Chickens can be very enjoyable and amusing creatures to have.If you have chickens you know they never fail to surprise you.Most people that start out with chickens start out with hens because they provide you with delicious eggs.The question is do you need a rooster to maintain a healthy flock?
Purpose
A Question you should Be asking yourself is why do I want chickens? What is your main reasoning for wanting chickens? Eggs? Meat? Breeding? or just amusement? If you can answer these questions you are on your way to deciding if you should have a rooster in your flock.If you are just wanting chickens for the sole purpose of eating eggs.Hens can lay eggs without a rooster.You only really need a rooster in your flock If you want fertilized eggs for hatching. If you are someone that is getting chickens for amusement you defiantly wont be disappointed.I think roosters add to that amusement along with the hens.
Environment
The Environment that your chickens are going to be living in is also something important that will help you make your decision on if you should or shouldn't have a rooster in your flock.If you plan on free ranging or letting your chickens out of their main run/pen. Chickens are at a higher chance to get injured or killed by predators. Roosters are good for protecting there hens and they will alert the rest of the flock that there is danger most of the time and will risk there lives trying to fight the predator. That leaves some time for the hens to get away and hide. Even if your someone who prefers to keep your chickens in a run/pen your still at risk.Yes, it is safer from some predators but,sometimes we cant prevent the ones that dig or are small enough to get through chicken wire.If you live somewhere that is not prone to many predators you may not need a rooster to help protect the hens.
Law and Ordinaries
Depending on where you live there may be laws against having roosters.Most of the time this is if you live in a residential, suburban, or urban area.It's illegal to continue making noise at any time in most city's and since roosters crow you would not be able to keep one.You can call a local city hall or animal Control if you are unsure about any laws or about keeping roosters where you live.
What To Expect
You should now be able to make the a decision on whether or not a rooster is right for your flock.Now there are a few things to expect if you have never had a rooster before.They crow more then what you think they would.When I first started my flock of chickens I thought they just crowed at dawn and dusk.They do crow at those times,but they also crow constantly though out the day and it is loud!!Another thing that I thought was all roosters turn out mean.I have had more nice roosters then mean ones and there is normally a reason why mine were being mean.I had two roosters together that would attack my legs and each other,so I gave them each a separate flock of hens and they stopped attacking my legs after a couple of weeks. The First Picture you see on this article is actually a really sweet rooster named brody he is my favorite rooster that I have!He is also in my profile picture.
Some more pictures of the chickens I am raising!!I have 30 or more,I can't even keep track of how many I have at this point
This Thread inspired me for the idea of this Article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/do-i-need-a-roo.1226773/#post-19670896
Thank you @Bluerosesd for inspiring me for the idea of this article
Purpose
A Question you should Be asking yourself is why do I want chickens? What is your main reasoning for wanting chickens? Eggs? Meat? Breeding? or just amusement? If you can answer these questions you are on your way to deciding if you should have a rooster in your flock.If you are just wanting chickens for the sole purpose of eating eggs.Hens can lay eggs without a rooster.You only really need a rooster in your flock If you want fertilized eggs for hatching. If you are someone that is getting chickens for amusement you defiantly wont be disappointed.I think roosters add to that amusement along with the hens.
Environment
The Environment that your chickens are going to be living in is also something important that will help you make your decision on if you should or shouldn't have a rooster in your flock.If you plan on free ranging or letting your chickens out of their main run/pen. Chickens are at a higher chance to get injured or killed by predators. Roosters are good for protecting there hens and they will alert the rest of the flock that there is danger most of the time and will risk there lives trying to fight the predator. That leaves some time for the hens to get away and hide. Even if your someone who prefers to keep your chickens in a run/pen your still at risk.Yes, it is safer from some predators but,sometimes we cant prevent the ones that dig or are small enough to get through chicken wire.If you live somewhere that is not prone to many predators you may not need a rooster to help protect the hens.
Law and Ordinaries
Depending on where you live there may be laws against having roosters.Most of the time this is if you live in a residential, suburban, or urban area.It's illegal to continue making noise at any time in most city's and since roosters crow you would not be able to keep one.You can call a local city hall or animal Control if you are unsure about any laws or about keeping roosters where you live.
What To Expect
You should now be able to make the a decision on whether or not a rooster is right for your flock.Now there are a few things to expect if you have never had a rooster before.They crow more then what you think they would.When I first started my flock of chickens I thought they just crowed at dawn and dusk.They do crow at those times,but they also crow constantly though out the day and it is loud!!Another thing that I thought was all roosters turn out mean.I have had more nice roosters then mean ones and there is normally a reason why mine were being mean.I had two roosters together that would attack my legs and each other,so I gave them each a separate flock of hens and they stopped attacking my legs after a couple of weeks. The First Picture you see on this article is actually a really sweet rooster named brody he is my favorite rooster that I have!He is also in my profile picture.
Some more pictures of the chickens I am raising!!I have 30 or more,I can't even keep track of how many I have at this point
This Thread inspired me for the idea of this Article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/do-i-need-a-roo.1226773/#post-19670896
Thank you @Bluerosesd for inspiring me for the idea of this article
