Which Rooster to Sell?

[GrFChickens]

Hi there!

We've had several flocks of chickens in the past but this is our first flock with roosters!

We bought straight run and now have 8 chickens total; 3 of them are roosters, so we are planning to sell two of them. They are lavender orpington; beautiful, docile hens, but I think there are too many roos for them to handle!

Any wisdom y'all might have about which two roosters to sell? The biggest rooster is dominant and can be aggressive with the hens - we've watched him pecking their back so he can get the best grub during feeding time (the hens haven't started laying yet). Should we sell him and hope one of the other roosters becomes dominant? We haven't noticed any other aggressive behavior with the other two roos yet.

Thank you so much!
Megan

 

[igorsMistress]

Some advice I was given I found invaluable: Separate the dominant roo and see how the subordinates behave if you can. The dominant roo can change his behavior without the subordinates too. See how each treats the girls and you and go from there depending on what you're looking for.

How many hens do you have?

Oops, you have 5.

ETA it can take a while for a rooster to develop personality, how old are they?

 

[Chickenlickin6]

Hi there!

We've had several flocks of chickens in the past but this is our first flock with roosters!

We bought straight run and now have 8 chickens total; 3 of them are roosters, so we are planning to sell two of them. They are lavender orpington; beautiful, docile hens, but I think there are too many roos for them to handle!

Any wisdom y'all might have about which two roosters to sell? The biggest rooster is dominant and can be aggressive with the hens - we've watched him pecking their back so he can get the best grub during feeding time (the hens haven't started laying yet). Should we sell him and hope one of the other roosters becomes dominant? We haven't noticed any other aggressive behavior with the other two roos yet.

Thank you so much!
Megan

We also have 8’roosters and 7 hens. Your post makes me laugh because we also experienced this issue. Who stays and who goes. We had such a hard time we kept them all. They each have their own personality and we love each one. We laugh at our set up. We know the girls can’t be around the boys so they each get rec time and each night return to xl crates in our heated and cooled garage. I know this doesn’t help but roosters can be the best pets. I have one red and he loves me he rubs his face on me and talks to me following me around. Best of luck.:::

 

[DobieLover]

Hi there!

We've had several flocks of chickens in the past but this is our first flock with roosters!

We bought straight run and now have 8 chickens total; 3 of them are roosters, so we are planning to sell two of them. They are lavender orpington; beautiful, docile hens, but I think there are too many roos for them to handle!

Any wisdom y'all might have about which two roosters to sell? The biggest rooster is dominant and can be aggressive with the hens - we've watched him pecking their back so he can get the best grub during feeding time (the hens haven't started laying yet). Should we sell him and hope one of the other roosters becomes dominant? We haven't noticed any other aggressive behavior with the other two roos yet.

Thank you so much!
Megan

Your cockerels are young still.
But a good cockerel/rooster will tidbit the pullets/hens and give her the best food.
He will also watch out for predators and sound a ground or aerial predator alert that will tell the girls to seek shelter.
He will be gentle with the girls when breeding them. This is sometimes hard to determine when they are young, hormonally crazed cockerels.
He will NEVER harm the girls.
He may sacrifice himself to protect the girls.
Ideally, he will not be aggressive towards humans.
Each one will have to be tested for about a week without the other boys around. The other 2 will have to be housed apart from the flock during testing of each cockerel.
Chose the one that comes closest to the above and rehome the rest.
You will be lucky to get $5 each for them. There are always nice cockerels looking for a new home. There is far more supply than demand so be prepared to just give him away.
You can also just grow them out and process them yourself or have them done for you. That is just the reality of being born male in the chicken world.

 

[GrFChickens]

Some advice I was given I found invaluable: Separate the dominant roo and see how the subordinates behave if you can. The dominant roo can change his behavior without the subordinates too. See how each treats the girls and you and go from there depending on what you're looking for.

How many hens do you have?

Oops, you have 5.

ETA it can take a while for a rooster to develop personality, how old are they?

Great advice to separate and wait for awhile! We will do that. They are all about 4 months old.

 

[GrFChickens]

We also have 8’roosters and 7 hens. Your post makes me laugh because we also experienced this issue. Who stays and who goes. We had such a hard time we kept them all. They each have their own personality and we love each one. We laugh at our set up. We know the girls can’t be around the boys so they each get rec time and each night return to xl crates in our heated and cooled garage. I know this doesn’t help but roosters can be the best pets. I have one red and he loves me he rubs his face on me and talks to me following me around. Best of luck.:::

It IS so hard, huh? Our kids are attached to the dominant one. I'm so glad y'all could keep all of them! Sounds like your fam is loving and caring and they have a great set-up.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I had bought Marans like 8 6 turned out to be cockerel sold all 6 have 1 Easter egger I am
raising as my new rooster also bought 3 blue marans to give my silkie to raise 1 is cockerel I am going to keep him if the EE and him can get along

 

[GrFChickens]

Your cockerels are young still.
But a good cockerel/rooster will tidbit the pullets/hens and give her the best food.
He will also watch out for predators and sound a ground or aerial predator alert that will tell the girls to seek shelter.
He will be gentle with the girls when breeding them. This is sometimes hard to determine when they are young, hormonally crazed cockerels.
He will NEVER harm the girls.
He may sacrifice himself to protect the girls.
Ideally, he will not be aggressive towards humans.
Each one will have to be tested for about a week without the other boys around. The other 2 will have to be housed apart from the flock during testing of each cockerel.
Chose the one that comes closest to the above and rehome the rest.
You will be lucky to get $5 each for them. There are always nice cockerels looking for a new home. There is far more supply than demand so be prepared to just give him away.
You can also just grow them out and process them yourself or have them done for you. That is just the reality of being born male in the chicken world.

Great rules above! Yes, that all sounds ideal and is what we were hoping for, so it concerns us that the dominant roo hurts his ladies. . I think if we separate him out for a time maybe we can better see how the other roos operate.

Blessings, and thanks for the response!
Megan

 

[GrFChickens]

I had bought Marans like 8 6 turned out to be cockerel sold all 6 have 1 Easter egger I am
raising as my new rooster also bought 3 blue marans to give my silkie to raise 1 is cockerel I am going to keep him if the EE and him can get along

It's hard to know how many will become roosters, huh? Great job taking care of your flock!

 

[igorsMistress]

Great advice to separate and wait for awhile! We will do that. They are all about 4 months old.

Try to give each of them a few weeks with the hens to observe their behavior. By 6 months or so you might have a pretty good idea who you want. They're still a bit young to be nice to the girls yet though.