We hatched 5 chicks this spring, early April, and 3 turned out to be roosters.
In June, the first one started to crow. This was a "no no" with our neighbor and we dispatched him near the end of the month. He's in our freezer.
That left 2 more. Fortunately, the neighbor moved!! We weren't sure how the new neighbor would feel. (We have deed restrictions that don't allow chickens. We are on 18 acres, zoned agricultural, dead end dirt road . . . and can't have chickens! But that's another story). With the deed restrictions, we didn't risk upsetting any neighbors. So a friend of ours who decided to get chickens this year thought she could take another rooster. At the time we thought it doubtful we would be able to keep a rooster. Only one of the two was crowing at that time, but he was our favorite of the two. So we gave her our favorite, figuring we were "saving" him. He is 3-4 weeks older than her chickens. She had gotten 16 barred rocks, including 1 rooster. Then someone gave her 4 more female chicks that were a few weeks younger. So she thought with 19 hens, she could use 2 roosters. She likes this guy, but I know he is giving her Barred Rock rooster a hard time. She tells us he is the "king" at her house.
Since then, we've talked with the new neighbors, and a rooster is ok with them. The rooster we have left is now crowing. He's 5 months old. He did a good job warning us when a hawk came around. He's breeding with the hens his age, though our older hens won't have anything to do with him yet.
Now after that long-winded explanation, the questions. We think it was a mistake for our friend to take this rooster. Will her younger rooster ever have a chance? My husband is suggesting we offer to take back the rooster we gave her. He liked that rooster better and he was bigger. He's been gone about a month. I agree it might be best to remove him from our friend's flock. But our flock is fine right now. If we brought him back would we be inviting problems? We have 14 hens and I think 2 roosters is too much, though they got along before we separated them. Rooster 2 didn't crow, but hung out with rooster 1. Now that they've been separated would they still get along? I think if we bring hat rooster back, we would probably have to put our current rooster in the freezer. (How old is too old to butcher a rooster?) Any suggestions?
In June, the first one started to crow. This was a "no no" with our neighbor and we dispatched him near the end of the month. He's in our freezer.
That left 2 more. Fortunately, the neighbor moved!! We weren't sure how the new neighbor would feel. (We have deed restrictions that don't allow chickens. We are on 18 acres, zoned agricultural, dead end dirt road . . . and can't have chickens! But that's another story). With the deed restrictions, we didn't risk upsetting any neighbors. So a friend of ours who decided to get chickens this year thought she could take another rooster. At the time we thought it doubtful we would be able to keep a rooster. Only one of the two was crowing at that time, but he was our favorite of the two. So we gave her our favorite, figuring we were "saving" him. He is 3-4 weeks older than her chickens. She had gotten 16 barred rocks, including 1 rooster. Then someone gave her 4 more female chicks that were a few weeks younger. So she thought with 19 hens, she could use 2 roosters. She likes this guy, but I know he is giving her Barred Rock rooster a hard time. She tells us he is the "king" at her house.
Since then, we've talked with the new neighbors, and a rooster is ok with them. The rooster we have left is now crowing. He's 5 months old. He did a good job warning us when a hawk came around. He's breeding with the hens his age, though our older hens won't have anything to do with him yet.
Now after that long-winded explanation, the questions. We think it was a mistake for our friend to take this rooster. Will her younger rooster ever have a chance? My husband is suggesting we offer to take back the rooster we gave her. He liked that rooster better and he was bigger. He's been gone about a month. I agree it might be best to remove him from our friend's flock. But our flock is fine right now. If we brought him back would we be inviting problems? We have 14 hens and I think 2 roosters is too much, though they got along before we separated them. Rooster 2 didn't crow, but hung out with rooster 1. Now that they've been separated would they still get along? I think if we bring hat rooster back, we would probably have to put our current rooster in the freezer. (How old is too old to butcher a rooster?) Any suggestions?
