Posted: 6/12/2009 9:08:12 AM EDT
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So about 3 months ago my daughter goes up to KY to pick up 15 pullets. Guy said they should all be hens but if they're not then bring them back and he would swap them out. She got 3 and I took the other 12. Well out of my 12, 5 are roosters. One is a mean little bastard. She ended up with two roosters. Guy says he can swap them but he doesn't have any adult hens, all he has are pullets.
I have put a good bit of money into feed for these things and I'm not looking forward to half of my flock starting over. Would they even lay this year? It just pisses me off that someone in that line of work, yes it's a breeder, would not know how to sex a chick any better. That being said anyone want to trade a hen for a 5 month old Rhode Island Red rooster? I have 4 to trade. |
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My feed stores always claim 10% male when buying pullets, and you just can't sex some types of chickens when they are only a day or 2 old. Last time I bought 20 chickens and didn't get a single rooster. I hatched 18 of my own a couple months ago and I have 3 roosters from the batch, but couldn't tell until recently. Its kinda luck of the draw when you're buying them that young.
OTOH, I would NOT trade the roosters in. Slaughter and eat them, but you've put too much into feed to go swapping them for a day old chick that might again be a rooster. Thats probably why he has such an exchange policy. |
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It's very hard to sex chicks, and even buying only pullets from even the best breeders, you get some roosters. It's just to be expected, though it is frustrating to get this many. I don't recall ever getting that bad a percentage of roosters before. And yes, RIR roosters are mean sons of bitches. I won't keep reds again for that reason. I'm going for a gentler breed this time. Chickens start laying after about five months usually, so they'll be laying by late fall for certain. Do you know that you can keep them laying all year if you light the henhouse with a low-wattage lightbulb? 20 watts will do it. kitties |
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it's VERY hard to sex day olds.
heck, it's hard to sex 8 week olds. The big breeders have people who that's all they do and they still only gaurantee 10% This is why Red Stars/Black Stars (aka red sex links, black sex links) are so popular if they don't have the white head, they are pullets, 99.999999% of the time. No misses |
| Thats not to bad the first batch of RIR i got 5 of the 7 were Roosters, They were good eaten though, I tell you what they were not as good as the meat chickens, i got 5 with the last batch of chicks and O man where they heavy. I slaughtered them Wend and we had chicken Thurs and they were nice and tender, OOO my. I have a whole bird in the fridge i will have to weigh it and report. The RIR i took out were a little tougher and leaner but they were older. I have been able to tell the roos for the hens at around 4-6 weeks look at there head crown thing, the roos really start to show vrs the hens. |
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Quoted:
It's very hard to sex chicks, and even buying only pullets from even the best breeders, you get some roosters. It's just to be expected, though it is frustrating to get this many. I don't recall ever getting that bad a percentage of roosters before. And yes, RIR roosters are mean sons of bitches. I won't keep reds again for that reason. I'm going for a gentler breed this time. Chickens start laying after about five months usually, so they'll be laying by late fall for certain. Do you know that you can keep them laying all year if you light the henhouse with a low-wattage lightbulb? 20 watts will do it. kitties pretty much any light source will do as the days get shorter, i leave a heat lamp on all winter and my girls have been laying great |
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Quoted:
it's VERY hard to sex day olds. heck, it's hard to sex 8 week olds. The big breeders have people who that's all they do and they still only gaurantee 10% This is why Red Stars/Black Stars (aka red sex links, black sex links) are so popular if they don't have the white head, they are pullets, 99.999999% of the time. No misses With Golden comet pullets (red sex-links). The chicks would be yellow or white. Yellow being female. Males being white. RIR are awesome looking birds though. I wish I had a few. |
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I got my first 12 Rhode Island Reds chicks (1 day old) this spring. I order them from a very large chicken farm at employees people to sex the chicks. I asked for 11 hens and 1 rooster and that is what I got  .
