New Chicks - dealing with the cockerels..

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Spendare
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New Chicks - dealing with the cockerels..

Post by Spendare »

Hi all, haven't been on here quite a while mostly as my chooks have been fine and any info I've need was found on your excellent help articles. What I'm about to ask may be on there but I've had a nasty virus for last couple of days and it's taking all my effort to ask this, please be nice to me.

We had a broody chicken so got 6 hatch eggs on the off chance and slipped them under her. 5 of them hatched (to our surprise - we hadn't done this before)
Borrowed a small coop/run from our neighbour and they have been living along side the main run for the last 8 weeks.
We went on holiday last week (where I caught the fever!) had someone to look after our house/animals but today I notices how skittish the chicks were around mum with most of them hiding in the coop. I took this as a sign she'd has enough of them, so I let her out to free range with the others in the garden, bit of readjusting going on but she certainly wasn't being protective over the chicks or wanting to go back in with them.

So the chicks are now on there own in the small coop/run but there's a lot of fighting going on. I think I have 2 or 3 cockerels - one of them is very much the runt, it's feathers have never grown properly and it's taken quite a beating down it's back. I took the hard decision to dispatch that one as they were all ganging up on it.

Now it two of the other are at each other, or rather one if attacking one other a lot. I'm guessing their both cockerels, hopefully pics below.

My wife doesn't want to keep any cockerels, I'm tempted to keep one. So looking to know what to do next really, your thoughts would be very much appreciated.

Firstly are the ones with the larger combs cockerels?
Assuming they are, should let them fight it out?
Or should I pick one and dispatch the other?
When should I being putting the ones that remain in the with the adults?

They are all bantams, hence their size for 8 weeks (any clues on breed would be appreciated as well)

Many thanks
Dan

Potential cockerel #1
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JktR6mz1rnu1oNpe6

Potential cockerel #2
https://photos.app.goo.gl/6owD3tUDFwMj37nn7

All 4 of them - the brown one and the black/white one are not being bothered at all
https://photos.app.goo.gl/SGeAHhkmet5xR8Vj9
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bikesandbirdsbob
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Re: New Chicks - dealing with the cockerels..

Post by bikesandbirdsbob »

Hi , this is the one reason I don't hatch eggs , deciding how to deal with the boys.
My personnel view would to let them when possible out with the flock.
This will give them something else to think about.
Wait and see and then choose .
Offer the spare to a new home .
Hard choice but they could be hens be top of the brod , unlikely though .
Let us know what you do and why possibly.
It would be a warning / reason for readers to not hatch or be prepared for the out come.
Well done for writing the article and better at dealing with it than me for sure .
Bob
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Mo
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Re: New Chicks - dealing with the cockerels..

Post by Mo »

Well, if you don't hatch your own replacement hens they don't come from nowhere. Someone deals with the unwanted cockerels.
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KarenE
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Re: New Chicks - dealing with the cockerels..

Post by KarenE »

Yes cockerals in the commercial system (or even backyard system) are a sad sad part of the story. Rather than culing, see if you can find homes first but do be careful as some people can take them for dog fighting. Best to see if you can rehome through somewhere like fresh start for hens, british hen welfare trust (or any of the other rescue organisations)

It's difficut to tell from your pictures. I'm not an expert at telling the gender, but they're usually spotted (in breeds that aren't s.ex linked) by the tail feathers and the neck feathers (back of the neck) so maybe if you could get some clearer photos, someone might be able to help.

Again I'm not an expert on bantam breeds, never having kept them, but one looks like a light sussex (white with black neck feathers) if that can be bantamised.

As for the fighting, that may not be because they are cockerals - flocks of boys can get on well enough, it's only when you introduce girls that problems happen, and yours do seem a bit ytoung for any boys toi be flexing their muscles. They may be fighting because they don't have enough space?
Karen
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kitla
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Re: New Chicks - dealing with the cockerels..

