How many roosters?

[MelissaRose]

I have two roosters and they were okay with each other in the summer, and then in the fall they started fighting and one of them almost died (he's fine now) and over the winter they have been living together with 12 hens. One of them is top dog though, so the other one has to follow his rules

 

[Harrelltn93]

Roosters are fun to have. Some get along with others and some don't. At the moment I have four: One is the Alpha, and he is the large chickie boy shown in my photograph. He is a Cream Leghorn and his name is King Arthur. There is a small Red Cochin named The Red King that is strong and fiesty. The Cochin was there first among my hens, but, when King Arthur came in, they fought, The Red king decided to just let King Arthur run the coop. He does not even crow in the morning any more in order to avoid attracting King Arthur's attention. He still breeds with an occasional hen.

There is a third rooster which was my Alpha until he was wounded in battle. He is tall and strong: a fine specimen of a Rhode Island Red Rooster! He had superb lungs, and we could hear his singing for about 1/4 mile sometimes! His pitch was good and he said the lyrics of his song clearly (Cockadoodledoo). so I named him Placido Domingo after the Spanish opera tenor!

Until we sold him, we had a small rooster (Easter Egger) that was white with yellow, and green feet. He was named by a kid who said he looked like someone had poured vanilla all over him. So, we named him Vanilla. Well,when Vanilla grew into full maturity about 9 months, he hallenged Placido and there was a big fight. I got down to the pasture with a broom and pulled the two apart and treated their bloody wounds. Luckily, someone came a week or so later and purchased Vanilla. It was unexpected since people do not often pay for a rooster (50 dollars!) unless he is a special breed. There tends to be too many roosters in the world particularly for city dwellers who have to give them away since some people in cities find the beautiful rooster choir in the morning to be unpleasant. My neighbors and our family all LOVE the singing!

So, then Placido was recovering from his injuries, and we had a predator attack! A mink dug his way in. He went down below our buried wire that was slanting outward. He went down below that wire that was a foot deep. He went down under the wire we had around our big coop going 18 inches inward. He came out in the middle of the 12 by 20 foot coop and began to kill our hens. I awoke at 3 AM and said, "Something is not right". The hens were singing their terrible song of fear and pain! Placido was there when I ran down . I grabbed him while my friend got the mink to leave! My friend tried shooting our beebee pistol at the mink. It had worked find shooting at a can on a post, but now it would NOT work. The mink had strong survival instincts: Probably had kits down on the river bank and could not die leaving the babies alone!

I treated Placido's wounds with hydrogen peroxide and then vasoline to keep the peroxide on, and I put him in his own coop. I took King Arthur out and put him down in the main coop where is is now. Placido survived and began to sing again after a couple of months, but he is weaker now and not so arrogant and proud. He could never win a fight with King Arthur. He is semi retired! So we brought up 8 hens for him to have as company.

Last week, I got one more rooster making the current total 4. This one is a baby Silkie. He is pure white with a slight blue green coloring. He will never meet The Red King, Placido, or King Arthur. Never! He will be small and beautiful all his life. I got him to be the mate for a little female Silkie. I want to experiment with getting Silkie chicks!

So, to conclude: I do NOt recommend more than one rooster, but if you do get more than one, have one be a lot bigger than the other. Watch them because you never know when the testosterone will kick in and they will fight.

Are my eggs fertile: Yes! They all breed a lot! They have not read the Bible and they do not know it is a sin to have more than one wife or to have babies out of wedlock!

Wow! I love your detail and admiration. I love my New Hamshire (Ricky) he’s the one I have pictured with my cat. He is so friendly with our family and pets, but he keeps a constant eye on the girls to warn against predators. I don’t live in the city and have few neighbors who don’t mind his singing. I love how beautiful roosters are and like I said I’d love to keep my Hamburg and Marans(I’d love to breed a Marans to one of my EE and try for some Olive eggers. But I don’t want a lot of problems either.

 

[Catfsm]

Harrelltn,

I am glad you have a rooster you love. He is a beauty.

So is your cat. I was thinking yesterday that there is something special about a cat: They do not automatically love you but do so only if they choose, and, yet, their love can be so wonderful. Mine LOVES to snuggle up. When I go to bed, it is HIS time to go to be in paradise! He comes to me and puts his body close and purrs so loudly and stretches and closes his eyes from the bottom lid rather than just the top lid, as only a cat can do when happy. Our relationship is so intimate-- so close! My joke is that I am a single person since my husband passed away 20 years ago. I would like to find the right man. He would need to be something like my kitty: Handsome, strong, beautiful, gentle, funny, loving, appreciative, a good sleeper, an undemanding eater but one that enjoys eating, clean, nice smelling. My husband was like that! Of course, men have other uses such as being good at taking out the trash or changing the oil on my car, which my cat cannot do! (This is all meant as a joke and no put down of anyone!)

i am lucky. I did not breed any hens but a small set last spring. People have given just about all of them to us! I think I paid for 5 of them. We have around 70! I know I am crazy to have this many, but I am a softy! Some of our hennies lay olive eggs, some white, some brown, some pink, and a few blue. At Easter there is no need to paint the eggs: They are naturally beautiful.