which one should I keep?

[bethandjoeync]

I have 16 12 week old assorted reds. there is one that I KNOW is a roo (Elvis) and the other is suspected, but doesn't have as pretty tail feathers as the other, but has a large red comb and wattles. anyways, I am pretty sure they are RIR. Elvis is starting to show a little agression, but he is also very attentive to the other chickens and what is going on; meaning if a pullet juvie is making noise or I am getting one... he stops whatever he is doing and checks the situation out. I know he would be a great flock protector, but from what??? me?? my 7 year old??? this is my worry about this roo. it is getting close to the time to butcher what roos we don't plan to keep, but so far out of this batch we have 2 that we know of.

now the next thing.... we have some other chicks we bought a month or two ago, and were told they were 5 weeks old, but they are considerably smaller than the rest that were the barely older than that at the time. we got 3 "Araucanas", and 3 Barnevelders, straight run. and we know there are at least one roo in each breed. Barnevelders are supposed to be more mild tempered breed and this makes me want to keep the roo from the breed. and we want to start hatching our own probably by the end of this year (I am studying up here) and would love to have more of this breed. but I would also like to breed the "Araucana" roo (yes it is most likely an EE, I know) for the egg color once I find out what color the girls will lay.

so my dilema is to figure out which roo or possibly roos to keep in my flock? I have a total of 26, and only want 1 maybe 2 roos. what do you suggest?(I will go get some pics and post them so you can see what I have or you can check my page to see some pics of them)

 

[sherrydeanne]

It sounds like you already know what you want to do. I do that when I write sometimes, it all works out while I'm typing. You have doubts about the RIR, butcher him. Even IF you don't like either/any of the younger roo's, they're easy to come by. It sounds like you're not interested in breeding the RIR's, so there's no need for a RIR roo

 

[bethandjoeync]

lol yeah it does sound that way huh

no i have no intension of breeding the RIR or have anymore reds really. they are pretty, but not all that friendly. and I have had them since they were a day old, and hand fed them treats and all, but not the friendliest I have to say. but will be great egg layers, so a winner in my book.

if we had a fenced yard, and could let them all free range I would consider keeping the RIR roo for protection of the flock, but I don't think he would share with another roo. he already spars a little when the little roos are let out to get some coop time.

so is it 15 weeks to process??