Tell me why you keep Roosters...

[melbah]

In my experience not all roosters are the same. We've had some terrible ones and some amazing ones. The terrible ones were very aggressive to hens as well as people. They met their fate on the dinner plate. We had one rooster that stood on the hens after mating and kept pecking their heads. One hen had the skin on the back of her head ripped open.

We have found that the best roosters have been the ones that were raised by a hen.

The best of our roosters watch for predators and warn the hens, help forage for food, keep peace between the hens by breaking up fights, integrate new hens into the flock when they start laying and are gentle mating them. I actually think that the hens also lay more when we have a good rooster. Also, we have some of the hens that would roost in the trees but get scolded by the rooster. He makes sure all the hens go in at night. He will put his wing down and dance around them to herd them into the hen house.

I really like having a rooster, but a really good rooster is hard to find.

 

[poleket]

I've raised chickens on and off for 25 years. I once had 50 hens and 6 roosters. Everyone got along well, but the roosters kept the hens so occupied by jumping on them all the time that the hens got run down and most of them stopped laying. People have the misconception that roosters only crow at dawn/sunrise. No, they crow whenever they want, sometimes beginning at 4 am. I sleep with my windows and doors open in the summer and I am continually disturbed by neighbors' roosters and their nonstop crowing. I find roosters obnoxious and unnecessary unless you are going to hatch chicks. Even then, perhaps you can borrow a rooster for awhile.

ChickenMama, San Marcos, Texas

 

[foreverlearning]

Pits require training and a lot of space to run. Best to give them an acre. I have a pure breed pit breeder 2 doors down from me and have never had problems. That being said I do have to state that his pens are huge, larger than my huge house huge. He won't sell them without training and requires a house visit to make sure you fit his requirements (one being large properly fenced in yard) before he will sell to you. Most breeders are not that considerate and he taught us a lot about the breed before he brought them in.

 

[gander111]

Before I had my rooster, I lost 3 hens to hawks. My Salmon Faverolle roo is very protective and alert..always running around making sure his girls are all ok.
I love my "Captain"!

 

[gimmie birdies]

I have one baby rooster I am going to keep, I planned on keeping one more rooster, I have 4 to choose from, no body has been mean, but nobody has stood out. then I saw a neighbor had a young frizzle rooster that needed a home. Did I need another rooster? no, but I didn't have frizzle, and she said he is part naked neck, I was sold. I have some one to take one of the extra roosters, maybe I will just be making soup of the rest.

 

[ridinglizzard]

I love my roosters. I have 3 mature roosters: a wyandotte, a banty cochin, and a banty silkie, as well as 7 mature hens and many many juvenile birds. The roosters get along great amongst themselves and with the hens. They are very good with people as well, including my kids. I love their look, their personalities, their behavior, and they take their jobs around the yard very seriously. I have a half acre of fenced space for them, which I think is why I can have so much testosterone around without a problem as there is lots of space to roam. As my teenager cockerels reach maturity we will cull them, but will keep my mature roosters as they are so great to have around.

 

[jhat]

mick and shabba!!!

 

[98Luna]

Out of my main flock (numbering only seven) I have two cockerels, Mumble and Dave. Mumble's a pretty nice looking boy, some sort of white leghorn cross barred rock. I gave my rooster away yesterday, Percy, a white leghorn. Mumble is nearly seven months old, not sure about Dave. Dave is a barred rock and he's HUGE but hasn't started crowing or growing spurs yet. I keep my boys for fertile eggs and looks. Protection isn't too much of a big deal here, the only predators are nocturnal. I just love hatching, but I'd keep my roos if I didn't hatch. At the moment my rooster-hen ratio is 2:5.

 

[lovechickenswis]

Beautiful!!!! What kind are they?

 

[jpoole08]

I had a Bantam roo up until about a week ago. We had to cull him. He was about 17 weeks old. When he was a chick he was so adorable (when I thought he was a she). The older he got the nastier he got. I at first thought things could work out keeping him around here as my chickens free range, but, he went after my miniature schnauzer and kept challenging me. He got worse by the day so he had to go to roo heaven. I feel horrible but he was getting mean.

This sounds exactly like my little roo. He just had to go. He was beautiful and crowed so pretty all the time. He danced and pranced and really was fun to watch. Until u got attacked. He was nasty and scary looking when he was chasing u dow. Trying to claw. Flying at u whe. U had ur back turned. The whole family was attacked and frustrated. It seemed to be the onlycthing to do.