Our little bantams are so darned cute! We love watching them. Thelma and Louise are the two white Silkies. Tiffany is the little brown Silkie. We love their big, black eyes.
Thelma and Louise are always together. Thelma is the larger one.
Thelma started out just a little larger than Louise. Then she kept growing. Then she developed a red comb and began developing wattles, which may or may not mean she’s a he. The more they grew, the more I began to think Thelma might be a rooster but I just didn’t want that to be true.
Yesterday, Thelma crowed. That’s so bad! Now we have three roosters and two hens. That’s not going to work. As a minimum, you need 7 hens per rooster. Two hens and three roosters . . no way! Besides, the roosters are going to fight.
So . . who goes?
We love Roscoe. Vince especially loves him. Vince sits out in the run with them and feeds them snacks and he and Roscoe talk men talk.
And there’s clumsy, goofy looking, weird acting Otis. He crows non-stop. He puts so much effort into his crows, he must be exhausted by bed time. He walks up to the other chickens and does the funniest little dance where he does some kind of tap, tap, tap with his feet. It sounds like a little drum.
What are we going to do? We tried everything we could try to find a home for Bertha and it seems like everyone is trying to get rid of roosters. No one wants them.
My suggestion was to order more hens. If we ordered 20 bantam pullets, we’d have a good ration of hens to roosters. Then we could build a larger chicken coop because their coop wouldn’t be big enough.
You don’t even want to know what Vince said to that suggestion! Even having one rooster with just two hens isn’t good.
We may try putting Otis in with our 13 red hens. He’s a little bigger than the other bantams and maybe he wouldn’t be so rough with the bigger chickens. It’s not easy adding an adult chicken to other adult chickens but I think it’s worth a try.
We’ll see and you know I’ll keep you posted.
Roberta says
We have a pen with more roosters than hens and they get along just fine. I wouldn’t worry about moving them until they actually fight. Silkies are not that aggressive from what I’ve heard. Just enjoy them all!!!!!
Hugs!!!!
JudyL says
Otis and Roscoe are not silkies and there’s already bickering between the roosters. We’ll have to make a decision soon.
Madame Tut says
More chicken and rooster pix please! I love them as much as the quilts….
Darla says
Eventually the hens backs will get raw and torn from the roosters jumping on them….it,s probably a good idea to move those roosters on out. I know it is tough to have to let them go.
JudyL says
I love my hens too much to see them take that kind of treatment and end up with those results from the roosters. We’ll keep just one — probably Thelma so we can have silkie babies. We’ll probably move Roscoe in with the 13 hens and Otis will have to go.
Doreen says
Rural dilemmas….never ending….and ‘they’ say that life in the country must be boring…HA!!!!
Linda says
How about your local Future Farmers of America at the high school? I’m not sure if this organization is still around, but there is a rooster that starts crowing every morning at the high school near my house. They have an area to house the animals the students raise and show at the Houston Rodeo. Maybe there is a student who would like to learn to raise chickens!
By the way, I love the new blog design. It is beautiful!
KatieQ says
I’m sad to think that Otis will have to leave, even though I know it is necessary. He reminds me of my son. Goofy and a little out of step with the world. Just don’t tell him I said that. Actually, don’t tell either one of them.
carol c says
i think Roscoe is the cats pajamas
Otis should have his own pen and harem-lol
Rosalie says
I have a friend who wants a bantam rooster!
Jojo says
We had to let our Sir Duke go…He was such a handsome Sultan but now our little female Sultan Ms. Puff is SO much happier – she’s coming out of her shell…no pun intended:-)
Amy @ Heriyage Homemaker says
My opinion….move Otis. See how the others do together. That ratio number is just something that is suggested, but of course every situation is different. Silkies are docile, so Mr Thelma and Roscoe might do fine together. NO NO NO the girls backs won’t get torn up for sure. Just another watch scenario. The 4 of them could live happily ever after. It is just something you will have to watch and monitor, then make changes if the need arrives. BUT you could buy a few more bantams. You don’t need 20 more. Ideal sells smaller quantities. The issue with ordering more bantams, is they are sold straight run, do you could end up with more boys. If you need more input, of course you know you can email me 🙂
Mary says
I’d vote to move Otis out. That cute tap dance is his way of trying to get attention from the other chickens. You might try either FFA or 4H – both work with kids that want to learn to show their birds. Now if anyone out there wants a White Rock rooster… I have a Charlotte who turned out to be Charlie.