Will separating Roosters make re-integration harder later?

[Mrs. K]

The challenge is that Prince is the dominant rooster and separating him might lead to pecking order issues when reintegrating him later.

I don't quite understand this. If you keep him with all the other roosters, there should not be a problem. Reintegrating him later (I am assuming you mean with more hens) should not be a problem, but I would not do this until the brooder chicks are laying eggs.

 

[drangle]

you need to get rid of all of the males except 1 or 2. many ways to go about it but it needs to be done and dragging it would only makes sense if you plan to eat them. It is important to remember that you have a flock of chickens, not a bunch of individual chickens. too many males is a big problem for a flock of backyard chickens.

 

[TaylorGlade]

I really respect Shadrack. He is a knowledgable poster and I do agree with him that you cannot keep all of these. And giving them away may not be easy.

Do you have two coops with separate runs? If you do so, I would pull both Prince and Other too and the 8 BA roosters and put them in their own coop. Now the problem I see is no one is more than 5 months old ? Do I have that right?- are the pullets laying egg? If not, they need all of the cockerels out of there. Upon re reading your post - I see the second coop is not coming until the fall.

The cockerels are leaving the darling stage, and are apt to go into at best a rowdy stage and at worst some real aggression. The problem with cockerels, is how they behave today is no indicator how they will behave tomorrow. Who they get along with now, even if they were raised together, is no indicator how that will go next week. If this is your first flock - get all of them gone is my advice. An all hen flock is a nice one to start with.

Currently you have room for approximately 20 birds, kind of, sort of. The problem is that your cockerels won't wait for the second coop to be built in the fall. 8 weeks can be a very long time for all those roosters in a coop with 3 pullets. Looking back I see you are in Florida - a minimal shelter is all that is needed - something that gives shade, and then at the least split the run putting the pullets on one side, males on the other. Line it with cardboard to block the sight. It is not a great solution, but better than nothing.

I am with Shadrack, on this, you need to cull the roosters. Or give them away for free and don't ask any questions. And you need to do this as soon as possible. They don't call it cock fighting for nothing. I have done a bachelor pad for a limited time. They kind of work until they don't, when they don't, you HAVE to do something. DO have a dog crate, a fish net, a way to separate fighting birds.

You really do have a crisis, and it is more than likely get much worse.

Mrs K

Thank you - yes all the chickens are roughly the same age. The hens are not quite ready to start laying yet. David and I were talking over Shadrack's advice last night. So, not only do they need to be separated, but completely block the view of the pullets?

We knew when we started this venture that we may eventually have to cull chickens. But we hand-hed and snuggled all these birds and are very attached. I'm not sure we could cull these particular birds ourselves. We were thinking our first would be the offspring of these birds.

David is reaching out to a person he knows that keeps chickens. If he doesn't get a bite there, we know a guy that will take any rooster you give him. He supplies meat for the local homeless shelter. I hate to go that route, but at least I know they've had a good life with us. And I know they will be going to a good cause.

I know we may seem ridiculous to seasoned chicken keepers. We will get there. And we do appreciate all the input from everyone. It's been immensely helpful.

 

[TaylorGlade]

I don't quite understand this. If you keep him with all the other roosters, there should not be a problem. Reintegrating him later (I am assuming you mean with more hens) should not be a problem, but I would not do this until the brooder chicks are laying eggs.

It was a concern I had. It may be unfounded. This is our first flock. I was told that the hens would consider him an outsider and it would cause problems. It may have been bad advice.

 

[FunClucks]

Sounds like you guys are going in the right direction for peace in the flock.

I'm in North Alabama. My chickens don't have a traditional coop, and being in Florida, you don't need one either (nice to have, but not a requirement due to weather, IMO). It's hard to keep traditional coops from turning into ovens during the day, due to heat and humidity. We have a covered open-air run (greenhouse frame covered in hardware cloth) which is predator secure, and they perch in it at night. At 15 square feet per chicken, there is peace in the flock. Less space than that, and we have issues with feather picking and bullying depending on the individual chickens' personality. The ISA Browns were the worst offenders, picking on our starlight green eggers and prairie bluebell eggers.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/overhead-coop-fan-running-at-night.1584826/post-26937097

For our second coop, I put up a dog kennel, covered it with hardware cloth, including the top, gave it an apron, and covered everything with a tarp. Make sure the tarp does not collect water at all, and is well secured, and you're good to go, a predator secure chicken coop/run.

 

[Mrs. K]

Well no it is not bad advice, but rather incomplete advice. Again it comes up the difference between cockerels and rooster, both which require quite a bit of experience.

Adding a strange cockerel all by him self to mature hens can be a difficult time. Adding a mature rooster to the same flock, and everyone is in love before morning.

Most people want a peaceful flock, for all the birds to get along. I know that there are people that raise fighting birds, but they generally don’t come here for ideas and advice.

