What do you do with excess roosters?

[trescloudy]

I have one Roo with my 15 girls and sometimes it’s still one too many!
What I’ve learned from the site is that you can create a bachelor flock where the Roos just live together. Or maybe try to re-home to someone with a bachelor flock. Otherwise I think freezer camp would be the best bet! Good luck!!

Bachelor flock lol. Lots of fighting gonna happen in that sitch with most breeds.

 

[FlocksOfFluff]

I have had one large cross-breed rooster with 2 swedish flower hens, a 3 lb mystery hen, and a bantam wyandotte. They swedish flowers have been laying for about 3 weeks and the bantam for 1, and he has been mating the 3 bigger ones for about 2 months. He won't mate my bantam wyandotte at all. He only has the two swedish hens now, since the mystery breed hen went broody, and neither are being over- mated at all.
Any rooster- hen ratios you've heard are just what tends to work for most people, but it depends most on your specific rooster(s) and hens. Anywhere from 1:6 to 1:16 can work depending on your chickens.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Why wouldn’t you keep the non-aggressive roo?

Because he might not be breed representative. Plus most people say my ratios are horrible and I have too many males as it is

 

[trescloudy]

Going to start making Capons with excess cockerels

 

[Carson213]

I ended up with one roo out of 24 chicks. I planned on eating him but he’s well behaved and is good at “crowd control”...he keeps the hens in line and protects them when needed...like when my dog gets too close to the run. This is the first time we’ve kept a rooster. I think I’ll always have one moving forward.

 

[EmmaRainboe]

I try very hard to buy sexed chicks so I don't have this happen. Unfortunately, it still happens.

I can't do freezer camp. I just cannot do it: I'd have to be on a survival footing, then MAYBE I would. Most likely I'd end up vegetarian!

I'm the same way.

 

[BigFuzzball]

We're lucky (though we've not needed to do this) as the breeder we got our birds from will always have unwanted / unexpected Roos', claims most she finds homes for but she does keep a fair few to service the hens she keeps and breeds for sale. Sounds like a 'win win' so surely worth asking local breeders / suppliers ??

 

[Chickassan]

Not less, but smaller for sure.
Rooster poop tiny in comparison to hens.

Do roosters poop less than hens?

 

[guntha45]

We eat ours. My advice is, once you recognize a cockerel, don’t handle it, don’t name it and don’t turn it into a pet. That makes processing day much easier for me.

The best “rooster to hen ratio” is what works best for your flock. The 1:10 that is often quoted here is not a hard rule. That’s what the large hatcheries use to ensure optimum fertility. Smaller backyard flocks are a whole other ballgame. In a flock your size, one would be able to cover all the hena without any problem. May I ask why you want to have a rooster?

That's exactly what I would say! I have 1 rooster and 24 hens, just to have a guy around

 

[guntha45]

I have had these precious little fluff balls for a week now and already feel really attached. We ordered 15 unsexed, so chances are well have a fair amount of roos. We were planning to cull the extras to eat, but I don't know now.....

What do you all do with extra roos? What is a good roo to hen ratio? View attachment 2398257View attachment 2398257

I have dual purpose heavy breed birds, Males are for eating, females are for laying...I do have 1 rooster with 24 hens now, after "doing the dirty deed". I had 36 birds hatch out this spring, only 14 were female. I kept 10 cross bred hens and culled some of my old ratty looking hens just so the coop wouldn't be over crowded. I have a long post talking about this titled "Cross Breeding".