Roosters Pros and Cons

[kalibus330]

send him off to Freezer Camp!

Well he's not hurting them it's just like he has to eat before them I think it's like he is more superior in the flock and the underlings eat second

 

[Tatianna]

This thread starting me thinking....What about keeping your roo separate from your hens until you need fertilizted eggs? would that work...just putting him out once or twice a week with them?

 

[SharkmanDan]

This thread starting me thinking....What about keeping  your roo separate from your hens until you need fertilizted eggs? would that work...just putting him out once or twice a week with them?

That seems almost cruel. It's kind of like putting a 19 year old boy, in front of the window at a peep show. Only gets to look at what he wants, never touching them. Personally, I like the help my Alpha rooster gives, in keeping an eye out, for the girls. His watchful eye, is always welcome, and if you don't look for it, you'll never know a fertilized egg from one that isn't. Let that rooster do what roosters do, is my mindset.

 

[Devon07]

I agree with you. If they get along Im all in....if they go at it, I cook one.

 

[jtbrown]

We have had bad roosters, human aggressive even with very gentle handling on our part. However we got rid of those roosters. We now have 2 buckeye roosters and multiple bantam roosters with very good luck. Our losses free ranging (not changing that) occurred without a rooster with the girls. Our roosters walk around us . Unsure how we managed mean ones the first time. I love our roosters

 

[Jetgirl]

I got my first chickens a year and a half ago. 4 bantams (2 chochin and 2 buff brahmas) they of course could not be sexed and i ended up with 2 hens and 2 roosters. One of the hens died after a year (not the roos fault you can blame my grumpy geese for that) anyway we let them free range all day and they are only in the coop at night. Everyone gets along fine but this is my one and only experience. I probably just got lucky with 2 very docile breeds. My hen just hatched 7 babies so I'm hoping my hen to roo ratio will be better hehe....I will note though that my roos love any female that enters the yard but will harass my husband and son so badly they are chased inside.....yes chased by a chicken that weighs less than a pound ....sorry it makes me laugh but I've seen the damage they do to his legs and then feel bad....my son has learned to always go out with food and they eventually leave him alone with a chicky shoulder shrug as if to say 'ya he's ok we'll let him stay.' I think a lot of it is luck of the draw personality wise and what kind of breed of chicken it is.

 

[Shabana]

I have 3 flocks with a rooster in each. All my boys are adorable.
They look after their ladies, protect them and find food for them.

I have a sablepoot roo called slippers who escorts them to and from the coop to lay and has even taken a turn on a broodys clutch of eggs for her while she had her dinner !

They are all perfect gentlemen with me and the kids. I try to save or rehome as many of the boys I raise as I can. We are very hands on with our flocks and they are super tame and placid.
That said all my lads are more than capable of sorting out any girly squabbles and keep their girls in line

I would not be without them.

 

[Pretty Chickens]

I'm fairly new to the world of Chicken and I have four sweet hens that are about 16-18 weeks and we have been offered a rooster in their age range. We are not interested in breeding so for our situation we would consider the Roo's pros as being some protection of our girls and the novelty for our family to have one of these beautiful boys. Would very much love to hear input, are we asking for more trouble than he will be worth? I'm sorry if the question has been beat to death on here! But Roosters Pros and Cons? Go.....

I think its good to have one rooster with hens, but just one. Roosters like to fight.

 

[JaceAgain]

After reading some more, I have 1 more question... My hens, well 3 of them are pets... They eat out of my hands and all that fun stuff... With a rooster, say an aggressive rooster, can you still feed the hens out if your hands? I've read on here where a rooster will attack during feeding.. What do you do? How do you put the food down?

This was the final straw for getting rid of our roo (who was super sweet until "bird puberty", handled since he was a baby, etc). We have 4 hens and they are pets, and when my kids tried to feed them the roo would chase and try to flog them.
Honestly, he offered nothing. He harassed the hens too much, and their behavior is exactly the same now than when we had him in terms of searching for food, staying in protected areas, and going into the coop at night.

 

[PrairieChickens]

This thread starting me thinking....What about keeping your roo separate from your hens until you need fertilizted eggs? would that work...just putting him out once or twice a week with them?

I saw a breeder of show birds once explain that she keeps her roosters in an adjacent run, so they are still familiar with and interact with the girls, but aren't able to mate unless she actually wants to hatch out eggs. Then she puts the male she wants to breed on a leg tether in the hen's run, and when a hen wants to mate, she approaches him and squats for him. Hens who don't want to mate just stay out of his reach. It's how she solved the problem of plucked feathers and made sure only her best genetic stock was passed on to the next generation.

As for me, I just let the roos run with the girls. The boys get moved to a separate bachelor run if and only when they become a problem. If they mellow out later, they get released back into the flock. If not, they become dinner. I've only had to separate one rooster from the flock because of fighting, and he wasn't even the instigator. He ended up in a private coop and run with his own little flock of ladies, and since then, things have settled down between him and the new alpha roo. They can even be free ranging at the same time now without altercations.