4 hens and only 1 rooster, will it help?

[BirdNut]

I am in a sticky situation here. I have raised so few chickens, and half of everything I ever buy always turns out to be a rooster. I did buy from a straight run, so I knew the risk and I did it anyway. I have rehomed a total 3 roosters, and I have one more yet that I'm on the fence about with rehoming. Why? Because not only is he GORGEOUS, but he has never tried to dominate his girls, he has never hurt any of them, and he has never even tried to hurt me. He lets me pick him up and stroke his soft, beautifully patterned feathers. This has been the first rooster so far that I ever wanted so badly to keep.

My question is, I have 4 hens to one rooster. I know that more hens equals less aggression, but what about the crowing? He has no other roosters to compete with, so why would he crow?

After all of this rambling, you're probably wondering, "Oh, come on. Where are the pictures? I want to see why she loves this guys so much!" So, here he is!

He has consistently been getting more solid black on top and more solid white on the bottom, so I named him 'Tux'.

 

[CMV]

Handsome boy. I have one roo for 18 girls and he crows about 20 times a day. He crows when he sees me in the yard, when he sees a threat, when he wants a treat, when he wants to hear his lovely voice... you get the point. Mine doesn't crow all that much comparatively, but he does crow fairly often. Are you illegal if you have roos? Is that why you need to re-home your roos? Make no mistake- the neighbors WILL know if you have a roo. There is no way to keep them quiet enough to pass unnoticed.

 

[Clay Valley Farmer]

Yeh, it will crow. One I have crows morning, evening, after mating and when it sees people. the other crowns morning, evening and when ever it hears a car in the yard or someone talking or walking where he cant see them. Other possible roo is quiet so far.

Your guy looks pretty young yet, he may not be quite as nice or quiet when his hormones come on full strength.

 

[The Tinman]

I would say keep him. If he become mean he becomes soup. A roo is good to have. He will help protect the girls. I love my roo and he takes good care of the girls although sometimes he is a little ruff. He has fended off a few red tail hawks. There is a roo down the street and him and my roo crow back and forth all the time.He like to crow mostly when my wife is home. I do not know why. I tell her it the roo down the street teasing my roo telling him his daddy was a silkie and you crow like a hen so he is just sticking up for him self.

 

[chicmom]

Aww, why don't you try and keep him. He might turn out to be a very nice rooster, since he's off to a good start. Yes, he will still crow. But I love the sound of a rooster crowing. If your neighbors don't complain, and he keeps his nice disposition....keep him. Now, they can really do a turn-a-bout once they hit puberty though.....so if he turns mean, and rips the backs of of his hens, then I'd make him into some nice soup.......

 

[BirdNut]

Thank you all very much for the responses. Your input is appreciated! CMV, I really do hope he won't crow that much! I have a little bit of hope, because the two Amber-link roos I had only crowed about 5 times a day, and there were two of them.

I'm thinking of diapering my sweet little Silkie hen, maybe I'll do the same for Tux. That way, some of the crowing might be muffled indoors. It probably won't annoy me much. Call me crazy, but I love the sound of a rooster's crow. I love the little bugger, I'm not giving up yet!

 

[BirdNut]

Chicmom, I can't bring myself to making him into a soup. I'll send him off to a home that can keep roosters without angry neighbors, or at the vry least, someone who will do the deed for me.

 

[xenorph]

I recall reading, in one of these threads, that one lady trained her roo not to crow. You could try that too.

 

[BirdNut]

Boy, would I like to see that.

 

[CMV]

Quote:
I don't buy it. If someone could do this then everyone would know about it and there would be a lot more roos out there.