what to do with roos???

[Wine-dotte]

I seem to be starting threads all over the show! Sorry! Anyway, at what age do I have to get rid of roos(chicks ATM)? if I leave one with the other chicks when will he start trying to er herm, have his way with them?

 

[gritsar]

I take it you don't want to keep any roos?
The age at which a rooster matures varies with the breed and the individual rooster. My alpha started trying to mate the hens at 10 weeks, the same week he started to crow. From what I've read most roos start attempting the deed at 18 to 20 weeks.
I ended up with extra roos, only wanted two, so I got rid of the others at 7 weeks, as soon as I was sure they were roosters. I didn't want to get attached.

 

[Wine-dotte]

I'm sure one roo will suffice at this stage but I have a feeling all bar one of my chicks are roos! Not sure we'll need 5 of them to 3 girlys

 

[gritsar]

Yep, don't want too many roos. Once you know for sure they're roosters and which one(s) you want to keep, that's the time to get rid of the extras IMO. After that they're just taking up space and eating your feed.

 

[vickiemontana]

My husband chased one who was making weird noise and sprayed it with bright orange flourescent paint. A week later I saw it in the hen house laying an egg. We've only seen one of them um "do it" so we got rid of him to someone who didn't mind. Pretty buff brahma too. But I know we have another one, can tell in the eggs. Can't find the roo tho. No crowing or mating being seen. Guess he will show his true feathers soon enough.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
If they're old enough to be laying eggs they're plenty old enough to be able to tell the roos. Post some pics, we'll help you flush out your roo boy.

 

[vickiemontana]

Thanks. I'll take pics tomorrow. We must really be dummy's not to be able to tell. But we definately have some eggs with "spots" in them. Also, another dumb question, we have two RIR's. One was laying a white egg and then stopped. Haven't seen a white egg for weeks. The other RIR has never layed an egg. "it has bad legs" In fact, all the 28 chicks we bought from a popular hatchery died or were dead when we got them except 5. One was a roo. The pretty buff in my pic. The rest we got from a hatchery in Idaho and all 11 lived. They are light brahmas and all look the same except in size. I'll get them all in a pic or link to a webpage. Thanks again.

 

[gritsar]

OT- Just so you know, blood spots or meat spots in an egg can happen with or without a roo.
Your hen that was laying may be taking the winter off or moulting.
Did you contact the hatchey when your chicks arrived DOA? Most hatcheries refund for chicks that are DOA or die within a certain period of time after arrival.
Yes, definitely post pics. I have brahmas. The boys were easy for me to tell from the girls at 7 weeks. You may have all pullets. Brahmas are a slow maturing breed, some of them don't start laying until 30 weeks or more.

 

[Wine-dotte]

What is the average age to start laying? I have shavers and haven't had them before, just got them as they are prolific layers and I have a hungry family lol Have had wyandottes and barred rocks in the past but can't for the life of me remember when they started laying!

 

[Akane]

Some roos do get along together just fine. Some roos will start fighting before they hardly mature. There is no exact age you have to seperate but you risk fights and you won't know which roo is mating with which hen if you want to hatch certain eggs if you leave them together past maturity. I still have 3 jap roos out in my flock. Supposedly one of them is sold but for the 2nd weekend now the lady hasn't shown up to get him. Some breeds are easier to tell gender than others. The japs I could tell by 3-4weeks. The EE were a little harder. The pullets grew slight combs and then stopped while the roos kept going. My current batch which are mutts I just can't tell at all. When they were born they all had combs as large as my 4 week old jap roos. I can't believe they are all roos. They just seem to have noticeable combs really early and it's making it hard to tell for certain which are pullets.