What breed of makes the best pet and rooster

I would recommend an orpington they r very huge docile and calm and make very good pets and they r nice to the ladies and come in many colors. I recomend UK import stock. The hens dont need a roo to lead them in at night tho. They should figure that out on thier own. Im not really sure what u want them to protect the hens from as most predators that go after a hen could easily take out a large roo as well. Hope this helps and there is lots of info on here about this breed and sounds to me like they would b perfect for what u r looking for.

At 6 months old, he's still a teenager.  It's a little unreasonable to expect him to take on the full role of an adult rooster, especially if he hasn't had any adult roosters to copy behavior from.  It would be kind of like expecting a 15 year old boy to act the part of a man when he is still young and immature and grew up without a father figure to show him how men are expected to behave.  You might want to give him a little more time to mature before you decide that he's not good at roosterly duties.

I totally agree. My Daddy Roo is an Americauna, and Cog has even charged a Sharp-Shinned Hawk (young juvenile bird) that attempted to grab one of my hens. I heard the commotion during my lunch break from the kitchen and ran out in time to see Cog doing the crash dive at the hawk which was on the ground chasing my game brood hen. Feathers everywhere, from hen and hawk. I'm sure that without my intervention, Cog would have lost, but...between Cog and my .45, the Hawk decided to find better hunting grounds and beat a fast retreat. Cog is very protective of our girls, and even shows them the treats and won't eat any until they wander away full.

I currently have 3 more Amie Roos that are about 5-6 months old. They aren't even crowing yet, having just started to get full tails and muffs in the past 2-3 weeks. Give him a little time. 

Also, Cog has never been aggressive toward anyone, my Grandson loves to chase the chickens a bit, and Cog accepts this, but stays between them, as much as he can. He simply breaks up fights among younger Roos, without being the aggressor, when they start fights among themselves. I guess that you can tell that I am, VERY MUCH, a proponent of Amies. They are my yard flock (I have 10), along with a dozen Red Sexlinks.

I think he still hasn't learned his place. Give him a lil more time, thru the winter.

Houdan roosters r small but r very pretty and timid. I think thier crest would impare thier vision especially from hawks flying above. We keep a Tom turkey with our flock for this purpose. He is a big ol baby and eats treats from our hands and is an awesome pet. Alot of people use them as a hawk deterrent. They have very keen eyesight and r very alert. When ever he see's one he sounds the alarm and all the chickens run for cover and he stands out in the open struting as if he is threatening the hawk to come down. He also hates it when any of my birds fight and breaks them up. They have learned to just stop as there is no winning against him plus he is a beautiful yard ornament and he always stays close to the flock.

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Originally Posted by brandonbkelly 

 

We have two coops one with the rooster I'm complaining about and another with other roosters that are the same age and breed and the other roosters are mating and protecting the hens. Trust me he's old enough to be a good rooster.

Sorry, but I have to disagree based on personal experience.  Even with the same genetics, individuals will mature at different rates.  A few weeks ago I processed about a dozen cockerels from the same hatch at 16 weeks.  All of them had the same father, many of them had the same mother (set over 30 eggs, all from my 6 hens and all the eggs from at least 2 of my hens (and I believe a third, but since I can't tell hers from another hen I have of the same breed I can't say for sure) were clear so a very limited number of options for the mother).  When I processed them there was a HUGE difference in the size of the testicles.  One or two of them were crowing, and I had seen one of them try to mount the hens.  Of the almost a dozen cockerels, one had full-sized testes, a second one had some that were nearly as large, and several had some that were about the size of the nail on my pinky finger.  These birds all hatched on the same day and were all fed the same kind of food and lived in the exact same environment.  Yet some of them were obviously way ahead of the others in the sexual development department.

I'm not saying he'll grow a pair in the next few weeks or months and become the best rooster ever.  I'm just saying that at that age he still has quite a bit of maturing left to do.  Male birds are cockerels until they are one year of age.  They aren't even considered roosters at 6 months old because they are not yet mature, even if they are doing all the "big boy" rooster things like mating and protecting the hens.  He may continue to be a lazy rooster.  Or, he may come into his own eventually.  It's up to you to decide whether you have the time or patience to wait and see if that happens or not. 

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Originally Posted by JHorn91180 

I would recommend an orpington they r very huge docile and calm and make very good pets and they r nice to the ladies and come in many colors. I recomend UK import stock. The hens dont need a roo to lead them in at night tho. They should figure that out on thier own. Im not really sure what u want them to protect the hens from as most predators that go after a hen could easily take out a large roo as well. Hope this helps and there is lots of info on here about this breed and sounds to me like they would b perfect for what u r looking for.

I have a 50% UK, 50% American stock Splash Orpington cockerel that is 6 months old. He is docile and friendly, and very protective of his girls. He is just stsrting to only mount them when they allow him to(no more "raping"). He puts himself between them and the cats and dog(that have no interest in them). He warns when a hawk is in area. He is huge, about 9lbs already. His dad was pure UK Lav Orp and weighed about 12-14lbs, massive. He follows me around like a dog when I am in the yard wondering if I have treats, that is how I won him over. He is still learning so maybe give your roo some more time to mature more.