When to get rid of roos?

[roxsam]

I have 8 week old chicks, with 4 suspect roos (out of 7! great odds, huh?

). One is crowing, so I am pretty sure he is a roo! lol

Another one is behaving very badly...very aggressive toward the other chickens and he is trying to mount them already! Then I have two others that might be roos according to their comb and wattle development but they aren't showing any roo-ish behaviors yet. I really do not want to eat them, and would prefer to find someone to take them who won't eat them either. So my question...when(at what age) do I get rid of them? Should I try to get rid of them all at the same time? I am really sick of the aggressive one, but the others don't bother me. Plus 2 are still in question anyway.

Thanks for your help

 

[TreeHugger]

I usually like to get rid of my extra roos while they are still young, but are old enough that I have no doubt they are roos. So, somewhere between 6-12 weeks depending on the breed. I have 2 EEs that are both roos and should have been gone weeks ago. A few days ago I watched one of them try to attack one of my pigeons. The roo must have thought the pigeon was "in his space".

It is easier to get rid of them all at once especially if you are posting them on craigslist, but even if you get rid of one or two first it will remove some of the tension from the flock.

Post pics of them, I'm sure we can help you guess

 

[roxsam]

Thanks, Treehugger! I will try to post some pics in a bit. I don't have a lot of good pics though....they aren't still long enough to get a clear pic! lol

 

[featherz]

I rehome them as soon as possible - am sending a few away tomorrow at 5 weeks old, but they are really obvious roos. If you rehome them TOO early, you run the risk of making a mistake (have done that too). But as soon as it's obvious, send them off!

 

[jjparke]

Eat them they are delicious

 

[Mama duck 8]

Get rid of them when they start to rip the feathers off the hens

 

[roxsam]

Featherz, where are you sending your roos to? I imagine it's really hard to get rid of roos, especially mean ones!

jjparke, I will definitely not be eating them, delicious or not! I have enough trouble as it is eating meat when I think too hard about where it came from, no way could I eat something I raised and named! lol!

Ok, here are some pics. They are really bad since they move around too much plus my camera sucks. And they are from 2 weeks ago when they were 6 weeks old. They definitely are more developed now!

This is Nilla, the crowing chicken. He's a RIR/BR cross

This is the aggressive one! He deifnitely looks and acts like a roo. I was told her was a female black sex link so I thought he was for sure going to be a hen

!!

This is a BR, Nugget, I think he is a roo

Especially when you see him next to my other BR, he's on the right, Delilah is on the left

My RIR, Curious George. His comb & wattle look like roo to me, but he is one of the smallest, and the same size as my female BR. Georgie is the friendliest and my favorite so if he is a roo I will try my hardest to keep him! When I pat the chair next to me he hops up and sits by me

Chicken Little, my other supposed black sex link. She definitely looks like a girl to me...?

And Turbo, a RIR/BR cross. Also a girl...?

 

[CowgirlPenny]

Chicken Little and Turbo are girls. The rest, I say boys.

I would never rehome a full size rooster, just bantams. Banties are too small to eat.

Keep the full size, fatten them and enjoy them!

 

[roxsam]

cowgirl..I don't want to eat them, but someone else can. How do you suggest I go about finding them a good home (aka dinner plate)? And at what age are they big enough for that?

 

[Sonic Pug]

Quote:
I'm just curious...did you get chickens that were sexed or straight run? I ordered females which are one week old right now and would be so sad to have to get rid of a lot of Roos that were supposed to be females. Thanks for the answer.