DemeterAD9
Songster
- Mar 21, 2024
- 567
- 1,112
- 193
This is both a question for more experienced keepers and a little record of my journey to hopefully creating a happy flock.
I am at a dilemma. When I got home from work tonight I saw that one of my cockerels was out of the run, after observing the flock I understood why. All of the ~15 week old roos were chasing everyone around. 1 of the hens the same age, each other, a few of the ~8 week old chicks, everyone that got in their way was grabbed at and many feathers were pulled out. Birds were bouncing off the fencing in every corner, I caught and threw the worst cockerel in the coop and closed the door. After catching and returning the escapee and opening the coop I noticed the 4 cockerels were chasing the escapee hard. One had him cornered and held down. I made the decision to start culling the extra roos right then and there but unfortunately my nieces came back just then and they are quite sensitive about these things. Honestly I was ready to off all of them except the roo getting bullied. An hour after the chasing and whatnot they are all in the coop ready for bed with my sad bullied roo sleeping in a corner by himself. So they get to live another day and I get to think on who to keep. I have every intention to cull at least 2, maybe 3 of the 5 roos on Thursday, after my sister and her kids go back home.
Some flock info, I have 5 bym roos and 2 bym hens that are ~15 weeks old. Then I have another 21 chicks that are ~8 weeks old (4 appear to be male). All has been well since integrating the younger birds. Now the boys are acting wild and the 2 young hens are not willing nor ready for it. I'm noticing pulled feathers on the one hen who is acting very skittish around the boys now. End goal is 18 hens and 2 roos that I can partially free range, collect eggs from, and raise some chicks for meat. I want a roo that is well mannered and will produce bigger dual purpose young, preferably who lay colored eggs. The second roo will be for backup, or simply a good pet if he's docile. Of course I will cull one or the other if they can't get along.
My dilemma is the usual, which 2 should I keep? Breed doesn't really matter, I would prefer to keep a male who will make daughters that lay colorful eggs though. All of the 5 older roos are mixed breed, hatched from shipped eggs. 2 are beautiful EEs, 1 frizzle EE, 1 all black, 1 black and gold with feathered feet.
Of the 4 male 8 week olds I know there is 1 black Jersey giant, 1 blue something with feathered legs, 1 white and black mixed breed large fowl, and 1 RIR or similar breed (not sure yet). These squirts will be left to grow out another couple months before I decide what to do with them.
2 older birds are automatically out, one being the black roo that got aggressive with me and broke skin, the other being the frizzle that I don't want to breed from (no more frizzles!). The remaining 3 all have their merits. Now attitude is another thing, seeing as they are basically teens they haven't settled into their real personalities yet. I have half a mind to cull them all and just pick 2 roos from the 8 week olds, at least that way the 2 older hens won't get chased before they are ready for it. But I really do want to keep at least 1 from my very first hatch.
Roo 1 is a yellow and red EE, beautiful muffs and beard, dances and coos for the ladies. He may already be showing aggressive behavior, jumping on my back/shoulder when I kneel, dancing at me every now and then and being close by whenever I am in the run. But he also likes to sit in my lap to get some pets, sometimes fall asleep perched on my knee. When he picks at things on me he is very gentle, unlike the others who try to tear the freckles off my skin. He did grab and hold onto my finger the other day after dancing at me, I think he was feeling amorous and thought I was a hen. I really like him but he was the worst one of the bunch tonight with the chasing and bullying. He is the dominant roo though so I guess not surprising. Crows the most. Came from a blue/green egg.
Roo 2 is #1's brother. A blue EE with the fluffiest muffs and beard. He's more standoffish but will sit next to me and likes to rake his beak on my clothes, not pecking more like scraping. I don't think this is aggression. He's usually pretty relaxed but was running rampant tonight, picking on the frizzle roo in particular and grabbed a couple chicks. Crows sometimes. Came from a cream egg.
Roo 3, the one that escaped tonight. Black with some gold lacing, feathered legs. Apparently despite being the largest he is the least dominant. He crowed a few times at first then stopped. He is the most standoffish roo and really hasn't caused any problems other than pecking at the chicks when first integrating them. He's chill now. He's beautiful but not very special in any other way. Came from a light brown egg.
Roo 1 and 2 seem to get along pretty well. Roo 2 and 3 are generally civil. In fact Roo 3 used to be the more dominant male but then things shifted as they matured.
I know a friendly cockerel can turn into a human aggressive roo quite easily which has me worried about Roo 1. I hear a more standoffish cockerel is often a more standoffish roo so that gives me hope for 2 and 3 being good and keeping their distance from me and other humans. I'm afraid if I decide to keep Roos 1 and 3 then Roo 3 will keep getting bullied. But I know flock dynamics will change simply by culling the other roos so maybe it will be fine. The plan was to cull birds as they became a problem but I didn't think they'd all become a problem in a single day!
