Will a male look after the meat

[Chicona]

My 2 year old placid male needs to go down the farm as I haven’t room for him but I wanna keep him

so I run 25 meat birds to 16 weeks there cull and add 25 6week olds back again

would my boy be happy looking after a flock like that ? Or would he pulverise them or whatnot ?

 

[iwltfum]

My opinion is that would be a pain and of little to no benefit. You're better off raising a guard goose if you're after the protective element. Although a good roo would not beat the chicks up, all that roo's are good for (in terms of protection) is sacrificing themselves to any predator that may threaten the flock. Unfortunately that doesnt usually do much for the remaining birds.

 

[Geena]

I tried something similar a few years ago and had my backup rooster stay in with a batch of grow outs. Not for protection, but because I didn't have anywhere else to put him. He did a wonderful job with the chicks, but then something occurred I stupidly hadn't really thought of ahead of time. When the time came to process and I took them all away the poor guy lost his mind. I realized that was an awful thing to put him through and don't recommend it for that reason.

 

[Chicona]

My opinion is that would be a pain and of little to no benefit. You're better off raising a guard goose if you're after the protective element. Although a good roo would not beat the chicks up, all that roo's are good for (in terms of protection) is sacrificing themselves to any predator that may threaten the flock. Unfortunately that doesnt usually do much for the remaining birds.

But geese don’t they tend to be rough to chickens ?

 

[Chicona]

I tried something similar a few years ago and had my backup rooster stay in with a batch of grow outs. Not for protection, but because I didn't have anywhere else to put him. He did a wonderful job with the chicks, but then something occurred I stupidly hadn't really thought of ahead of time. When the time came to process and I took them all away the poor guy lost his mind. I realized that was an awful thing to put him through and don't recommend it for that reason.

Did he not get happy at new girls ? Or didn’t you add any for him ?

 

[Geena]

Did he not get happy at new girls ? Or didn’t you add any for him ?

I made other arrangements for him- end of what I considered a failed experiment not to be repeated. I certainly wasn't going to give him more only to take them away too. Yes, it's just a chicken, but it's still a living, feeling being and I felt it was unnecessarily cruel.

 

[iwltfum]

But geese don’t they tend to be rough to chickens ?

Not that I'm aware of. I've never raised geese. But I know several people that use guard geese for their unprotected broiler flocks starting when they are around 2-3 weeks old

 

[3KillerBs]

In re: geese,

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...d-goose-and-why-you-should-not-get-one.77508/

When the time came to process and I took them all away the poor guy lost his mind. I realized that was an awful thing to put him through and don't recommend it for that reason.

I had a group of cockerels for sale and when I sold the next to last the remaining one just went crazy trying to get out -- beating himself against the wire. I butchered him because I thought it would be unkind to leave him there alone and frantic without a flock.