Accidently ended up with 3 new roosters...

[Folly's place]

@Mrs. K is right, as usual. Chicken society isn't about pairing off, it's about few roosters and many hens. Move these cockerels on as soon as possible. Your hens and pullets will thank you!
Mary

 

[HowIsItDone]

Unfortunately there is more tension in your flock than you are even aware of, you will recognize that when they are gone. Because there is rather a natural reluctance to kill our pets, often that feeling crosses over to our chickens.

Confined chickens, even in a large area. Have to be managed for the flock, not individual birds.

If you can’t cull them, find someone who can. You don’t have to eat them. Bury them and plant a rosebush. Give them to someone else.

But what you really need to do ASAP is get them out of your hens. Really, just get rid of them all.

Mrs k

Is it safe to have a confined flock of 5 pullets, with one Rooster, and expect it to go well?

He's beautiful, and aware of his ladies, but not threatening in any way.
My coop and run are each 10'x12'. I haven't let them out yet.
There are raccoons, foxes, coyotes, and hawks here.
They are just coming into puberty, and winter is about to hit.


I don't want to get rid of him.
Will keeping him be horrible for the girls?

 

[aart]

I don't want to get rid of him.
Will keeping him be horrible for the girls?

Only time will tell, depends on his demeanor.
Always have a solution in place to isolate a problem bird.

 

[McChooky]

Hello!

We started raising a very small flock of hens a few years ago and finally added more chicks this year when we only had 2 older adult hens left. We added 7 chicks purchased at local farm supply store and had no problem with incubating and eventually integrating them, however unfortunately as the continued to grow, it turned out 3 of them were 'surprise' roosters. They were Polish Crested, so we couldn't really tell until they started Cockldoodledo'n.

We didn't want any roosters, and thought we were buying sexed chicks, but now it is what it is unfortunately.
From my reading it seems painfully obvious that 6 hens isnt 'enough' for 3 roosters. They do fight a bit, but I haven't spotted any injuries on anyone yet.

The young girls they were raised with tend to stay close to them (The flock is free range) however the 2 older girls stay fairly separate. I didnt think much of this until this past week where every night one of the older hens has bedded down outside of our door rather than returning to the coop at night. I've carried her down each time, but I'm worried the young roosters may be terrorizing the older hens.

On top of this, the younger flock raised with the roosters seems to have a fully different personality form what we are used to with our chickens. They aren't friendly at all, and the young hens seem to be mimicking the roosters in aggressively running at our dogs. We have huskies, always leashed, but that will eventually end badly.

The only answer google seems to have for "what to do with too many roosters" is "eat them". We've never killed or eaten any of our chickens and I'm not sure I can. All deaths so far have been the rare occurrence of a predator.

Any advice would be helpful.

None of the sexed chicks I've ordered has been a cockerel so I finally ordered 2 (kept one and gave one to a friend) I also built a chicken tractor for any cockerels that hatch .They'll be raised separately and donated for food so I won't have to eat them myself

 

[McChooky]

EDIT: None of the sexed chicks I ordered was a cockerel so I ordered 2 (I kept one and gave one away) I built a chicken tractor so chicks raised separately can be given away before I get attached to them.Devise a plan for the cockerels if you decide to keep a rooster because you'll need it.

 

[Mrs. K]

Sometimes you can, no guarantees. Have a plan for if it doesn’t work, pray you don’t need to use it.