Hi All,
I’m new to BYC and to raising chickens in general. My wife and I have a beautiful, small flock of 7 Ameraucana bantams that arrived from Ideal Poultry 7 weeks ago. They were moved from the brooder in the garage to their new coop digs in the yard 2 weeks ago. They are endlessly entertaining and a joy to watch. Unfortunately, as they grow up some of them are discovering their inner rooster and have started letting out underdeveloped, but unmistakable crowing sounds. The crowing starts around 5 am and within a few calls from the birds the neighborhood howls to life with the sounds of curious and perturbed dogs who are as unaccustomed to being awoken by these sounds as we are. Now, as we want to be good citizens and comply with the ordinance that allows hens but prohibits roosters, and as we want to be good neighbors by not rousting everyone around us in our tightly-packed suburb, we find ourselves in the sad position of needing to find a new home for the male members of our flock. Equally sadly, I believe that only 2 of the 7 are hens and thus the other 5 will have to be moved to less populous pastures. 2 roosters have been positively identified as they are the most persistent and overt of the crowers and stay at it long enough for me to rub the sleep from my eyes, fumble for my glasses and stumble over to the window to catch them in the act. I have strong suspicions about the sex of the others based primarily on what appears to be a prominent difference in the size and shape of their combs, with the male’s (?) being much more pronounced. I put together a photo of showing 6 of the chickens (#7, a girl we hope, is by far the friendliest and is out of the frame because she’s come over to me and is standing underneath the camera). It is my belief that chicken #1 is a female and #2-6 are males. #3 and 5 are the guilty parties caught crowing. I am appealing to the combined knowledge of what appears to be a huge community of enthusiasts, fanciers, farmers and fans here at BYC to see if this photographic evidence can be used to either confirm or refute my suspicions. Thanks for your help!
I’m new to BYC and to raising chickens in general. My wife and I have a beautiful, small flock of 7 Ameraucana bantams that arrived from Ideal Poultry 7 weeks ago. They were moved from the brooder in the garage to their new coop digs in the yard 2 weeks ago. They are endlessly entertaining and a joy to watch. Unfortunately, as they grow up some of them are discovering their inner rooster and have started letting out underdeveloped, but unmistakable crowing sounds. The crowing starts around 5 am and within a few calls from the birds the neighborhood howls to life with the sounds of curious and perturbed dogs who are as unaccustomed to being awoken by these sounds as we are. Now, as we want to be good citizens and comply with the ordinance that allows hens but prohibits roosters, and as we want to be good neighbors by not rousting everyone around us in our tightly-packed suburb, we find ourselves in the sad position of needing to find a new home for the male members of our flock. Equally sadly, I believe that only 2 of the 7 are hens and thus the other 5 will have to be moved to less populous pastures. 2 roosters have been positively identified as they are the most persistent and overt of the crowers and stay at it long enough for me to rub the sleep from my eyes, fumble for my glasses and stumble over to the window to catch them in the act. I have strong suspicions about the sex of the others based primarily on what appears to be a prominent difference in the size and shape of their combs, with the male’s (?) being much more pronounced. I put together a photo of showing 6 of the chickens (#7, a girl we hope, is by far the friendliest and is out of the frame because she’s come over to me and is standing underneath the camera). It is my belief that chicken #1 is a female and #2-6 are males. #3 and 5 are the guilty parties caught crowing. I am appealing to the combined knowledge of what appears to be a huge community of enthusiasts, fanciers, farmers and fans here at BYC to see if this photographic evidence can be used to either confirm or refute my suspicions. Thanks for your help!
