Unexpected cockerel

[BriannaJean2]

Back in April bright home 6 chicks, 3 golden comets and 3 barred rock, as a first time chicken owner. Turns out one of the barred rock is a roo, and I am now frantically trying to learn about keeping a roo as I originally planned to only raise hens. Any advice on the essential information I should have about my cockerel, his behavior, sleeping situation, and how he leads the flock? Right now he is sleeping in the coop with the pullets, which seems to be fine so far. I am noticing him pick on them quite a bit during the day though, and he has maybe tried to mount them a few times from what I have seen. Around 17 weeks old now.

 

[chickenlittle21]

Just keep a close eye on him and make sure he doesn't injure the pullets

 

[IamRainey]

The same thing happened to me. ...and probably everyone here at one time or another. I grew to love having a rooster. I hope you will too.

The main thing to know is that There. Will. Be. Chicks. Hope that's good news. It can be a great experience. But, of course, that will likely mean more roos. Statistically, every other chick is likely to be male. The only way I know of to prevent new cockerels is to prevent all your hens from being able to hatch eggs. And that's do-able. Just collect eggs every day. OR put him in batchelor's quarters. But who wants the expense of building separate facilities?

As for caring for him, there's nothing special to do. He'll live with the hens just fine. He'll harass certain of them from time to time. They'll all harass one another from time to time. It's the nature of things. There may be feathers lost. There are "saddles" to deal with that. There may be bruises on combs. They'll recover.

Mostly the thing to remember is that they're chickens. They're already hardwired with the information about being chickens so they know what they're doing.

He shouldn't be taking in calcium on a regular basis. It's tough on his kidneys. I use All-Flock feed and give my hens oyster shell and their own cleaned egg shells for their source of calcium. Of course my Rocky is the first one to go to the eggshell... But I go back to he's a chicken and he knows better how to do that than I do and let it go.

 

[BriannaJean2]

The same thing happened to me. ...and probably everyone here at one time or another. I grew to love having a rooster. I hope you will too.

The main thing to know is that There. Will. Be. Chicks. Hope that's good news. It can be a great experience. But, of course, that will likely mean more roos. Statistically, every other chick is likely to be male. The only way I know of to prevent new cockerels is to prevent all your hens from being able to hatch eggs. And that's do-able. Just collect eggs every day. OR put him in batchelor's quarters. But who wants the expense of building separate facilities?

As for caring for him, there's nothing special to do. He'll live with the hens just fine. He'll harass certain of them from time to time. They'll all harass one another from time to time. It's the nature of things. There may be feathers lost. There are "saddles" to deal with that. There may be bruises on combs. They'll recover.

Mostly the thing to remember is that they're chickens. They're already hardwired with the information about being chickens so they know what they're doing.

He shouldn't be taking in calcium on a regular basis. It's tough on his kidneys. I use All-Flock feed and give my hens oyster shell and their own cleaned egg shells for their source of calcium. Of course my Rocky is the first one to go to the eggshell... But I go back to he's a chicken and he knows better how to do that than I do and let it go.

Thank you!!!