We learned today one of our hens is a Rooster. Looking for Advice.

[severeidaho]

Hi there, First time owners of 4 month old Rhode Island Reds, 7 hens, 1 rooster, 1 turkey (female).

After much debate we confirmed today our suspicions were true about one chicken. That is she is a he (rooster). Our Intention for raising and owning chickens is for the eggs alone. As for the turkey, she was supposed to be a chicken too. lol. So currently our rooster is pretty calm, the hens kind of peck him and he does back up. A few times he tried to assert dominance with my dad (the feeder) but he quickly backed off. Honestly, he could have just been comfortable with my dad and didn't move. All the hens just run off, so does the turkey.

Anyways, we are looking for advice on whether or not we should keep the rooster. I did read that if you gather eggs everyday then we can avoid little chicks from forming. What if the egg is fertilized? Would room temperature cause it to grow? Bare with me, I am totally new to chickens.

Any other cons we should know. He is only 4 months old. Hopefully the rooster will remain the same, were not concerned with crowing. Just don't want to risk opening an egg with a surprise inside, or him later becoming aggressive, etc.

Also please list pro's for keeping a rooster.

Someone referred to him as a Production Red Rooster incase your not familiar with Rhode Island Red. We assume Rhode Island Red because the store told us when we bought the chicks.

Here is a picture of our hens, rooster (bottom pic) and turkey altogether. (top)




Thanks.

-Gerrit

 

[dekel18042]

Whether or not to keep a rooster is a personal decision. Some roosters are fine. Some need an attitude adjustment while others have an attitude problem and are dispersed with.
You don't need a rooster to get eggs, but if you have a rooster you can replenish your flock. While not a be all and end all, roosters are an alarm system for the flock (A hen will take over if you have no rooster.)
But if you are worried about your eggs developing at room temperature, it isn't going to happen.
Some people prefer to be roosterless at first then add one later if they feel the need. Since you already have yours, you might want to hang on to him unless he becomes a problem.

 

[Mrs. K]

Roosters are a crap shoot, and if he is pretty calm at 4 months, you might have gotten lucky.

As for eggs, it can be quite difficult to tell if an egg is fertilized until you develop the eye for it, eggs at room temperature will not begin to develop. Poultry fertilized eggs are not like mammal eggs that when fertilized begin to develop at once. In birds, an egg can only be laid one at a time, and takes about 23 hours to be laid. Birds raise a clutch of eggs. So they will lay several eggs until the clutch looks to be the right size, and then they set (if they are going to, some never do). After the eggs have been warmed to about 100 degrees for 24 hours, then they begin to develop. By collecting eggs each day, they just stay in limbo, no surprises. This allows the eggs just laid, and the ones laid several days ago to all develop and hatch at the same time.

The cons of a rooster - they can get very mean, some do, some don't. They also change the dynamics of the flock. A rooster-less flock, will look to you as the leader, and will be more friendly towards you. If you have a rooster and watch the dynamics, he will approach you, inspect the feed, and then call the hens to eat. He stays between you and the birds... kind of, sort of.

Some say they are not good with predators, but I have found a mature rooster, one who is more than a year old to be of big help, but of course, not foo proof. I like having a rooster with the flock, but some people don't. One has to be very much aware with a rooster, especially if strange people show up, or quick moving children. Children are often attacked first, and can ruin the whole chicken experience for them.

Generally, I think people do better with just a hen flock for a year or so, it helps to get some experience. In my opinion, roosters take some experience. But there have been countless people on here, in your same situation that have gotten along just fine with a first time owners and a rooster too. There are also posts where the darling turned into a nightmare.

If you keep him, just be aware.

Mrs K

 

[donrae]

Since you're new to keeping chickens, I would advise to get rid of the rooster. Keep a flock of hens only for a year or so. If you later decide you want a rooster, they're easy to find and add to the flock, much easier than adding a single hen.

