All Greek to me!

Can you reconcile a mean rooster?

  • Yes

    Votes: 2 100.0%

  • No

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    2
Date sort Score sort
G

Genine

In the Brooder
Sep 20, 2017
2
3
11
hello! I live in Northern Michigan and just started raising chickens. My first round last July consisted of three Buff Orpingtons (one is a rooster) and four Australorps. This year I found a local breeder and purchased five Icelandics (one is rooster) and two Polish (one rooster). I didn't plan on so many roosters but there's no "tell" on the privately bred eggs.

I am currently building a new coop for the newbies; I've been keeping them in my garage for now.

My goal is to be self sustaining. The older chickens are free range and I've been told that as soon as my newbies get bigger I can let them free range too because I have enough land for them to run away from others.

Can't wait to hear the advice of those who've been doing this longer and eventually become a pro!
 
Hi there! :)

So 14 chickens, 3 of which are roosters? Free-ranging? It MIGHT work, depending on how they work out their dynamics and how much space they have. I used to keep my flock free range over about 5 acres covering several yards and pastures (there was a lot more land but they ranged over an area not far from the central coop). I usually had at least 3 free roosters, sometimes 5 or so, but then I kept from 40-100 chickens (that was more than enough for my Roos ... some didn't get bred and some would be busy with chicks at a given time).

My top roo, a RIR, would keep 12-20 hens for himself. The others would have a few less. One of my favorite very junior Roos - a BRxRIR/silkies would keep only 4-7 and escort them to the goat pen daily. Basically the Roos established their territories and the hens would wander a bit, under the protection of whatever roo was in the area, but they did have favorites.

Depending on how many chickens you eventually plan to keep, it's common to send most of the upcoming Roos to the table. We actually for some reason had a very disproportionate number of hens produced, such that sometimes we sent hens to the table, which still seems almost a crime to me lol.

I've never kept polish but I hear they are more laid back and he might be satisfied with fewer girls. It really depends a lot on your particular flick and dynamics. I've kept large free-range flocks in two different places, and found that to be true in both of them.
 
Hi and welcome to BYC - great that you have joined us.

Here’s a link to the Articles section - https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/ There you’ll find lots of information on almost every aspect of keeping chickens - from coop building ideas, to incubating eggs.

There’s a link on the page above to the Learning Centre - it’s a great resource. If you have a specific topic in mind, just type it in the search box - there's a wealth of information on past and present threads.

Each week, various topics are discussed, which can also be a great resource - https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive

You may wish to consider joining your state thread as it will put you in touch with other BYC members in your area - http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/270925/find-your-states-thread#post_3239224

All the best

Pork Pie
 
So it seems like I need more hens! I will take care of that promptly, although. OT sure if I'll go that large. The older Roo has become aggressive with humans, especially me and my daughter, so thinking he will end up a stew before winter hits. Any advice on this?
 
Genine said:
So it seems like I need more hens! I will take care of that promptly, although. OT sure if I'll go that large. The older Roo has become aggressive with humans, especially me and my daughter, so thinking he will end up a stew before winter hits. Any advice on this?
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