What Does His Behavior Mean?

[stormylady]

The chicks are now 9 weeks old right? They are plenty old enough to be on their own then, send the chicks back to the farm where they are suppose to go to your neighbors, sons farm. Is the sons farm close enough that you can take them there? If you have to send them by mail its going to cost ya a fortune because they are considered started birds and not chicks anymore. Keep the little pullet out of the hatch and send the Roosters to him and whatever other ones you don't want to keep. My hens start kicking the babies out of the nest about 7/8 weeks . If ya keep a Rooster you need to have around 8 hens for him otherwise he will overmate with one and she will get hurt and you'll wind up with a barebacked hen. So it is better to have 2 happy hens and no rooster, Or have a Rooster with one or 2 miserable hens. Or a Roo with several hens that you really didn't want in the the first place. I don't know thats all I have.


Next time, I would suggest ordering from a breeder, hatchery or even going to your farmstore that gets their chicks from a hatchery all of the chicks are safe and disease free. and you can get then innoculated against certain diseases . And some stores will special order breeds for you and request that they have shots. Only draw back their is that you will have to raise them in a brooder till they are fully feathered out. But you won't get stuck with unwanted Roosters. Sandy

 

[ClareScifi]

Oh, boy! Jagger is quite a cutie!!!

Do you folks feel your hens are truly happier with roosters around? I have read that roosters can hurt hens.

Has anyone had hens without roosters around and then introduced roosters when those hens were almost 2 years old? If so, did the hens become happier, would you say, or less happy than when they were single and "free?"

Clare

 

[stormylady]

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Yes walmart has them. for pretty reasonable a small one is all you need.

 

[stormylady]

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Its important to realize that just because he is the only Rooster doesn't mean that he will the head chicken, A head hen can be just as bossy. So if you think that he will automatically go to the top, it might not happen. In the first place a hen has to "Respect" the rooster, for that to happen he has to prove himself he has to get the hens to submit to him (meaning he will drag a hen around to force her to the ground so he can get on her) and there ARE going to be fights because most hens aren't going to just bow down for him. And A hen can put up a fight too. A Rooster has to earn his Place in the pecking order just like the hens, Like I said before, he is your Roo, you asked for advice and we are all giving you what you asked for and most of us agree that the best thing for him is to put him in with the other Chickens slowly and safely. I think you are doing him an injustice by keeping him separated. And you are doing a further injust to the ones you are going to take out of their already est. flock family just so they will have to get abused all over again in the spring, because they will have to rebuild the pecking order. Oh well

Do what you feel is right. I do wish you the best of luck.

Yep. Especially when the roo is younger than the hens you are putting him in with. My cockerel has been integrated for 2 months and is still not even the beta rooster. (only have 2 roos). At least half of the girls are higher in the pecking order than he is

He's bigger than them all too! Little girls can really control a big man

http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad326/aoxa/IMG_1455.jpg
He might be named Jagger, but he doesn't quite have the moves like him yet

OH Jagger is pretty!

 

[ClareScifi]

Oh, don't get my wrong. I'd love to keep all of these chooks. If I had it my way, I would do so. They are NOT unwanted. I just don't have that option to keep them.

When my hen died and the survivor needed mates, the farm stores had no chicks to buy. They don't innoculate/vaccinate their chicks, they said, when I asked them, when I found out my Bantie (Silver-Laced Sebring) is at high risk of dying from Marek's and I wished I'd bought one there instead of hatching it myself, but they told me their chicks aren't innoculated, so that would not have helped. I hadn't known to innoculate, not knowing its breed when it was hatched, so that made me feel a little better.

I am nervous about sending them to the son's. A friend had a rooster there, and I was told they killed it, because it pecked at some of their 6 children. I hear it is still in the freezer, and it's been 2 years now, and my friend is sick about it. Maybe I can find local homes for the rooster chicks? I would prefer that, so I could visit. The farm is 1 1/2 hours away. I don't get there often. But others do, and the chicks could be transported there. That might be a good solution-- sending the extra roosters now.

They do still sleep next to/under their StepMama at 9 weeks old, but there would be other chickens at the farm for them to snuggle with, if they are accepted.

Good to know about the rooster needing lots of hens. That gives me a perfect reason/excuse to keep all of the hen chicks here. Yippee!!!! Thanks for that very helpful tidbit. But I have only 4 total, including the StepMama.

Since the pet Roo is only 9 weeks old, how soon will it be before he starts needing to mate with them?

If it's not until spring that he'll be mature enough to want to mate, maybe I can get 4 more hens for him in the spring, if he doesn't get banished for crowing. What do you think about that possibility? Do some roosters crow quite softly? I am hoping that will be the case with this little guy. Do you think he could injure the little Silver-Laced Sebring Bantie when mating with her?

 

[ClareScifi]

Do you think my boy's Roo sibling in the photo below (foreground) is part Barred Rock, from the feathering? His Papa was no doubt a White Leghorn. Do some breeds of Roos tend to have nicer personalities than others? The hen in the upper portion of the photo is the one who got along so well with my Boy yesterday. I think she might be part RIR. She has darkish feathers that appear auburnish, not golden or black/gray:

 

[ClareScifi]

And here is a photo of his other Roo sibling. This little Roo is the largest of the 3 brothers, and he has a very sweet personality with me, and seems to be a protector-type. Do you think he looks like he could be part Rhode Island Red? He gets darker every day, chocolatey, almost a very dark cinnamony color to some of his feathers? I'm pretty sure his Papa was a white leghorn. Also in this pic is another shot of the hen who got along well with My Boy yesterday:

 

[stormylady]

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If the Rooster is a standard size he may hurt your little seabright, I wouldn't risk it myself.

If your farm store will special order your chicks for you,( some will and some won't) you should have the option to have them get the shots. Anyway our store here does it for me.
In my experience, about the time he starts crowing is when he will try and start courting the girls.

I am sorry for your friends Rooster, unfortunately thats the way it is, if a Rooster bites or shows aggression especially to children they get put down and in most cases to the freezer. It would have been irresponsible for them to keep him, and even more irresponsible to rehome him where he could hurt someone else without telling them that he does bite. People don't want a mean Rooster, they don't want to breed mean roosters and if they can't have them for fertilizing eggs or protecting their girls then there really is no other option. People buy extra Roosters all the time just for the freezer.

As far as the crowing goes, as far I know all Roosters crow, and if you have more than one they crow more in competition with each other (I learned that one the hard way.) Neighbors complaining because of the crowing all hrs of the day and all through the night too.. My Silkie Roosters are louder than My Orpington Rooster or my Salmon Fav. Rooster . My little seabright is louder or maybe just sharper crower. It all depends on the Rooster though I guess.

 

[ClareScifi]

I have wondered whether my Roo is half Bantie. He's not as big as his Leghorn sibs. Can you check the photo on page 1, where he is standing on top of my head this past Tuesday (his 9 week old birthday) and see whether you think he is standard-sized, or whether he might be half-Bantie? Thanks for your help.

 

[stormylady]

From the picture he looks big for 9 weeks so I would guess standard, hes got alot of growing to do yet. But he looks like a mix so I don't really know. He is very pretty though!
Here is a picture of My Zues at about that age:

and here he is about 6 months ago. he weighs about 13 lbs in this picture.

They so alot of changing in that 1st year Zues is 2 and 1/2 yrs old now.