The 2 that are definitely going
I am at a dilemma. When I got home from work tonight I saw that one of my cockerels was out of the run, after observing the flock I understood why. All of the ~15 week old roos were chasing everyone around. 1 of the hens the same age, each other, a few of the ~8 week old chicks, everyone that got in their way was grabbed at and many feathers were pulled out. Birds were bouncing off the fencing in every corner, I caught and threw the worst cockerel in the coop and closed the door. After catching and returning the escapee and opening the coop I noticed the 4 cockerels were chasing the escapee hard. One had him cornered and held down. I made the decision to start culling the extra roos right then and there but unfortunately my nieces came back just then and they are quite sensitive about these things. Honestly I was ready to off all of them except the roo getting bullied. An hour after the chasing and whatnot they are all in the coop ready for bed with my sad bullied roo sleeping in a corner by himself. So they get to live another day and I get to think on who to keep. I have every intention to cull at least 2, maybe 3 of the 5 roos on Thursday, after my sister and her kids go back home.
Some flock info, I have 5 bym roos and 2 bym hens that are ~15 weeks old. Then I have another 21 chicks that are ~8 weeks old (4 appear to be male). All has been well since integrating the younger birds. Now the boys are acting wild and the 2 young hens are not willing nor ready for it. I'm noticing pulled feathers on the one hen who is acting very skittish around the boys now. End goal is 18 hens and 2 roos that I can partially free range, collect eggs from, and raise some chicks for meat. I want a roo that is well mannered and will produce bigger dual purpose young, preferably who lay colored eggs. The second roo will be for backup, or simply a good pet if he's docile. Of course I will cull one or the other if they can't get along.
My dilemma is the usual, which 2 should I keep? Breed doesn't really matter, I would prefer to keep a male who will make daughters that lay colorful eggs though. All of the 5 older roos are mixed breed, hatched from shipped eggs. 2 are beautiful EEs, 1 frizzle EE, 1 all black, 1 black and gold with feathered feet.
Of the 4 male 8 week olds I know there is 1 black Jersey giant, 1 blue something with feathered legs, 1 white and black mixed breed large fowl, and 1 RIR or similar breed (not sure yet). These squirts will be left to grow out another couple months before I decide what to do with them.
2 older birds are automatically out, one being the black roo that got aggressive with me and broke skin, the other being the frizzle that I don't want to breed from (no more frizzles!). The remaining 3 all have their merits. Now attitude is another thing, seeing as they are basically teens they haven't settled into their real personalities yet. I have half a mind to cull them all and just pick 2 roos from the 8 week olds, at least that way the 2 older hens won't get chased before they are ready for it. But I really do want to keep at least 1 from my very first hatch.
Roo 1 is a yellow and red EE, beautiful muffs and beard, dances and coos for the ladies. He may already be showing aggressive behavior, jumping on my back/shoulder when I kneel, dancing at me every now and then and being close by whenever I am in the run. But he also likes to sit in my lap to get some pets, sometimes fall asleep perched on my knee. When he picks at things on me he is very gentle, unlike the others who try to tear the freckles off my skin. He did grab and hold onto my finger the other day after dancing at me, I think he was feeling amorous and thought I was a hen. I really like him but he was the worst one of the bunch tonight with the chasing and bullying. He is the dominant roo though so I guess not surprising. Crows the most. Came from a blue/green egg.
Roo 2 is #1's brother. A blue EE with the fluffiest muffs and beard. He's more standoffish but will sit next to me and likes to rake his beak on my clothes, not pecking more like scraping. I don't think this is aggression. He's usually pretty relaxed but was running rampant tonight, picking on the frizzle roo in particular and grabbed a couple chicks. Crows sometimes. Came from a cream egg.
Roo 3, the one that escaped tonight. Black with some gold lacing, feathered legs. Apparently despite being the largest he is the least dominant. He crowed a few times at first then stopped. He is the most standoffish roo and really hasn't caused any problems other than pecking at the chicks when first integrating them. He's chill now. He's beautiful but not very special in any other way. Came from a light brown egg.
Roo 1 and 2 seem to get along pretty well. Roo 2 and 3 are generally civil. In fact Roo 3 used to be the more dominant male but then things shifted as they matured.
I know a friendly cockerel can turn into a human aggressive roo quite easily which has me worried about Roo 1. I hear a more standoffish cockerel is often a more standoffish roo so that gives me hope for 2 and 3 being good and keeping their distance from me and other humans. I'm afraid if I decide to keep Roos 1 and 3 then Roo 3 will keep getting bullied. But I know flock dynamics will change simply by culling the other roos so maybe it will be fine. The plan was to cull birds as they became a problem but I didn't think they'd all become a problem in a single day!
The 2 that are definitely going
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