for too small of spot. 5 roosters in a very large yard (?) is too many roosters.

Mrs K

 

[lazy gardener]

I would remove all but the best roo. One will easily take care of your breeding needs. Do you have a grow out pen available? That would allow you to segregate the cockerels while you observe their behaviors and make the tough decisions about who gets to stay. If not, that would be my plan A. B/c if you intend to breed in the future, a grow out pen is almost essential. I would not add old hens b/c of the concern about bringing disease into the flock.

 

[Folly's place]

I would add that if you plan to raise chicks next year, half or more will be cockerels, and you need to have a plan for them. Start now! Four cockerels are three too many. Mary

 

[keesmom]

Mrs. K and lady gardener have given you good advice. At the very least those hormonal cockerels need to be separated ASAP, for your hens' sake.

Hi all,
For now, I've separated Feathers (not by sight, but from access) from the flock and she's in a run with two of our younger spring pullets and on high-protein feed so she can recover weight and feathers from two back-to-back broods.

Do you still have these chicks? How many cockerels are in those hatches?

 

[goreybabe]

Great point about older hens taking over. And about winter -- we might end up building a third coop if we keep all the cockerels and can figure it out. We were going by the 8 hens/1 roo estimate, and so with 24 hens, that COULD work with 3 roos (well, the right roos). Right? but could I potentially squeeze it to 30 hens for 4 or even 5 if the 5th is not assertive? (We have one with a bad leg who is clearly not assertive or dominant, and acts more like a hen around the other boys, even though he's a male. I'm sort of thinking that guy might not be flock leader.)

I have about half an acre of land for everyone -- some forested, some open, some with low plants/bushes -- and ample run/coop space (one large coop we spaced for about 35 hens, one smaller that can room 8 birds easily -- each with their own run when we need to pen them in, although they share a fence "wall." Right now we only use the runs when fishers and foxes have been sighted nearby. (While I can't separate the boys from sight, I can separate them from the same physical space.)

Right now, with Feathers taken out of the mix, they seem to be okay for a bit. The pullets and the 4 younger cockerels are basically their own flock who room in the larger coop with the other flock at night. Everyone gets along well. Feathers is the only bird that seems to be targeted by the cockerels...

Only 2 cockerel in particular an issue right now -- the other 2 are quite gentle and one of them is not really interested in hens. I think they are happy being lower down in order, but at least one (the uninterested one) might just be a late bloomer... he might also be a "she" -- as a silkie/cochin mix without the typical silkie helmet, we won't know for certain until we hear him crow.

I also noticed that for the past two nights, Chippy (our adult roo) has been keeping the worst offender cockerel (Scout) from entering the coop at night until everyone else (hen, pullet and the other cockerels) have settled in. Only then is Scout let in. Does this sound like they are still sort of working it out???

If I were to separate the 4 cockerels (I didn't know I could do that until today!), would I need to keep them separate all the time, or could I let them roam during the day after a couple of weeks once their roo-flock order is established?

And no, we won't be breeding. We hatched out a few eggs this spring, but we are just raising ours as egg-layers and pets (the kids are starting to show a few for fun).

This is our first time with more than one male at a time, so I totally appreciate all the advice!

 

[goreybabe]

Mrs. K and lady gardener have given you good advice. At the very least those hormonal cockerels need to be separated ASAP, for your hens' sake.


Do you still have these chicks? How many cockerels are in those hatches?

She was broody, but didn't hatch. I broke the second brood, but we let the first brood run its course without eggs. Nothing we tried worked to break that brood (we now have a lot freezer blocks for our camping coolers!) until I figured out about simply dipping her in cold water for her second one.

 

[goreybabe]

I try to teach my guys to be gentle. (Yeah, who thought I would ever add THAT to my resume??)
....


When your current babies are old enough, consider adding a cockerel/rooster to the girls to make a new flock. Make sure the girls are old enough to handle mating before you put them with a boy!!!

I hope this helps.

Thanks! I will definitely pop a cockerel in with the current babies once they are old enough!!
Just curious, how do you teach the boys to be "gentle"? Right now I shoo them away and stand between them and the girls when I see them being rough.

 

[goreybabe]

Quoting myself:
I have about half an acre of land for everyone -- some forested, some open, some with low plants/bushes -- and ample run/coop space (one large coop we spaced for about 35 hens, one smaller that can room 8 birds easily ...


I should clarify that we don't at all intend to have more than 30 or so chickens at any given time... I also know that we will likely lose a few to sickness or predators -- we already lost 3 this spring/summer (three hens -- two to infection we think, and one to a fox). So, 30 is really an "at most" scenario.