Tell me why you keep Roosters...

[darrylvk]

I was just attacked by a tiny little bantam roo. He came up behind me out of nowhere. I am so sick of having to watch my back and I won't allow my children outside when the chickens are out. I told hubby to cull the two roos that have shown aggression this week. My maran roo has never shown aggression so he is safe for now and my ee roo is still pretty young so he is safe for now.but at this point I am considering having a hen only flock if these two roos turn on me. If I want to hatch in the spring I guess I will have to buy eggs from somewhere.

we ended up with 5 roosters in a flock of 40 chickens. I had some getting too aggressive and wearing out my hens. I have them segregated to a smaller pen awaiting the ax. Chicks are too cheap. No predator problems here.

 

[afoshawk119]

Do they really protect against hawks? If so I really need to get one!!

 

[SunnySkies]

Do they really protect against hawks?  If so I really need to get one!! 

One of my original roosters sacrificed himself to a hawk to let the flock of juvenile birds he was with escape. I still regret his loss.

 

[Tednchickens]

i've got 1 BO rooster about 13-14 weeks old. he ambushes my hens (same age) and pulls feathers out out of their necks and tails trying to mate. otherwise he seems to pay no attention to them, and frequently stays away from the hens, so i don't know if he'd be much protection to them. he doesn't have his spurs yet. he leaves us alone, thank goodness! we've tried the tricks to exert human dominance over the roosters that i've read about in here, and they work well. thanks everyone for the great advice!!. we're thinking we'll give him to someone who can use him for the dinner table. we do have 2 welsummer roos growing up--they're about 5 or 6 weeks old. we may see what they turn out like. all 3 roos were supposed to be hens, but grew up to be roosters. i keep reading about great roos, and i'm still hoping...

 

[Tacampbell1973]

My "Bill" is great! Most mornings when i open the run door to let him and my hens
out for the day he wants to attack the hens. I don't know why he is so mean in the morning
he is only 6 mos old and he is huge. I have had him since he was three days old and hand
feed him scratch every morning. I keep a squirt gun of water handy and he understands the word "NO".
I have 6 hens and "Bill" when he and the girls are out of the run, he is a great guard for them.
He warns them with a growl and starts flapping his wings. I am going to keep him, if he really gets bad
he knows what will happen to him as I do tell him every time if he is bad.


Have a great Day everyone! Kodi.........

 

[Alexandra317]

OK! Question! I'm new at chickens. I got all mine in May. Out of 22, I have 4 cockerels. What kinds of early behaviors do I need to watch for in aggression? The older one, an EE has always been a little surly to the other chicks. Now he is just an ... as... aggressive meany when I open the coop. Chases all the chickens and grabs their head feathers and pulls like crazy, pullets and cockerels alike. BUT, once I cast out scratch, he will eventually settle down and seems fine for the rest of the day. My concern is what on earth is it like for the flock with Mr. A-hole between dawn and when I open the coop, about 8 a.m. I often find feathers all over the coop. But none of them seems to be wounded... yet.

Your thoughts?

 

[DavidKerk]

Hawk protection and keeping flock tighter. Keep one in pen as backup and get rid of other two.

Agreed! If you can afford it, I would keep two.

 

[DavidKerk]

Do they really protect against hawks? If so I really need to get one!!

I've heard that the hawks can spot their bigger combs more easily so they go for the roosters. This is a reason to keep a backup rooster!

 

[Windland Farms]

I have a three year old "Black Star" Rooster, Named "General Tso" He is the easiest keeper on the place. He crows some but it is not an annoyance.

 

[4hmom]

what type of rooster do you have ?

if it was me that you were talking to the one in my avatar is a bantam bbred cubalaya. but i also have white yokohama large fowl, white cubalaya large fowl, spangled bantam cubalaya, banatm bbred bbred cubalaya, bantam blue red cubalaya, bantam duckwing cubalaya, and working on recreating bantam black cubalaya, i also have some other breeds and varieties.