Welsummer rooster temperment

[winkyfaye]

I am trying to re-home two welsummer rooster that were sold as hens. All the hatcheries and the like give info on the hens but not the roosters.

I do not know enough to give info on how they behave normally. They are 11 weeks old and still immature. They do not try to peck me when I pick them up even though they were not handled much before I got them at 6 weeks of age. I will only get babies from now on so I can get them comfortable with being picked up, loved and handled.

Any info will be greatly appreciated.

 

[0wen]

Hard to say with hatchery chicks - safe betting odds are that they'll grow into aggressive behavior. That may not be the case, but the relatively poor husbandry practices and breeding stock handicap it that way.

Out of curiosity - what hatchery did you use?

And subsequently.... how the hell did they mess up sexing Welsummer chicks of all things...

 

[winkyfaye]

Owen, I ordered them thru another person about 60 miles from me. Due to the distance she agreed to keep 4 of the 7 chicks I ordered until the other breeds came in. Since I am very new at this I did not think about the time I would be missing getting them comfortable with handling. Not to mention the fun of watching them grow and change. I will not be getting any pretty speckled eggs now.


Anyway, these guys were 6 weeks old and after having them for a week or two I started to have clues that they were roosters instead of hens. That is when I started to do research and found out that they are auto-sex. The day I picked them up the subject of roosters came up and as she was carrying these guys to my car she stopped walking and she said "oh you don't want roosters". My reply was, no. She continued on to the car without another word regarding roosters. After voicing my concerns to a friend that was with me that day, we both remembered her reaction regarding rooster and we knew that she knew what she was selling me.

After waiting and sending pictures to BYC and others and getting the same response, "They look like roosters to me". At 11 weeks old, I called her. We messaged back and forth for over a day with me sending pictures. She said bring them to me and I will show you they are hens. "Just wait, in about 5 months you will get eggs". I asked for the hatchery name that she ordered from so I could send them the pictures and get their professional determination. She would not give me the hatchery name. The next day she did finally say she contacted the hatchery and that they confirmed that they are roosters. She has agreed to take them back and give me a refund. I would much rather find a home myself, someone that I feel sure will give them a safe, loving home. I have not had any luck, so will probably be taking them back to her in the next day or two. I will never do business with the person again, in fact I really hate having to see her again. It was not the hatchery that made the mistake, I'm sure....


I hate to give them back but we do not have the space to keep, two for sure. My husband and I have never given a critter away and we have rescued many. As many as 10 dogs and cats at once. I was a mail carrier and always seemed to find the strays running down the road, LOL.

Our hens will have a loving home for the rest of their life, eggs or no eggs.

Bet you are sorry you asked about now. Sorry for the long reply.

 

[0wen]

Gotcha. Rooster management is one of the unfortunate side effects of keeping chickens at times. My family are vegetarian (we eat eggs) and keep chickens for equal parts, pets, eggs, garden benefits and when we first got into keeping chickens, we only wanted to give roosters to 'no kill' homes - regardless of the bird. Fast forward years later and we've changed our philosophy somewhat in that we don't mind giving roosters to people who will eventually use them for food. There are too many well behaved roosters out there to save the ones with terrible personalities...

On that, in a similar tone to you getting roosters where you were guaranteed hens - same is true in the rooster rehoming world. I think everyone who keeps chickens eventually gets a rooster that is an absolute devil, but look through virtually any classified section on virtually any site, and you wouldn't think such thing as an aggressive rooster even exists - they're all non-aggressive, people loving birds.

I'd definitely take the birds back to her, just to call her out on what she'd obviously & knowingly done to you by culling all of the cockerels out of the bundle.

 

[winkyfaye]

Owen, I do know people eat their chickens that stop laying or the unwanted roosters. It is just not something my husband and I could even think of doing. They are our pets and we love them and give them the best homes we know how to do. We worked under a wildlife rehabber and come release time it broke my heart. We rehabbed every chicken keepers worst enemy, raccoons and opossums. Working with raccoons we learned just how smart they are so we hope we are one step ahead at protecting our feathered kids.

My husband is trying to find a way for us to keep these two roosters until we can find homes for them. We just do not trust this lady to care for them. Her operation was lacking in our eyes. We just don't have the room or finances to build more coops and runs.

We are willing to drive them a reasonable distance if we can find someone to take them. If you should happen to know someone in your neck of the woods may consider driving that far. We are in the sw corner of NC and I do have family in Scottsville, VA.

I hope to get some welsummer hens next year from the co-op. Would dearly love to find a couple of olive eggers next spring also. I really want a colorful basket of eggs.

Thanks for your input I do appreciate it. We will have to decide what to do.