This can be and is for me a life long hobby. But there are some basic rules you need to start with, later on you can bend them a little depending on individual birds and experience.

This is just my opinion, but start with an all hen flock. Maybe one or two of those birds will go broody the next year. Order some mixed run chicks and slip under them. Let them raise them up in the flock.

Chicks raised in an established flock are used to a proper chicken society. They tend to turn out healthier. There will be cockerels, and you will have more experience. Then you eliminate until you have a pair or one that works for you, and your hens.

Cockerels raised with birds the same age tend to become bullies toward their puller flockmates. They are interested in sex, weeks before the girls are ready, and that is where you are now, or will be shortly.

Most of the time when people come into this hobby, they are thinking eggs and an enjoyable flock. As AArt says, roosters are where the romance of having chickens meets reality. The thought of harvesting birds is repugnant to them.

We understand. Most of us remember how hard it was to do those first culls. But we also remember how better the flock was because we did it.

Good luck

Mrs K

 

[TaylorGlade]

Well no it is not bad advice, but rather incomplete advice. Again it comes up the difference between cockerels and rooster, both which require quite a bit of experience.

Adding a strange cockerel all by him self to mature hens can be a difficult time. Adding a mature rooster to the same flock, and everyone is in love before morning.

Most people want a peaceful flock, for all the birds to get along. I know that there are people that raise fighting birds, but they generally don’t come here for ideas and advice.

This can be and is for me a life long hobby. But there are some basic rules you need to start with, later on you can bend them a little depending on individual birds and experience.

This is just my opinion, but start with an all hen flock. Maybe one or two of those birds will go broody the next year. Order some mixed run chicks and slip under them. Let them raise them up in the flock.

Chicks raised in an established flock are used to a proper chicken society. They tend to turn out healthier. There will be cockerels, and you will have more experience. Then you eliminate until you have a pair or one that works for you, and your hens.

Cockerels raised with birds the same age tend to become bullies toward their puller flockmates. They are interested in sex, weeks before the girls are ready, and that is where you are now, or will be shortly.

Most of the time when people come into this hobby, they are thinking eggs and an enjoyable flock. As AArt says, roosters are where the romance of having chickens meets reality. The thought of harvesting birds is repugnant to them.

We understand. Most of us remember how hard it was to do those first culls. But we also remember how better the flock was because we did it.

Good luck

Mrs K

Thank you so much! This is an incredible group of people.

I don't find culling repugnant. I grew up with chickens and rabbits so been around that. But, I don't eat meat anymore for health reasons. David does and knows he will eventually have to cull but, even if he works up the nerve, we aren't set up for it. We wanted one rooster - which we planned for and is in the brooder. We got him later to allow the girls to grow up. But then, we discovered Prince crowing and figured we could work it out. 8 roos is just right out though. These chickens let us carry them around like toddlers. Mine weren't like that growing up so this is new.

 

[TaylorGlade]

Sounds like you guys are going in the right direction for peace in the flock.

I'm in North Alabama. My chickens don't have a traditional coop, and being in Florida, you don't need one either (nice to have, but not a requirement due to weather, IMO). It's hard to keep traditional coops from turning into ovens during the day, due to heat and humidity. We have a covered open-air run (greenhouse frame covered in hardware cloth) which is predator secure, and they perch in it at night. At 15 square feet per chicken, there is peace in the flock. Less space than that, and we have issues with feather picking and bullying depending on the individual chickens' personality. The ISA Browns were the worst offenders, picking on our starlight green eggers and prairie bluebell eggers.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/overhead-coop-fan-running-at-night.1584826/post-26937097

For our second coop, I put up a dog kennel, covered it with hardware cloth, including the top, gave it an apron, and covered everything with a tarp. Make sure the tarp does not collect water at all, and is well secured, and you're good to go, a predator secure chicken coop/run.

We have hurricanes here though. What do people do with chickens in hurricanes or really bad storms? Our coop is built strong enough to stand up to hurricanes.

 

[LaFleche]

David is reaching out to a person he knows that keeps chickens. If he doesn't get a bite there, we know a guy that will take any rooster you give him. He supplies meat for the local homeless shelter. I hate to go that route, but at least I know they've had a good life with us. And I know they will be going to a good cause.

This seems to be the sensible and in my opinion best way to go.

Rid yourself of the males you did not want in the first place before the hormonal nastiness really sets in and all your birds, cockerels as well as pullets, will have to pay the price for your indecision.

We all understand that it is hard to do though.

 

[Red Mangrove]

We have hurricanes here though. What do people do with chickens in hurricanes or really bad storms? Our coop is built strong enough to stand up to hurricanes.

Mine hide under human structures, under trees or in the trees at night. Never my coop though. It's warm and dry and they'd rather be 20 feet in a tree during a hurricane. I trust them though and I've never lost one from the weather

The Red Junglefowl originated in a region hit with regular hurricanes (southeast Asia) and now mine are doing fantastic with Floridian hurricanes