Is having a Rooster necessary?

[Rochafam4]

I have read through many threads about having a rooster or not and I'm just not sure if having one is necessary as some may say. We purchased 7 chicks 3 ended up being roo's we have re homed 2 of them and I have tried as long as I could to hold on to my favorite lil Roo Ross. He has started beating up on my girls pretty bad. Grabbing them by their neck feathers and not letting go, chasing and attacking them etc... I have a home lined up for him it's just really hard to part cause he is so incredibly sweet to us. I just don't want to become a problem later on and he hurts a hen really bad. I did notice that once we re homed the last roo is when my Ross started to pick on the girls.

My question is, has anyone had any trouble with the hens being lost or sad after getting rid the their rooster? The last Roo I got rid of seemed to effect one little girl especially. She was always by his side and now she is more skiddish around us and the other chickens. they are all 15 weeks old now I though it might be best to get him into a new home before they start laying. We do live in a area where we aren't supposed to have roosters and the only reason I tried to hang on to Ross was because his crow is very quiet and kind of broken up sounding, and of course because he is so lovable.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[LRH97]

It is not necessary to have a roo if you don't want fertile eggs to hatch. I keep them because they offer some degree of protection while the flock is ranging, and I just plain like them. The roo is the leader of the flock and things may seem pretty "lost" without him for a while. However, the pecking order will even out and a hen will take over as head. I had only one roo at one time and he died of the dreaded mycoplasma and the girls were without a male for a couple of months. They survived. However, the roo I have now can be pretty rough with the hens as well. He does some of the same things yours does, but he doesn't really hurt them. I guess you will just have to judge how rough is too rough.

I just hope that some official doesn't drop by your house and see your roo and try to get a law against ALL backyard chickens in your area. Some people can be real jacka**es like that, you know.

 

[azygous]

No, a rooster is not necessary to the hens' social well being. They won't miss him if he's gone.

If you do decide to hang onto Ross, you need to understand he'll go through a lot of changes between now and age two years. For one thing, he's only just starting to perfect his crow. In another couple months, he will undoubtedly be a lot louder and clearer.

He will get more aggressive with the hens between now and age one year. He may even become aggressive toward the humans in his life if he believes you're a threat to him and the hens. However, after he reaches a year, the hormones will taper off, and he'll become much more stable. By age two, roosters have mellowed quite a bit.

Roosters are immensely entertaining, and I enjoy having one around. But you need to start training him right away if you're going to keep him. I advise you to keep Ross in a separate pen from the hens for now, whether or not you decide to let him stay. It's so much easier on the hens and it's easier to manage a cockerel that way. By the time he's a year old, he'll be a lot easier on the girls and you may decide he can be with them then.

 

[aart]

...... I advise you to keep Ross in a separate pen from the hens for now, whether or not you decide to let him stay. It's so much easier on the hens and it's easier to manage a cockerel that way. By the time he's a year old, he'll be a lot easier on the girls and you may decide he can be with them then.

Do you think rooster's mellow without the experience of being with the hens?
I would think they'd just go mad on them again after being separated for 8 months(until a year old)?
Do you recommend them being separated out of sight and sound or just physically?

 

[Rochafam4]

Thank you everyone for the great advice! In the beginning I told my family if we ended up with Roo's we weren't going to keep them, I just never realized how incredibly attached I would get to my chickens.

We decided to go ahead and get him to his new home tomorrow. I am sad but Very grateful that We get to still see him when ever we want. If we lived where Roosters are permitted I would probably keep him and possibly separate them, I just know the neighbors aren't going to be thrilled as he get's older and I don't want to do anything that would jeopardize my hens. I'm hoping in the future we might be able to buy a home with the land where we can have our roo's I really enjoyed having them for the lady 4 months... They all truly have their own personalities which makes having them so much fun!
Thanks again for your advice! I appreciate it!

 

[azygous]

Do you think rooster's mellow without the experience of being with the hens?
I would think they'd just go mad on them again after being separated for 8 months(until a year old)?
Do you recommend them being separated out of sight and sound or just physically?

Have you come across my tail of a little roo I raised from a baby that went to live with another flock at five weeks old, grew up and began to terrorize the hens in the flock, so he had to be re-homed?

Walter, a one year-old SLW now lives with a family who considers him a cherished indoor pet. Yes, indoor roo. He spends his days outdoors with a goat and a dog, but he spends evenings watching TV with his family. At bedtime, he sleeps on top of a file cabinet in the living room.

Walter has not had any hens since he went to live with this family. At least this particular rooster, when not presented with the responsibility of a harem of hens, has become a calm critter, and that's saying a lot for Wyandotte, whose breed is notoriously ornery when they are in their role of defending and impregnating their hens.

My present Brahma roo Izzy, raised with Walter, same age, has been kept separate in an adjacent pen to the hens, sees the hens, interacts with them through the partition, and gets minimum physical time with them. He went through a short period between four and eight months where he was hormonally aggressive, but he's now much calmer and shows restraint when he's around the hens.

So, no, roos do calm down after that first flood of hormones, and as they age, do become less obnoxious with the hens, and don't go crazy from being kept separate. My previous roosters have all followed this pattern of behavior, a Wyandotte, a Cochin, and another Brahma.