Related note - Chickens are cool  .We got ours (assorted reds) at TSC and came home with 7 roosters and 3 hens. Rat snake tried to eat two of the roosters so now we're down to 5/3. Of those 5 I have picked out 3 to eat but I can't pick the last one of the two left. Both are beautiful birds. But like KWS said they are mean SOBs and I know one of them is already getting pretty bold so it may be him. |
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I now have 11 hens and two roosters. Should I off another rooster or does the lead guy need a backup to help cover all the ladies. A rooster will have no trouble with 11 hens. Roosters live for two things: fighting and fornicating. If he doesn't have to waste time with the former, he'll have plenty of time for the latter. I'd cull one before they chop each other up. |
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I now have 11 hens and two roosters. Should I off another rooster or does the lead guy need a backup to help cover all the ladies. A rooster will have no trouble with 11 hens. Roosters live for two things: fighting and fornicating. If he doesn't have to waste time with the former, he'll have plenty of time for the latter. I'd cull one before they chop each other up. +1 Time to flip a coin to see which one gets it. Or post pics and a poll. 
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I now have 11 hens and two roosters. Should I off another rooster or does the lead guy need a backup to help cover all the ladies. A rooster will have no trouble with 11 hens. Roosters live for two things: fighting and fornicating. If he doesn't have to waste time with the former, he'll have plenty of time for the latter. I'd cull one before they chop each other up. +1 Time to flip a coin to see which one gets it. Or post pics and a poll. Off the one thats harder on your hens. |
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Quoted: There are pros and cons to it. IF you want fertilized eggs, or you're enamored of waking up to crowing every morning, you might want to keep two roosters in case a predator gets one, or something happens to one. One will be dominant, and get all the action with the hens, and the other will be more gentle. Yes, they will fight, but the eggs will still get fertilized. If they're in a VERY small space, and confined, I'd off one of the roosters. If not, they'll do fine. One rooster will be kind of an outcast. But chickens...well...they're cruel. The class system has nothing on the pecking order. No way to avoid it. There WILL be a pecking order among the hens––––and among the roosters. The dominant rooster gets more sex with the hens. The non-dominant roosters are lucky to find a hen in a remote corner once a month. Otherwise they kinda stay off to the side, guard their backs, and tend to get skinny from not getting as much food. But this is so with the hens as well. You'll have hens with all the feathers pecked off their back ends by the dominant hens. Chickens are mean. Don't let your kitten wander into the chicken pen. I'm not kidding here. CHICKENS ARE MEAN.Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I now have 11 hens and two roosters. Should I off another rooster or does the lead guy need a backup to help cover all the ladies. A rooster will have no trouble with 11 hens. Roosters live for two things: fighting and fornicating. If he doesn't have to waste time with the former, he'll have plenty of time for the latter. I'd cull one before they chop each other up. +1 Time to flip a coin to see which one gets it. Or post pics and a poll. Off the one thats harder on your hens. If you don't actually NEED a rooster, choose the one that's harder on your hens and send him to the big Chicken Coop In The Sky. But honestly, in the long run, they're both going to tear the shit out of your hens when they mate. If you have a rooster, you need to check your hens periodically. Like once a week at least. Look under their wings. Sometimes you can look under their wings and see their internal organs because the rooster's spurs have cut through their bodies when they'r mating. No lie. Roosters are hard on hens. On the other hand....when we were missing a rooster for a few months, I guess evolution took over. One of the hens grew a big comb, and spurs, and wattles, and started crowing. She sucked at crowing, but she was trying. In my lifetime, I'd never seen a hen turn into a rooster before. If we'd had chicks from a broody hen, I was about to call Guiness. But she died before I got to find out if she really HAD TURNED INTO A ROOSTER. The neighbor thought I was nuts until one of his did the same thing.....  Welcome to Oz. |
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Quoted: Looks like someone's gonna bite the dust this weekend. Thinking maybe fried chicken, sliced tomatos and pickles. How old is he? If he's more than five months old or so....do chicken and dumplins. He'll be too tough to fry if he's old. ETA: Just went back to your original post. Fry him. Seriously though...cleaning a chicken is a PITA. I would not do it ever again unless I was starving. The smell of singeing pinfeathers off a chicken...it's enough to make you not want chicken ever.  Yuk.
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You think a chickens smell bad. You should tryi cleaning a wild turkey. Now that is one smelly a$$ bird. I shot 3 of them in one day last year thanks to the special season quota hunts. It took me 5 hours to clean them but man was it worth it.
The wife likes skinless chicken so when i clean them i treat them like squirels or rabbits. I hang them upside down, make a small cut around the legs and start pulling skin and feathers off all at once. I was able to do 3 in about an hour and a half. That's from yard to freezer |