With that many hens, I can pretty much guarantee all your eggs will be fertile. Thing is, you'll never be able to tell. Eggs have to be at 100 degrees for about 3 days to start developing. I've kept roosters with my layers for 20 years and never opened an egg to a nasty surprise.

Pros for keeping a rooster.....
the ability to raise your own chicks. Of course, half the chicks are male and you then have to decide what to do with them.
alerting the flock to danger. This can come in handy if you free range.
Watching the rooster care for his hens. A rooster calling hens for treats or breaking off pieces of apple for her to eat it pretty cool to watch.

cons for keeping a rooster....
pretty much all behavior related. Crowing, sometimes from dusk to dawn. Oh, and sometimes during the full moon also.
Hormones. He'll mature before your hens do and they won't necessarily appreciate his clumsy attempts at mating. This can involve a lot of resistance on the hen's part, and there's often screaming, running away, and pulling feathers out.
Hormones again. Are there little children involved? Littles seem to be a magnet for roosters to attack. Even if there aren't little kiddos, roosters sometimes decide to attack full grown folks. You can't predict who is going to turn out how.

 

[drymanhattan]

So glad to see to see this post this morning because I too just learned my one Polish in a small flock of Rhode Island Reds (2) and Buff Orpington (1) is a rooster. I love the crowing, but am unsure of the new dynamics. Suddenly my feisty sociable and congenial hens are cowering and QUIET. I cringed when I saw the rooster kick one in the back.. I am willing to give him a chance, but need advice about how to manage this new world. Is my flock too small to include a rooster? Will they be abused? Do roosters require bigger coops (or perhaps the hens do, in order to escape him?) More food? I let them all out in the yard every evening an hour before dusk. Thanks for everyone's experience!

 

[Folly's place]

I have always had roosters in my flock, and enjoy them. Some are wonderful, and some taste great! Polite behavior is the most important thing here, and it's both genetic, and influenced by upbringing. I watch my boys as they grow, and walk through them, not around, always. I don't hand feed or allow anyone to peck me, or ride on my shoulder (way too close to my face!). Cockrels will try to mate pullets before they are ready, and it can look pretty wild for a time. Nobody should be injured, though. A cockrel who causes actual wounds goes. The boys can't posture at me or mate or spar right close to me; I will move them off, and repeated bad behaviors get culled. Some males will get ugly towards humans, and some won't it's a major fault, no excuses allowed here. Mary

 

[Ridgerunner]

I always suggest you keep as few roosters as you can and still meet your goals. Sometimes zero is the right number. It’s not that you are guaranteed to have problems with roosters or even more roosters, just that you are more likely to have problems.

The only reason you need a rooster is for fertile eggs. Everything else is just personal preference.

Fertile eggs can develop a bit even in the mid-80’s, but that is really slow development. It’s much faster at room temperatures. If you collect the eggs every day and store them in a fairly cool area you will not see any development, even if they are under a broody hen for part of that first day. They are perfectly useable. Some people talk about candling eggs at three or four days and seeing veining. With my colored eggs I would not be able to see anything but maybe with white eggs and a really good candling set-up you might. I would not go more than a day without collecting the eggs.

It is always a good idea to crack one of our eggs in a separate dish anyway. The commercial operations automatically candle their eggs and remove any with internal defects like blood spots and meat spots. They don’t want their customers getting surprises like that. Those internal defects have nothing to do with a rooster. Commercial egg laying operations do not feed roosters since they are not needed for egg production. Those internal defects come from other things.

Usually a flock of mature chickens with a rooster is pretty calm, but when they go through adolescence it is usually anything but calm. Hormones are running wild and unchecked. Cockerels and pullets are maturing at different rates. Brute force is often used. The more room you can give them, either mature or adolescent, the better but watching a flock or juveniles go through adolescence is generally not for the faint of heart.

I’m not a believer in magic numbers for anything to do with chickens, whether that is square feet per chicken or hens per rooster. There are plenty of very small flocks with a rooster where everything is great, especially if they are mature and have some room. But I think that most small urban flocks are better off without a rooster unless you really want one.