The Bachelor Pad

Welcome to the flurring frenzy of a bunch of roosters being given some grains!


In this post, I'll be showing around and talking about my own method of breeding chickens and the core of it. The Bachelor Pad. So to start out, I'll answer some questions you might be askins. . .

Can roosters actually live together and get along? How? If a hen is introduced, will they fight?

- The answer is yes, and in most cases, no. The actual population of the bachelor pad will move up and down a lot, as I keep both breeding roosters and eating roosters here, but in general, the only fights I get are about once a year, and they usually end with removing the troubling bird. Otherwise, if you raise and keep roosters together, even with hens around, chances are there will be little quarrel. . Unless of course you're keeping gamefowl.

Now, onto the birds again. . .

The Bachelor Pad is a large fenced in area, about 150' x 200.' It is spacious and makes a good resemblance of free ranging, as it has plenty of grass, shrubs, trees, and perching places. It has anything a rooster might need. Except hens. And of course, there's their sleeping area too, which is a building attached to the hen's coop in which they fly up to and sleep in. IT still needs a lot of perfecting though, as it currently is drafty and doesn't fit all the boys comfortably.

Well, let's go around and meet the current boys, shall we?

Going through this bundle of boys (in the winter muck) here, . .



We find an assortment of young and younger, orange, red, black, blue, and other colors. The little one in front, to the left, is an eating rooster. He's grown bigger since this image, and is one of our crossbreeds. He's half French Marans, half New Hampshire - And he's got some excellent meat on him for so young of a cockerel. In the background are some Wheaten Marans eating together (blue on the left, normal wheaten on the right) and a young blue Jersey Giant who will also be for food soon enough.

In detail -



This is our Blue Wheaten Marans cockerel, a very prized and beautiful bird. He is the rooster we use for our Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Marans breedings as well as some of our Olive Egger projects.



This is our blue Jersey Giant cockerel. He has a bad tail and the wrong color of feet, so we'll be eating him. In general though, Jersey Giants are a very large breed who lay beautiful pink eggs. If he were to live longer, this guy would reach 13 pounds!



And, looking behind him, we've got two more Wheaten Marans to take a look at. . .



This one is another "cull," we'll be eating him at some point too. He's started a fight with our prized black Ameraucana before, and in general, he has VERY poor coloring and a "squirrel" tail. (It points straight upward)



This is another Wheaten, but much more proper in body and color. We're still getting rid of him too. We're not going to eat him, but he's for sale. He's a great bird, good egg color genetics too, but we found out that our black Ameraucana was beat up because of him.




Okay, so, let's get further into the group. . .



Ah wait, who's that? I think we have a camera hog here!





Meet one of our top three most friendly bachelors here, "Marango." He's an Araucana, and although he looks like he doesn't have tufts. . . He did. When he next molts they will come back, but in the mean time they've been pecked out by his last "love."

Marango is a very outgoing Araucana, and will be used for an array of Araucana projects as well as Olive Egger projects.



And, I'm sure he wants me to show you his gloriously "blue spangled" chest. . .




Moving on, we've also got other Araucanas. . .



This is Canis, a perfectly tufted splash cockerel who is just an absolute doll! He's very mellow, sweet, and completely tame when it comes to being handled. Sadly because of his smaller size and passive attitude, he spends most of his time "indoors."



This here is an Araucana cockerel who has yet to be named. He's a splash cuckoo colored boy, has a great body and beautiful tufts, but sadly I'm worried that little white feather sticking out of his rear is a possible tail feather. . . Well, trial and error.



Here's his brother, a blue cuckoo colored Araucana named "Cookies 'n' Cream." He's also got a very nice body, good rear, but not the best tufts. His color of course needs work too.

The two together:




That's it with my Araucana boys so far. . . Now onto the Ameraucanas. . .


We've got Hades, my black Ameraucana who recently had that terrible mishap. Good news is, he's back in shape and back in the flock, no more fights. These images are of before that incident. This boy will be used primarily for black Ameraucana breeding. He's another of the top three most friendly of the boys. Very talkative and easily hand fed.




And, here's "Poseidon," my blue Ameraucana. He too, like any other Ameraucana, is a very sweet, docile boy who loves the hens more than anything else. And by that, I mean he's a perfect gentleman. He spends most of his time offering treats, making nests, etc.



Next is my newest cockerel, "Set," who is a rare, glorious, golden buff colored Ameraucana. He'll be the main daddy to my wide array of a buff Ameraucana project. He currently spends most of his time "indoors" though. Again, like others Ameraucanas, he's very sweet and laid back.



My last Ameraucana to show off is a "cull," as he was supposed to be a Blue Wheaten, and technically still is, but has recessive white showing up, making him a pure ivory white coloring. Also, he has a very poor body type with a narrow rear, some curled toes, and narrowly spaced hocks.




Past all those boys, I still have more. . . The French Black Copper Marans.

Let's try and be quick now. . I've got Guitard, the sweetest of all the Marans, who's VERY calm, loyal, friendly, and will let anyone do anything with him. He also comes before you even call him. And he loves food more than anyone else.



Then there's "Five Pointer" another Black Copper who's not as outwardly friendly, but still tries. He also has faults (side spring on his comb, white in his tail) but I'm going to see if his egg color genes will allow him to stay around here.



And, last but certainly not least, "Cacao," another Black Copper with a very nice wide set body. He's also pretty friendly, quiet, and has a very deep crow!




Whew! That's a lot of boys! And I really do apologize for all the disguting muck, but they seem to prefer being up in it. It is only seasonal though, and only makes up an eighth of their area.

Now, let's take one last look at them, just enjoying their relaxed time.