My baby rooster Soldier (who lives with 3 baby hens in a cage beside my bed for now) JUST crowed for the FIRST time today and I doubt he is over 4 weeks!! (I got him a few days ago without knowing his age) is it normal for him to crow this early?? I heard him screaming so I ran to him to find the hens staring at him like WTF and he was streched up high and all fluffed up and crowing at my nearly full grown broiler chicken Honey (she is about 18 weeks old, but she is completely healthy with no heart or weight problems :D ) and Honey was staring at him like : 'SILENCE!! I KILL YOU!!' lol. So anyways... Is it normal for Soldier to crow this early or should I be worried?!?! For now, Soldier is to small to live outside (he is perfectly capable of living outside, but I baby my chickens and don't move them outside until they lay their first egg or crow their first real crow). For now,I have my very own personal alarm clock next to my bed. Oh joy. This is gonna be REAL fun... Here is a link that might be useful: My Website (if ya wanna read more bout my spoiled chickens)

As for "setting aside baby meat chickens", I don't understand the question. Setting aside for what? Meat chickens are usually Cornish Crosses that are bred to grow very quickly and are large breasted. Because they grow so fast, their legs won't support their weight for much more than 8 weeks. Also they are prone to heart attacks because of their weight. We raise 200 in each batch and sometimes get straight run (males and females) and sometimes get just the males which run about ten cents more per chick. This variety of chicken is for meat only and not for eggs or pets -- unless you want a pet for a very short period of time. Then there are combination meat and egg birds that are good for either. If raising for eggs, the roos are usually put into the stew pot at about 12 weeks or whenever it is clear that it is a roo. More than one rooster to 10 hens is plenty. Stressed out hens are not very good layers so you don't want roosters constantly jumping the same chickens! A old hen that no longer produces enough eggs probably wouldn't be worth the trouble of butchering for the little meat that is left on her IMHO. By the time she is that old, you are probably attached to her and might want to let her live out her lifespan of 10-15 years scratching up and fertilizing your garden. It might be fun to take your friend and visit a chicken farm some time. (A free range, organic farm would be the best and you would both see chickens that are happy and active doing what chickens are supposed to do.)

The question is very valid in light of many cities now have new laws allowing the raising of hens for eggs, but those eggs are less tasty and nutritious than fertilized eggs. I do not see the harm in having one quiet rooster live a nice long spoiled life impregnating hens. As soon as Houston gets this law passed I will have a few backyard hens of my own and wanted to know about roosters surgically being de-crowed so I can have fertile eggs to EAT or sell. Seeing that most roosters are killed anyway and many people kill the rooster babies just to avoid dealing with them... I don't see how in the world making a wonderful life in my backyard for a spoiled silenced rooster is a bad thing since it saves his life. Better than you eating him! Frankly I'd not need a rooster at all but I feel like I should be prepared in case there comes a time we are impoverished for one reason or another and our backyard "farm" supplements our food resources. Hens would eventually die off and stop laying. We need a perpetual stock that we can raise and barter with if it comes to that. Call it prepping and treat me with hatred for it, but my granny lived through the great depression and taught me how she managed to get her family through it. I honor her advice to me to "not put all my eggs in one basket". This post was edited by chelseacraft on Thu, Mar 28, 13 at 20:51

I had a chick crow at 6 weeks, I do think it's possible. I wouldn't worry too much about the noise just yet as it will not carry the same loudness for a while. Also some crow early and then stop for a few weeks then pick it back up, it takes quite a while for them to develope a full grown crow. From the behavior you mentioned it sure does sound like a roo. If you know you can't keep him I would find him a home sooner than later, it will give you a peace of mind plus the longer you have him the more attached you may become. -Sheila