what to do with my roos

[Aurelious]

I was thinking of putting my 8 roos in their own coop toghether inside the barn because I have tenants living on property and they definitely don't like the noise, of course neither do I really. My gut instinct is that this is a bad idea and that they will tear eachother up. Can anyone convince me otherwise?

 

[shangri-lafarms]

Well it might be a bad idea? what breed/ages???

 

[lilchick]

I have several more roosters than hens...
So I have a "bachelor pen" The first few times together they squabbled but then worked out the pecking order...
I found that with no hens around they tend to be calmer and get along better.
Wonder if anyone else has found this to be true?

 

[muddler6]

I actually read an article recently about someone doing a "Bachelor Pen" like lilchick said, and they had several large breed roos in there. I thought about doing this as well next spring instead of ordering meat birds like I normally do. They should do fine, and if they are already brooding together, the pecking order stuff should be pretty well established.

 

[lilchick]

Just wanted to add this...I have roosters that hang out together in my backyard just like best buddies! They do not fight and actually rest in shade together. No hens, No competition!
A guy at auction asked why are you getting those ugly roosters, they should go to slaughter....
And he said you have no hens for them.. I said a life without hens is better than no life at all!

 

[Aurelious]

My roos are:

1 RIR
2 New hampshire reds
2 white leghorns
2 australorps
1 ameraucana

all are approximately 3.5 months. Surprisingly one of the new hampshires is easily 2 lbs heavier than all the others.

It sounds like putting them toghether may work after all if there are no ladies present.

any more feedback?

 

[dixygirl]

I've got my free Austrolop roosters that came as wrapping peanuts in with my straight runs and no one is fighting. The males face off and hop at each other a few seconds every so often but so far no fights. Seems like i will have a majority roosters actually and i was only trying to get some layers. :|

Worst of all they are black and in the past i have only liked all white animals. But you know what... they are mine and now i love them all just the same

Anyways, I was going to separate them, but i think i will just leave them all together because they have been brooded together since day one and are one big family now. I know they would feel separation anxiety if i separated them. I will only separate them later if a problem arises. I've got a 50 foot roll of welded wire on hand and an empty dog house that i can use to set up a pen in 30 minutes if need be. But I like them all together like a family. The boys already have established a role of protectors and always move the girls to the back and jump up front if there seems to be danger. They are also always looking out. Only thing is now I need more hens to balance things.

 

[chick4chicks]

I am so glad to hear that you are keeping the roos, I have one so far and he is a keeper. He is gorgeous. He is getting orange feathers LOL, wonder if he will be feisty?

 

[Aurelious]

Though I don't relish slaughtering the roosters the only reason they will live is for breeding. I hate all the noise and many roosters seem to see my 2.5 year old as fair game for venting their aggression. Albeit I do find them to often be much more beautiful birds than my hens.
A few months back one of my barred rock roosters attacked my daughter and drew blood about 1/2 inch from her right eye. I got the 30/30 and shot him in the spot and just for good measure I shot the RIR rooster who would attack her ocassionally. I know the 30/30 was overkill but I dont own a smaller caliber gun and I certainly didnt want to use the shotgun but anyway all the hens witnessed this and since haven't even looked at my daughter funny (a few particular hens would ocassionally have a go at her pre rooster shooting) Now tell me chickens aren't smart animals.
I've gone through with cooping all 8 of my roosters together. I guess I'll know by morning if it was an ok idea.

 

[SandraMort]

Am I overdoing things to say that a rooster in my family only gets one shot and if it goes after a kid, he's in the freezer?

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