Post by kitla »

I've hatched a few times in the past, its hard to be absolutely certain about the s.ex until they start to crow. I often got it wrong. I think mine started crowing from about 9 weeks onward so not long till you know for sure. Some breeds you can tell easily by the comb size but yours look like crossbreeds which makes it harder. I would hazard a guess that the 2 multicoloured ones are boys. Apart from the combs the neck feathers of males are more pointy at the ends whereas hens are rounded, & the boys start to grow long feathers each side of the tail. I've usually found the boys more friendly when they're young, so much so I've often got very attached to them & travelled as far as it took to find them good homes! Do ask around, I love having a cockerel (even my neighbours like him) But if you arent able to rehome, sadly (as we're a soft lot on here) I think there are worse fates for young cockerels than humanely dispatching them.
(By the way there is a cockerel rehoming group on facebook incase you change your mind)
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Mo
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Re: New Chicks - dealing with the cockerels..

Post by Mo »

kitla wrote:II think there are worse fates for young cockerels than humanely dispatching them.

And I hope you wouldn't waste his life by not eating him but then buying a factory bred chicken from Tescoes.

Though it is enough to turn anyone vegetarian
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Spendare
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Re: New Chicks - dealing with the cockerels..

Post by Spendare »

Plucking, gutting and eating them is a step too far for us, although I would never substitute that with something from Tesco's!

The runt was only the second ever time I've ever had to dispatch, fortunately it went a lot better than the first! Never nice to get rid of a chook, but I took solace in that I don't think he was ever meant to have had a life - the Mum rejected the egg at one stage but after I candle light tested it and saw it was dark, I slipped it back under (they were all numbered so knew which one it was).

Interesting point about the boys seeming more friendly - the run certainly was.

Am going to get the 4 chicks in with the main ones in the new few days - Had been avoiding this as was previously advised that the adults shouldn't each the chick crumb so it would stop them laying, but the Mum started laying again when she was just on this so guess it's not a problem
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manda
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Re: New Chicks - dealing with the cockerels..

Post by manda »

Roosters are always difficult to identify when they are still young because as Bob says it can sometimes be a dominant female. The most telling thing is as they mature they get saddle feathers (base of tail that fall down either side).... personally I think they often have longer necks and stand in a more upright position (so the little brown one I would bet is a female - short neck more squat...could be wrong though !!).

The one with very feathered legs I'm really on the fence about (could be a cross of one of the bigger breeds like the Brahma. It's neck seems quite stocky but without seeing more picks or even a video it's hard to tell - is it just me or is it quite large?.

They could be fighting because the small coop is just too small for them now and so the space is getting to them.
Re-homing sounds nice in principle but in reality is really hard to do because unless someone has somewhere nice and rural with plenty of space their numbers will be limited in a space....and unless you want to end up with a couple of hundred chickens in a very small space of time you don't want to keep them together with your hens unless you have them penned and are meticulous in taking away the eggs (don't laugh I've had it happen }hairout{ ).

Dispatching them is never nice but then if you eat meat it's never nice but if you are going to do it then get as much out of them as you can - even if it's to make a good stock - cleaning them isn't hard (although chickens are a more smelly bird to deal with)
I'm one of the not so soft (in so far as we do dispatch our own ...we raise our own meat. In NZ we can homekill (animals for your own consumption don't have to go to an abbatoir - or the works as they're called here) - so we do deal with and butcher our own meat (except cattle who we get a homekill butcher in for because of size more than anything) All that being said you do get a huge sense of responsibility towards the animal - we waste a lot less now than we ever did before.

Just for info:
Chick crumb won't stop the others laying...that is governed more by the pineal gland as the light increases and decreases over the course of the year. Chick crumb is just higher in protein and lower in calcium
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Spendare
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Re: New Chicks - dealing with the cockerels..

Post by Spendare »

thanks for the advice - fighting has eased off this week, am thinking they may have just been setting a pecking order after I took Mum out - feeling slightly guilty about removing the runt now although he was in quite a bad way! I had them free ranging in the garden yesterday which they loved, had intended to get them in the main coop/run today but they have proved tricky to catch - will try again this weekend after tonight's storms have passed!

Managed to get a video of the 4 of them this afternoon if it helps anyone identify the cockerels.

should be able to see it here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/yJL22M1kHKqGhTyt7
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