Back in March, we bought 5 six day old chicks at the local Tractor Supply. They were Buff Orpingtons which we had heard were good year round layers. Around the end of August, we began looking for eggs. Few weeks later, we were still eggless in the Buff coop so I did some research and saw that Buffs could be as old as 7 months before beginning to lay so we kept waiting. In the meantime, we were sure but disappointed that 3 of the chickens were roosters. I listed 2 for sale/trade on Craigslist. I had a quick response from someone who was interested in trading an Ameraucana hen for the roosters. Yeah!! We had been wanting one of those hens for the colored eggs they lay. During a second conversation, the man offered to give us a 2nd hen also which we gladly accepted.
Well, today while doing some work in the chicken pens, we let all 12 chickens go wandering (the black dog was chained up). We realized due to the friendliness with the hens that we had 4 roosters. Not happy! Finally, late this evening, the man's wife showed up to make the trade. She had the 2 hens (both Ameraucanas!!!) and carried them, upside down I might add, over to the coop area. She then quickly let us know we had 5, yes I said 5 roosters!!!! Arrgghhh! The nice thing is she gave us some great info on how to tell roosters from hens even at a young age. She also took 4 of the roosters with the promise to let us know if they have some Buff hens for sale. Guess that explains why we never got any eggs!
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