When I decided to get hatching eggs, I knew the odds were against A. a full hatch, and B. all hens.
As it turned out, we went 50% on the hatch: six out of twelve eggs hatched, and a little better than that on the male/female ratio: 4 hens, 2 cockerels.
I gave away the two roosters to a local community farm. I was very happy with the situation.
So now we have three hens and one rooster.
How did I end up with three hens and a rooster when I gave away two roosters? You may well ask.
I goofed. I gave away a hen and a rooster, and kept a rooster, thinking (s)he was a hen. D’oh. Smooth move, Daisy.
He’s such a beauty, our rooster. And such a noble crow. It’s like music.
I’m not serious about that last remark. It’s NOT ready for prime time yet, more of a cockadoodle don’t at this stage. My neighbor told me she heard him the other day and just about fell over laughing.
He is so handsome, though, and gets purtier every day, with a very fashion-forward fur-like cascade of black and white neck feathers, gorgeous iridescent green sickle feathers and beautiful silver-laced feathers adorning his breast. I wish I could keep him. So far, it’s okay having a roo around. I’m not going to be very comfortable about early morning full-on crowing, though.
So, we have a rooster. We. Have. A. Rooster. If you need advice on sexing your chicks, or your pullets even, you’ve come to the wrong place.
On a related note, if you are in the Memphis area and you have a place in your homestead for a great rooster, send me an email at littlehousemail@gmail.com.
We had 4 Roosters…we too decided to let our hen foster 7 eggs as she went broody and would not give it up….what adorable little chicks…6 hatched…all different colors…as they grew up…forget the sexing your chicks here too, I ended up with 3 Roosters…beauties all…gave away two then discovered my main Rooster was not friendly…at all….gave him away only to hear Cock A Doodle Do the next morning…OMG…another Rooster….but….he is much more friendly, so far, and I will try to keep him…I love the early morning wake up call….warning to you all that want to let that broody hen have her babies….they may all be Roosters…LOL
That’s usually why we go with Sex-Sal-Links because right from birth, the roosters and hens are different colors. They aren’t as colorful as your rooster, but we get nice eggs from the breed.
The Sex-Sal-Links are also known as Isa Browns – not sure why our hatchery calls them that, but apparently that’s what they are.
I grew up near a chicken farm, and I’m not going to lie, it’s the roosters that keep me from having any real interest in getting chickens- even if we end up going back to a rural area. However, what a pretty bird! I love his tail.
Katie–Thank you! He is fancy. And remember, you don’t need a rooster to have eggs. We’ve only had one for a few months, and he’s not here for good.
We always had chickens while I was growing up. I don’t have room for any now, but would love to be able to keep a few in the future. Thanks for the post!
Love it! We also have a rooster and 3 hens. When he hit his …ahem…puberty…His crow was so funny too, he now has a cocka doo…minus the doodle. He does challenge me when I go out but I always have my chicken stick with me and so it’s just posturing, trying to decide where I fit into his pecking order I guess. The girls will jump up on my lap for some petting but I don’t let him come too close.
Anytime of the day is crowing time for him, I think his favorite time is the middle of the afternoon. I have a neighbor that is a seasoned farm animal guy and he knew that ‘Honey’ (Buff Orpington) was a he before any of us did. Mostly by the curvy tail feathers. Chickens are so fun, and entertaining. Love your updates.
He is purty. 🙂
Maybe you could swap him for the hen you accidentally gave away?
I agree with Wanda – you MUST trade – after all you gave the rooster/hen away on the premise that she was a he! I will go with you to “reclaim” her and we can take the girls who can put on one heck of a cry because they want her back they werent too happy that she went in the first place!
I think you should keep Mr. Rooster for awhile – after all, no-one has complained and everyone else is so far away – it shouldnt bother them! We must teah him to walk on a leash! LOL OMG – wouldnt that be hysterical walking around g-town with a rooster strutting in front of you!
