What to do with Roosters....

[K.Riggs]

My roosters are brothers and they crow constantly and VERY loud through the day. From 4:45 am until dark. Sometimes every few minutes for hours at a time. Two means they will have crow offs which is even worse. As they mature I almost guarantee you will know about it and will have to make a choice. One option is to do what i have done. I took a solid timber large two door tv unit and put it on one side of my coop. I lined it in breathable black shade cloth. It has 1/3 of the floor removed for ventilation. It sits up on pallets for air flow with a small hole in the coop floor under the palets. I go out every night at 11pm and taken the roos off the roost and put them in it they are divided by a board with a gap at the top for airflow. At 7 am I let them out with the rest of my chickens. Even still the crow offs during the day can really get old for neighbours and yourself when it's relentless. Also you need 6-10 hens per roo to prevent over mating in my experience. My girls are struggling and the dominant roo fights off the other one when he tries to mate and the girls get stuck in the middle. I will be culling my non dominant rooster very soon.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! You've had good advice here already. As a new flock owner, with only young birds this year, removing both cockerels would be a very good idea. Your pullets will thank you! Next year, a few more chicks, and maybe a choice of a couple of cockerels, so you can choose to keep the least aggressive one, would be a nice addition to your flock. IF it's legal to have roosters in your neighborhood, and if it still seems like a good idea. Having very young children would make it a bad idea, IMO, and the 'no crow' collars sound awful to me. Roosters need to crow!!!
I've had roosters for a long time, and have learned how to manage them, and who to keep. Nasty boys are not okay! Most cockerels will be dinner for someone, and that's what's meant to happen. Having a good life, and then feeding a family, isn't a bad thing.
Mary

 

[ChickyMama229]

Yup - 5 pullets and 2 cockerels is a recipe for problems. If you want to keep the cockerels, you could provide a separate coop and run for them, and let the hens free-range.

That is our plan. We are going to build a coop and run for each rooster and we already have one for the hens. If we want chicks in the future, we will have the roo.

 

[bobbi-j]

For future reference, any time you get chicks from a straight run bin or order, plan on having roosters. You are almost 100% guaranteed to get at least one. It's best to have a plan in place BEFORE getting them (or hatching them, if one decides to go that route).

 

[ChickyMama229]

Thank you to everyone for all the good advice! I am starting to rethink the no crow collar idea now....but if possible I would like to keep both roosters.

 

[ChickyMama229]

For future reference, any time you get chicks from a straight run bin or order, plan on having roosters. You are almost 100% guaranteed to get at least one. It's best to have a plan in place BEFORE getting them (or hatching them, if one decides to go that route).

Yes, my plan was to talk to the neighbor, and depending on what he says, we may have to rehome them...that is not my first choice, because they are sweet boys, but idk if the neighbor would be annoyed. The lady said she had never been wrong.......she just was!

 

[bobbi-j]

I wonder how she knows she's never been wrong? Is it because no one has ever come back and told her she was, or is she truly that good at sexing chickens. Even the people at the big hatcheries who's job it is to get it right ALL the time are wrong now and again...

Good for you for wanting to keep good relations with your neighbors. I feel like that is SO important! I know... some neighbors are just plain awful and it's impossible, but it's also a good thing not to be that neighbor...

 

[ChickyMama229]

I wonder how she knows she's never been wrong? Is it because no one has ever come back and told her she was, or is she truly that good at sexing chickens. Even the people at the big hatcheries who's job it is to get it right ALL the time are wrong now and again...

Good for you for wanting to keep good relations with your neighbors. I feel like that is SO important! I know... some neighbors are just plain awful and it's impossible, but it's also a good thing not to be that neighbor...

I am pretty sure it is because no one has come back and told her. But she kinda needs to know that her method is not the best. Yes that is true. Thank you! I don't wanna just barge in and then have rooster crowing at all times of the day. Hopefully the rooster won't be too unbearable.

 

[bobbi-j]

I am pretty sure it is because no one has come back and told her. But she kinda needs to know that her method is not the best. Yes that is true. Thank you! I don't wanna just barge in and then have rooster crowing at all times of the day. Hopefully the rooster won't be too unbearable.

Do you know what her "method" was? I'm just curious. I have no idea how to tell the difference until they're a few weeks old at earliest, but I've never really tried, either. We eat our extra roosters, so it doesn't much matter to us what we end up with.

 

[ChickyMama229]

Do you know what her "method" was? I'm just curious. I have no idea how to tell the difference until they're a few weeks old at earliest, but I've never really tried, either. We eat our extra roosters, so it doesn't much matter to us what we end up with.

Her method was to look at the wing feathers. Something like pullets only have 1 row and cockerels have 2 rows or something like that. I have never killed any of my farm animals. We actually give them all names lol. So i couldn't bear to kill them or sell them to someone else who might. Before we do anything I think we might talk to the neighbor.