Do you have a Roo with your flock?

[Devon07]

That makes the most sense to me. Know who you are before getting one. I had no issues eating the young cockerel that was not working out....he was a very pretty bird and the more I think about it I should have tried to rehome him because he came from the same mix as the roo I have....so, he was more than likely a good guy. He was spoiled while he was here and enjoyed his short life until my roo made things hard for him.

 

[DelcoChix]

After six years having chickens and being roo-free, last spring I ended up with 12 cockerals out of the 21 chicks I'd ordered...
re-homed 11 of them and kept 'Big George,' a Blue Splash Copper Marans. Have to admit, he's been an awesome rooster from the get-go. My mindset from day 1 was, if he showed signs of aggression,etc. he was outta here.

He must have read my mind. He's been a great protector, I've been impressed at seeing 'tidbitting' in action,and he's even friendly, but not in your face. He loves to eat treats from my hand but prefers not to be touched/petted,etc., which is fine with me. I think it had to do with a combination of my daughter handling him a lot when he was younger, even putting him on his back and rubbing his chest (absolutely HATED that), putting him in a submissive position along with his own disposition. I'm sure that doesn't work with every rooster, just happened to click with George.

Now, this spring I had a broody Silkie so out of curiousity I placed five of George's eggs (ok...not 'his,' but you know what I mean) under her in the bantam coop--four out of five hatched on day 21, so the big guy is ferile too. And three out of four are pullets, one Mini-George..and his feathered legs were passed down along with the copper necks in three out of four...one girl is black, the other three are blue copper (well, one is an Olive Egger).

Anyways, totally understand why some folks can have roosters and choose not to...for me, it's working well. Well, except that once again, I have excess cockerels...these straight run chicks are killing me! But George stays.

 

[Devon07]

Looks like most want or have a roo so far. So, Im thinking its just a few that wont or dont tolerate any issues or even a possibility of an issue from a roo regardless if its from experience or just from what they have heard....I was sure starting to think roos were disgarded on a scale more like 6 or 7 out of 10. This is what I was wanting to know. Im still game for votes to see a tighter offset though. Thanks for helping.

 

[lazy gardener]

Devon, I think that your poll is not a true cross sample of chicken owners. Just my opinion, but I think that the folks who take the time to read and respond to a thread about roos are most likely pro roo to start with. The average urban flockster who has never had, nor hopes to have a rooster may not respond. Prior to this year, I'd not have taken the time to respond, even though I had 6 roos out of 11 birds. But, I like your poll and am glad that you did it. It made for some entertaining reading.

 

[JaceAgain]

I had a roo, but he started chasing my kids so he went to rooster heaven.
We are now rooster free and all very happy about it

To edit, I raised the roo from a baby, he's the one in my avatar actually. I was really torn about it, but overall I was tired of him harassing the hens and trying to flog my children, and he didn't bring anything to the table. I do not have it in me to kill an animal though, so I sent him over to my neighbor and the awesome man took care of it for me.

 

[Devon07]

I understand this poll is tilted, but, I needed a way to find out if the majority was desgarding them....it actually worked for what I needed to hear. Had I read in this forum prior to getting my roo I would not be having such a good time with him....I hear so much in the way of complaints that I would have not got mine.....I think the odds of a bad roo are something like 2/3 out of 10 or something along those lines. awareness is what I want to achieve also.....just tonight my chickens were headed to close to the road and the roo chased them back towards the coop....I cant imagine how many times he's done this when I wasnt watching.


I thank you for weighing in on this...it helped!

 

[evemfoster]

I have an EE roo 13 weeks old. So far he is doing an excellent job. Sherlock isn't showing any adult behaviors except warning the flock when an eagle or a hawk flies over. Then its all birds running for cover. He was about 10 weeks in this photo.



A few days back he made an soft odd sound and he and all the hens dropped and froze in place. When i looked out the back door (it was open) 2 wolves were walking past the door. When i bought them as chicks I was so sure i would loose at least half the birds to any of the many predators around here I got twice as many as i needed. I think the only reason i haven't lost even one is Sherlock is such a good watchdog. uh - Watch Rooster.

So far Sherlock is a nice friendly roo and has a low quiet crow. And he usually crows 3 times in a row in the early morning right after he's let out. Or when i should have already let him out. And that's it on the crowing for the day. I rarely hear a crow the rest of the day.

All that said if he has a big personality change and gets super mean when the girls mature its chicken and dumplings time.

 

[273816]

Unfortunately, my two beautiful boys, who I believed to be girls, are being sent away. They're going to a chicken and duck farm today in only a few short hours. I would love to keep them as they get along with my hen Beatrice and our two chicks so well.

I have roosters with my flock right now but not for much longer sadly. I would love to have them with the rest of the flock though!

Rachel.

 

[273816]

I have an EE roo 13 weeks old. So far he is doing an excellent job. Sherlock isn't showing any adult behaviors except warning the flock when an eagle or a hawk flies over. Then its all birds running for cover. He was about 10 weeks in this photo.



A few days back he made an soft odd sound and he and all the hens dropped and froze in place. When i looked out the back door (it was open) 2 wolves were walking past the door. When i bought them as chicks I was so sure i would loose at least half the birds to any of the many predators around here I got twice as many as i needed. I think the only reason i haven't lost even one is Sherlock is such a good watchdog. uh - Watch Rooster.

So far Sherlock is a nice friendly roo and has a low quiet crow. And he usually crows 3 times in a row in the early morning right after he's let out. Or when i should have already let him out. And that's it on the crowing for the day. I rarely hear a crow the rest of the day.

All that said if he has a big personality change and gets super mean when the girls mature its chicken and dumplings time.

You named him Sherlock? That's brilliant! I love that.

Rachel.

 

[lko67]

First time chicken owner ordered 18 hens 3 different breeds and one rooster but hatchery was out of 1 breed so substituted 1breed then had to order 6 more hens and a rooster because granddaughter wanted black ones ended up with 21 hens and 5 rooster so far very little problems got a 10 by 22 coop and 40 by 26 run hopefully enough room that everyone gets along would hate to have to pot any of them time will tell