When to separate out cockerels

[HennyPenny44]

Hi everyone. I hatched out 8 chicks with a broody hen 6 1/2 weeks ago. They stayed in a chicken tractor for 4 weeks but mama and babies got tired of being contained so I moved them out to the main coop. Besides mama being very territorial over food for her babies and some night time roosting drama, there are no major issues.

Well, I also have 2, perhaps 3 cockerels in the flock from that hatch. The two are already facing off with each other and play fighting pretty regularly. One of them, when his mom is roosting in the evening, will get on top of her and peck at her head. This irritates her and she ends up knocking him off, as well as any other babies who try to roost on her. I wanted to know if it’s already time to separate these young guys from the flock. Mom is still taking care of her chicks and quite protective so I’m not sure. The one who pecks her has been regularly patrolling the perimeter of the run from early on and just seems dominant compared to the other. I plan to give them away but if that doesn’t work I will need to process them.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

IMO those little squabbles between chicks and between developing birds and adults is a necessary part of maturing and learning to be flock mates.
You can separate at any time and it may help to keep pullets and cockerels separate after 8-10 weeks but I usually don't till they approach breeding age (just out of laziness) .
At the age of your birds, pullets and cockerels need to be fed the same.

 

[HennyPenny44]

IMO those little squabbles between chicks and between developing birds and adults is a necessary part of maturing and learning to be flock mates.
You can separate at any time and it may help to keep pullets and cockerels separate after 8-10 weeks but I usually don't till they approach breeding age (just out of laziness) .
At the age of your birds, pullets and cockerels need to be fed the same.

Ok, thank you. These are my first cockerels so I’m not sure what to expect. Didn’t want anyone drawing blood but if you say you don’t separate until breeding age, then I’ll just observe cautiously for now. It’s much easier for me to keep them all in one place as long as possible so count me as lazy too!

 

[Parront]

I have been known to process an annoying little cockerel as young as 10 weeks. Small but good on the BBQ.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

In the wild, no one separates them by sex and they work it out.
For almost a year (after dismantling a coop) I've had all the materials to build two new 3 unit buildings and have done no more than clearing the ground yet.
Like @Parront, I used to process as they started to crow.

 

[Parront]

A lot depends on the breed and the adult birds, too. Do you have an adult cock? Do you want to keep the young ones to breed? An adult male sometimes will knock some sense into the young ones, or he will just kill them(or try to). How well they fit into the flock could depend on how much space the flock has, not enough space will cause trouble.

 

[HennyPenny44]

A lot depends on the breed and the adult birds, too. Do you have an adult cock? Do you want to keep the young ones to breed? An adult male sometimes will knock some sense into the young ones, or he will just kill them(or try to). How well they fit into the flock could depend on how much space the flock has, not enough space will cause trouble.

These are my first cockerels so no, I don’t have an older rooster. I would love to keep one of them for breeding perhaps or just beauty but I don’t think my neighbors would appreciate the crowing. The coop is only 4x6 with a 12x27 run. I have 3 grown hens and these 8 six week olds so I have to get rid of at least 2 of them. I wasn’t expecting this many to hatch from shipped eggs!

 

[Parront]

These are my first cockerels so no, I don’t have an older rooster. I would love to keep one of them for breeding perhaps or just beauty but I don’t think my neighbors would appreciate the crowing. The coop is only 4x6 with a 12x27 run. I have 3 grown hens and these 8 six week olds so I have to get rid of at least 2 of them. I wasn’t expecting this many to hatch from shipped eggs!

Chicken math strikes again! If you have neighbors that would not like crowing, you will probably be learning to process the males soon. I have had Leghorns crowing loudly @ 10 weeks, those bad boys had to go, even though we lived in a place where we could keep roosters, they were just awful! There were 14 of them out of a box of 25 st. run Brown leghorns. I had wanted to keep them until they were older, to keep the nicest one for breeding. I made my selection based on the one that was the largest, & nicest at 10 weeks!
With such a small space, you might only want to keep 3 of the hens, too. What breed are they? I have one Barred Holland cock, he is beautiful, but I would not have any more! Here he is with his girls.

 

[HennyPenny44]

Your guy is very handsome! Pretty ladies too.

LOL, I started out with 5 and swore for a while I’d be happy with that. But then one died and one I gave away because of her attitude so I got some Speckled Sussex eggs to replace the dead one plus Lavender Orpingtons just because they’re pretty. I ended up hatching 6 SS and 2 LO. The boys are Speckled Sussexes. I call them my little Irish men because they have red feathers and greenish eyes now. I’ve even considered a rooster collar so I could keep one but not sure how effective they are. I’m a crazy chicken lady, I know. Looking to move so I can have more chickens, naturally.

I posted photos of my boys on here and on Craigslist, plus I contacted 4-H just yesterday but so far, nobody’s interested in my boys.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Depends on your management practices and flock goals. If my fridge is empty, I'll process extra cockerels as soon I can ID them and are certain they don't have traits I want in my future flock which aren't already present in my breeding rooster. If the fridge is full, I process as soon as they start trying to jump the hens - because they aren't my breeding rooster - and I'll adjust the menu to accommodate.

Its just my wife and I, so even a 10 week old dual purpose cockerel is a meal for us, and there are no shortage of ways in which it can be prepared. If its instead 18 weeks? Well, we aren't as fond of baking it at that point, but damn does it braise nice...