G–You may have found your next calling: chicken trainer.
My boyfriends aunt and uncle had several chickens, of a couple of different breeds. They only had one rooster, who was a rescue. He had hatched out and grown up (partially) around a very domineering rooster. He was afraid to crow for the longest time, and never did get it right. He sounded like a werewolf howling, so we called him the Were-rooster!
Oh Daisy! Too funny! We started out with 10 new chickens last year….one hen and her 9 chicks. Half of those turned out to be roosters! We had six more hatches this spring and summer and now have 40 chickens! We had one rooster to begin with “Diego”….such a sweetie. Each hatch tho, was consistently HALF cockerels! I’ve got to find out if it is something in our water! Gave away most of them but kept three….seems to be enough hens to go around!
Last year tho, I had a beautiful white Auracana Mix rooster that I had raised from a pullet. Grew from a funny looking little thing to a huge but gorgeous rooster. Would come up to the back door and peck on it…..wanted my organic cornbread and biscuits and knew where they came from. Solomon was his name….Solly for short. Alas, Solly grew to be a beast when it came to women -(the hens tho…he loved me.) Traumatized them all….no feathers left on any of them. (And I thought it crazy to purchase “saddles” for hens!) For their sake, and tho it broke my heart, I gave him to a local farmer.
The original 9 chicks that I started with this spring also came from the same farmer. We were working on the chicken pen one day and I kept looking at one of the chicks – they were much bigger now. I kept thinking that he reminded me of someone. Later my son said the same thing and then we knew! His father was Solly! Yikes! I had gotten him back! The farmer confirmed this the next day. Needless to say…..Solly Jr. was given to another farmer as he turned out to be just like his “old man”!
Life is never dull with chickens around. Instead of watching television, we pull up a chair, get a cup of tea….and watch chickens!
Im new to chickens too (and brand new to this site which I found today and think Im going to love). The hubby and I started with 8 straight run chicks that turned out to be 4 rosters and 4 hens. The roosters include my favorite chicken, my husbands favorite chicken, my daughters favorite and my best friends favorite. So when we talk about giving up roosters, it gets a little heated with everyone trying to get their favorite to be the one who stays and everyone else’s favorite gone. My master plan was to adopt a slew of hens so that the roosters will each have enough ladies to keep them busy and happy. I was only able to get 4 more hens before hubby caught on and shut down my chicken acquisition operation. For now the roosters are still young and not problematic, still friendly, not aggressive (except to one of the new hens that all the chickens seem to dislike) so we are just going with the wait and see game plan. Breaks my heart to think of someone having my roosters friends for dinner 🙁
First of all, let me say that I am enjoying your site immensely and will return. Secondly, we lived in the Memphis area for years (hubs works for a Northwest feeder airline out of there). Last of all- a good rooster is hard to beat (and hard to come by). We, too, have neighbors and wound up, through a series of ‘oops’, with a rooster. Do you know that I haven’t lost a single hen to a hawk, cat, or coon since Romeo got old enough to take his position at the head of the flock? He really is amazing and I wouldn’t want to go back to life B.R. (before Romeo). On the other hand, I had a mean little bantie roo attack my son and he made a fine stew.
PS: I’m sure you know this but DON’T treat your rooster nice or try to tame him like a hen. It turns them mean.
I understand all too well. We live in a small city, and have 7 ducks and 6 laying hens outside, but my kids who all should live on a farm, but I can not financially swing it since I have recently become disabled. Here is our little snag. Living in the city we can not have a rooster because of the noise but we have 5 Silkie pullets that have been living in our basement because the kids are going to show them at our county fair and they got the bright idea they want to raise Silkies. I admit Dad is a huge pushover when it comes to my kids and animals. We recently got our first 2 Silkie cockerels. Problem is they have to be in the basement because of the crowing. It is ALMOST funny hearing them crow at 4 in the morning.