Which boy to keep?

[C Siena]

Unfortunately I’m not able to hatch more eggs right now, as I’m at my limit with chickens. I have hatched from him before, and got some cockerels. One of them was shaping up to be pretty nice, but two of them were showing signs of possible aggression toward humans.

He’s not currently in with the rooster, so he’s not really being kept in line, and is still sweet. I agree though, he’s getting very big.

Limit in your location or in your coops? If coops, do you have a way to sell, trade or whatever the excess? It seems that people will pay for pullets, even bym. You could evaluate the cockerels.

Now watch, you incubate 8 eggs, 6 are fertile and hatch, or 5 hatch...and they are all pullets. Ugh, for you.

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

Limit in your location or in your coops? If coops, do you have a way to sell, trade or whatever the excess? It seems that people will pay for pullets, even bym. You could evaluate the cockerels.

Now watch, you incubate 8 eggs, 6 are fertile and hatch, or 5 hatch...and they are all pullets. Ugh, for you.

My coop will not hold anymore chickens And my “incubators,” my broody hens, aren’t broody right now.

I don’t think it’s a good idea to try and sell pullets though. There was a rush on chicks this year, like it was insane. There are going to be a lot of people realizing it was more than they bargained for, and they’ll be trying to sell off their pullets/cockerels/whatever before winter.

 

[StinkyAcres]

I don’t think it’s a good idea to try and sell pullets though. There was a rush on chicks this year, like into was insane. There are going to be a lot of people realizing it was more than they bargained for, and they’ll be trying to sell off their pullets/cockerels/whatever before winter.

I am seeing that in the classifieds already. I have a cockerel I need to get rid of but it's not going to be easy.

 

[BackyardinWales]

Limit in your location or in your coops? If coops, do you have a way to sell, trade or whatever the excess? It seems that people will pay for pullets, even bym. You could evaluate the cockerels.

Now watch, you incubate 8 eggs, 6 are fertile and hatch, or 5 hatch...and they are all pullets. Ugh, for you.

That would have been nice for me. Hatched 4 from 12 eggs, and 3 are males, I'm not convinced 4 isn't also, but she's in with the girls. All 3 of my boys are in together.

 

[Altairsky]

I would totally want a son from the old rooster. It is important that young cockerels are raised by a broody, and it's also important that they can learn from their father. That's the recipe for the highest chances of a good boy.
Incubator cockerels are a crapshot, and hormonal cockerels raised by hens only, can became really stressful for the hens if they don't have a father to teach them how to be gentlemen.
I also wouldn't keep a male as big as a brahma if I have small hens in the mix. Even my very gentle, average sized legbar roo is too big for my Easter eggers.

 

[LaFleche]

I’m hoping someone who’s actually had a big rooster will chime in,

Years ago the love story between my cute black Araucana pullet and a very handsome big Welsumer did not end well.

Despite my efforts to keep them separate after having seen her get totally flattened by him and needing quite some time to get her legs back together - they always managed to get back together. She even climbed an almost 2 m fence like a parrot and immediately ran back to him.
There were 5 different sized males for her to choose from and her obvious preference was the biggest and heaviest of them all.

Sadly, it ended with her suffering two consecutive strokes after her voluntarily getting crushed again and again one afternoon.

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

I would totally want a son from the old rooster. It is important that young cockerels are raised by a broody, and it's also important that they can learn from their father. That's the recipe for the highest chances of a good boy.
Incubator cockerels are a crapshot, and hormonal cockerels raised by hens only, can became really stressful for the hens if they don't have a father to teach them how to be gentlemen.
I also wouldn't keep a male as big as a brahma if I have small hens in the mix. Even my very gentle, average sized legbar roo is too big for my Easter eggers.

Yes, Soup is going to become soup after he gets a bit bigger. The tractor he’s in is very low, and you have to crouch when inside it. I don’t like being face to face with this huge guy, especially since he’s been posturing at me a bit. He still runs away if I wave at him, but I don’t trust him at all.

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

Years ago the love story between my cute black Araucana pullet and a very handsome big Welsumer did not end well.

Despite my efforts to keep them separate after having seen her get totally flattened by him and needing quite some time to get her legs back together - they always managed to get back together. She even climbed an almost 2 m fence like a parrot and immediately ran back to him.
There were 5 different sized males for her to choose from and her obvious preference was the biggest and heaviest of them all.

Sadly, it ended with her suffering two consecutive strokes after her voluntarily getting crushed again and again one afternoon.

Oh that’s awful, I’m sorry about your hen

Soup is already bigger than my (pretty small) roo, although maybe not quite heavier yet. Here’s a recent photo of him in all his glory. He’s really quite handsome…

 

[Mrs. K]

This is the endless question. I hatched 2, and one is a cockerel. I have a rooster, he is a good rooster, not a great one. We will see.

Thing is, just because fate handed you a cockerel, it really does not need to be the old one or the young one. You might look for a rooster somewhere else. If you are not hatching - well you could go for a spell without any roosters.

I say to myself, I keep a flock, the birds in the flock come and go, always solve for peace in the flock. It is way easier to say it than to do it.

Mrs K

 

[C Siena]

This is the endless question. I hatched 2, and one is a cockerel. I have a rooster, he is a good rooster, not a great one. We will see.

Thing is, just because fate handed you a cockerel, it really does not need to be the old one or the young one. You might look for a rooster somewhere else. If you are not hatching - well you could go for a spell without any roosters.

I say to myself, I keep a flock, the birds in the flock come and go, always solve for peace in the flock. It is way easier to say it than to do it.

Mrs K

Indeed, easier to say than do, sometimes. Decisions.

I, though only 2.5 yrs into having chickens, realize that the peace of the flock is tantamount. Hen/pullet or Roo/cockerel, the flock must be at peace, they will then maintain order within themselves. A rather newbie observation. Though I may like/favor one, if they are causing dissension, it is Not good for the flock.

Through this site and my limited experience, I have learned this. Hard at times, absolutely. Needing to remove one from the flock family, absolutely sometimes, still hard.