What should I do with my roos?

[Ol'FashionHen]

I currently have 5 girls that should begin to lay anyday now or with in a matter of weeks. I also have 3 roos. When I ordered from MPC I was supposed to recive all girls

, anyway" my poor girls ",the roos will not leave them alone. My most sweetest girl Bernedette literally hides all the time and is so skittish when she does come out which is usually only when I come out there. And it is my most beautiful Easter Egger Roo that chases her, I mean as soon as he sees her out he jumps off the roost and chases her, I have to run him away from her. I went out last night to shut their door and low and behold she somehow

managed to get in the brooder with my 5 wo chicks thankfully she has always been fond of the chicks from day one and did not hurt any of them. She really hates those boys chasing her, my other two roos another EE and a Buff Ophington get a hold of the girls too, not as much as my beautiful EE but they all are aggressive to the ladies ( grabbing them by their neck feathers and throwing them down)

. The roos otherwise are sweet and friendly. I was wondering should I try to find a good home for two of them or all of them because I'm sure MPC sent me some more roos with my second order

, or should I separate them? Will they be okay if they are in the same house with just chicken wire between them? Will it cause my roos to become aggressive? My roos are soo pretty and I love to hear them crow I have raised them and hate to get rid of them especially my prettiest roo. Somebody some opinions please....

and it's cold outside

everybody needs heat.

 

[2468Chickensrgr8]

If It was me I would keep my favourite Roo and then sweetly ask my hubby to bring the other two up the road to the Italian neighbour...an older gentlemen.....to do the "dirty deed" and give it to his wife so she can cook up her "Roo broth"....cause you know your going to be getting more....hahaha!!

 

[Frizzledhen]

You need to choose ONE roo to take care of the girls and rehome, or pen separately the extra roos. If I were a roo and could see the girls and the big man taking care of business, I would become very frustrated so the extra roos need a place where they can't see what is going on right next to them. Most bachelor roos can co-exist if they were raised together.

 

[wyliefarms]

Agreed. Keep one, broom the rest.

Technically you don't even need a roo for eggs, unless you want to hatch them. So you can broom them all if you want. The girls would love you for it!!!

 

[glassparman]

I got an extra in my last from McMurray . . . it was a barred rock roo.

As soon as he started making noise like a roo, I knew I had to seperate him.

I made a seperate area and now I have set him up with a Rhode Island Red hen. This should be the opposite of a normal Black star for the resulting chicks.

I've heard of people culling the extras but I just love my birds too much to do that.

You could also ask around your local co-op, 4H group or others to see if anyone wants to adopt them.

But it is always good to have a roo to keep 10-15 girls in line. They are much happier with a man around.

Michael

 

[NurseNettie]

We've been processing our extra roos. We still have too many--- we got several in our most recent McMurray special-- was supposed to be 14 pullets--- at least 4 are roos. We don't have the space or desire to pen them separately ( we have enough pets), and nobody in this area keeps pet chickens-- they are for eggs or meat, so we'll process the newest batch of extras soon.

You could pen them separately and keep as pets if you want to, give them away to someone who wants them (be aware, they may not want pets, they may want meat), or process them for the freezer. It's not that difficult if you are prepared. I read and watched videos like crazy so I'd know what to expect, and it was easy. As a matter of fact, if it wasn't snowing, raining, pouring and windy as all get out, I'd be processing today..

 

[Ol'FashionHen]

WeeHoo, problem solved my neighbor boy came over last night when I was watering the biddies and I told him I needed to find homes for two of my roos ( I decided to keep one). And he said" well I'll ask my stepdad if he wants them". And his stepdad said yes .....

and he came and got them that night.

 

[purr]

look for a chickenstock in your area , I rehomed 3 Roo's at one.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Ol'FashionHen :

WeeHoo, problem solved my neighbor boy came over last night when I was watering the biddies and I told him I needed to find homes for two of my roos ( I decided to keep one). And he said" well I'll ask my stepdad if he wants them". And his stepdad said yes .....

and he came and got them that night.

Good for you! I always hate having to find homes for my extras... I always seem to hatch more roos than pullets...

But, my thinking is if you're going to put all the feed and effort into raising them, if you can't rehome them, they should go to Camp Kenmore. That's where all of our extras go.​

 

[Barn Maid Ann]

What is a chickenstock?

McMurray sent me extra roo's too. And I had ordered plenty because I though people would want a roo with their hens. WRONG! Everyone wanted hens only, period, endofstory.
So I advertised and listed them for what I believed to be more than meat prices. But in talking to a nice chicken loving person who did take some of my hens and roosters, he felt my roo price was not exceeding what folks would pay for chicken dinner. Not to mention fighters. And some of the buyers did say some weird things, in retrospect. I was depressed and worried about my baby boys for weeks.....

I hadn't even thought about the cock fighting element. Has anyone ever heard about or dealt with this sort of thing?