Adding a Rooster... Later.

[agarlits]

Hey everyone,

First post (woohoo)!

We are brand new to chickens. Just built a house on acreage last year and moved in over the winter. About 2 months ago we picked up 14 pullets (we've been planning, researching, etc for the last year so this wasn't an impulse thing). So far it appears that all of our ladies are indeed ladies.

I was honestly expecting some margin of error in the pre-sexed chicks and was looking forward to having a rooster as a protector and mediator. But since they all turned out to be female, I'm thinking it might be better to wait until they are all fully grown and add the rooster in later.

Is this a smart move?

 

[Mill Chick]

Hey everyone,

First post (woohoo)!

We are brand new to chickens. Just built a house on acreage last year and moved in over the winter. About 2 months ago we picked up 14 pullets (we've been planning, researching, etc for the last year so this wasn't an impulse thing). So far it appears that all of our ladies are indeed ladies.

I was honestly expecting some margin of error in the pre-sexed chicks and was looking forward to having a rooster as a protector and mediator. But since they all turned out to be female, I'm thinking it might be better to wait until they are all fully grown and add the rooster in later.

Is this a smart move?

I have heard that if you put a young rooster with older hens he will learn better manners from the hens?

 

[agarlits]

I have heard that if you put a young rooster with older hens he will learn better manners from the hens?

That would be ideal.

I wonder if anyone here can confirm this?

I'm sure at some level it depends on the individual rooster?

 

[ChimkinNug]

Hey everyone,

First post (woohoo)!

We are brand new to chickens. Just built a house on acreage last year and moved in over the winter. About 2 months ago we picked up 14 pullets (we've been planning, researching, etc for the last year so this wasn't an impulse thing). So far it appears that all of our ladies are indeed ladies.

I was honestly expecting some margin of error in the pre-sexed chicks and was looking forward to having a rooster as a protector and mediator. But since they all turned out to be female, I'm thinking it might be better to wait until they are all fully grown and add the rooster in later.

Is this a smart move?

I would 100% recommend that you always add a Cockerel/rooster in with adult hens if it's your first time getting a roo. In the past, we have raised them together, and the boys never learn to behave correctly. All of them went to freezer camp because they all ultimately got mean. The boys that I have raised with adult hens are incredible! Our hens taught them how to "chicken" and kept them in line behavior-wise. If I had it to do over again, I would have started out exactly like you are. Hopefully you end up with a gentle, respectful rooster in the end. Good luck!

 

[GracePoultry]

My old rooster grew up with his hens and did not care if a hen didn't want to be mounted. His manners were not great and he needed more hens to keep them from being overbred then my current roosters do

 

[agarlits]

I would 100% recommend that you always add a Cockerel/rooster in with adult hens if it's your first time getting a roo. In the past, we have raised them together, and the boys never learn to behave correctly. All of them went to freezer camp because they all ultimately got mean. The boys that I have raised with adult hens are incredible! Our hens taught them how to "chicken" and kept them in line behavior-wise. If I had it to do over again, I would have started out exactly like you are. Hopefully you end up with a gentle, respectful rooster in the end. Good luck!

Okay, that helps a lot. Thank you!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Glad you joined.

But since they all turned out to be female, I'm thinking it might be better to wait until they are all fully grown and add the rooster in later.

Is this a smart move?

You'll find that we all have different opinions and get different results. You are dealing with living animals so you don't get guarantees on behaviors or much or anything else.

I find when I raise a cockerel in a flock of adult hens different things can happen. It may go pretty peaceful, especially if you have sufficient room. In any of these the more room they have the better up to a point.

I typically have some same-aged pullets and cockerels growing up in the flock together. Sometimes, when the cockerels hit puberty they force mate the pullets but leave the adult hens alone. The adult hens ignore this behavior.

Sometimes the cockerels try to mate the adult hens. The hens usually run away and try to avoid the cockerels. The cockerels may chase them down and force mate. No schooling there.

Sometimes when the cockerels harass the hens, they hens fight back. Especially the dominant hen. This can vary by flock, but what this often looks like is a few less-dominant hen willingly let the cockerels mate but the dominant hen is not having it. She knocks the boy off. Sometimes she just knocks him off, sometimes she follows this up by chasing and attacking.

Sometimes the dominant hen will attack the boy about anytime she sees him. She seeks him out to show him she is still dominant over him. Eventually the cockerel matures to the point that he fights back and may dominate that hen. I've seen some pretty nasty fights when that happens. I've only seen that to an extreme once and that was one of my more brutal roosters. I did not see that him being schooled help a bit.

A lot of different things can happen when you raise a cockerel with the flock, whether it has mature hens in it or not, whether it has a mature rooster in it or not. Often it is pretty peaceful but it can certainly have high drama.

My recommendation is to wait until your girls are mostly laying and bring in a single mature rooster. One year old should be fine. What typically happens is that he struts in all full of his magnificence and grandeur and mates one or two hens. The flock is them his. It does not always go like this, sometimes the dominant hen refuses to give up being flock master without a fight, but this is usually the easiest way to add a rooster to a flock with hens.

As I said I don't give guarantees but it is what I'd try and why.

Good luck!

 

[Mrs. K]

I think an important question to ask yourself, is what can you do if he doesn't work out. Can you cull him? Many people cannot. One gets the best roosters by not keeping a rotten rooster.

The second question - maybe more important, is do you have young children? Under the age of six? If roosters are going to get aggressive, they often attack children first. A young child can take the attack in the face or head, a bird can knock them to the ground. This forum is filled with posts where the darling became the nightmare in an instant. Probably not, but inexperienced people don't always recognize the signs that a bird is getting aggressive.

If you still want a rooster, I recommend waiting until your pullets are all laying. Then look around - contact your county extension office, ask for a poultry club, or 4-H club. What you are looking for is a year old rooster, that is so darn nice, that he has not been culled by someone who would have culled if he wasn't!

A year old rooster is not a sure bet, but a much better bet than a young cockerel, they are crap shoot, and one does not have much indication how it will turn out.

Mrs K