Advice Needed on Roosters

[inkognitoart]

Hello everyone! I need some advice from more experienced chicken raisers. We are in our first year raising chickens. We started with five mystery bantams from TSC and ordered 15 assorted standard female chicks from a hatchery (Leghorns, RIR, Black Austrolorp, Buff Orps, Dominiques). The hatchery sent 20, so I now have this wonderful flock of 25 chickens that free range around the yard. The problem is that 2 of the TSC bantams ended up being roos. One of the hatchery Dominiques, Phyllis, also turned out to be a roo. When Phyllis was a girl, she was pretty mean and aggressive towards the other chickens and us, and we thought she would have to go. Now that she is a boy, she's much calmer towards us, and she is a teenage boy around teenage girls. She has stopped pecking the other others and has settled down.

One of the bantams, Skar, is an absolute sweet doll who loves cuddles and being carried around like a football. He frequently falls asleep cuddling on my chest.

The third roo, Not-Skar, is the alpha. He is not mean or aggressive, but he is definitely in charge of the flock. He's also not that social with us.

I know I have too many roos for the size of the flock, and at least two of them need to go in one method or another.

My question is, how is this likely to affect flock dynamics if one or two of the roos are suddenly gone? I'm leaning on taking out Not-Skar. I'm just unsure how much the girls get attached to the boys. I tried separating the boys from the girls today as the hens that have started laying are now trying to lay in the barn. That's a whole other thread. I kept the girls in the run and got the roos out of the run to go about their day. I figured the girls might like a "girls' day in." Nope. Everyone ended up displeased with that turn of events. Several of the Leghorns were able to make a break for it and led an escape posse down to the barn to join the roos. At that point, it was easier to release everyone left in the run, and we'll try again in the morning. (We're trying to get the laying hens to lay in the nesting boxes in the coop rather than the barn.)

Am I projecting too much that the hens will care if one or two of the boys disappear? Any insight or words of wisdom to make this easier would be appreciated.

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC. Where, in general, are you? People can give better-targeted advice when they know where you are because climate matters for many things.

What is your goal for having males in your flock?

If you're going to do any breeding you need to remember that the rooster is half the flock and his traits are going to affect all future generations. The first year of this flock I *thought* I might have had 2 males -- because both Brahmas and Wyandottes can be deceptive. I didn't, but it make me really *THINK* about what I wanted from my flock. And that made me think that I wouldn't want either of those breeds dominating my flock because the Brahmas are only mediocre layers and the SLWs are not as heat-tolerant as I need here in the Steamy Southeast.

The next year a Black Langshan pullet turned out to be a cockerel and Ludwig was such a fine gentleman that I kept him for a year. But then I fell for these Blue Australorps and now have Rameses, raised under Ludwig's eye as a gentleman -- after a stringent selection process of weeding down from 6 males as I considered both his quality as a Blue Australorp and his behavior.

If you're not going to be breeding then you can base your selection on anything you want to base it on.

@Mrs. K has words of wisdom in re: cockerels and roosters.

 

[Pampered chicken girl]

Do they all get along? If so wait until (if even) they fight. Then get rid of(however you choose) of the most aggressive boy(s). The girls should be fine when/if you take a boy away

 

[inkognitoart]

We are in SE Alabama. I wasn't planning on ending up with a roo, let alone 3, so breeding wasn't something I even considered - although the bantams are so stinking cute. (The roos, Skar and Not-Skar, look like little falcons. I have no clue what breed they might be.) Having the chicks was more to have eggs and potentially sell the eggs.

Skar and Not-Skar seem to get along but are hatch mates from the start. Neither are too keen on Phyllis.

My husband believes that we need to get rid of them just because:

1. They might one day be mean.
2. Because of the potential for fertilized eggs
3. Potential for the hens to go broody
4. The boys seem to go after the girls quite often if you catch my drift. And Phyllis has become quite the big boy.

I want to take more of let nature take its course, but I also don't want the girls to be unnecessarily harassed and have it impact egg production.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Hens will still go broody if the mood strikes them, doesn't matter if there's a male

Fertile eggs look and taste just like unfertile eggs. You won't notice as long as you collect them daily.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Not Skar is likely a safer bet than Skar. Coddled males can risk being aggressive, especially if you aren't sure about how roosters act. You want them to prefer not being handled and be seen from a distance. Cuddle bugs tend to get cocky and try to show they're better than you

 

[3KillerBs]

Having the chicks was more to have eggs and potentially sell the eggs.

Then if you end up wanting to breed replacements instead of buying them you want a male from a production-oriented breed and not the bantams.

1. They might one day be mean.
2. Because of the potential for fertilized eggs
3. Potential for the hens to go broody
4. The boys seem to go after the girls quite often if you catch my drift. And Phyllis has become quite the big boy.

1. This is always a big gamble. There are as many ways of "predicting" a rooster's behavior as there are people doing the prediction and there are no guarantees.

One thing that seems to help -- at least in the chicken-to-chicken aspect is for the cockerels to grow up with adult hens and, even better, an adult rooster to teach them chicken manners. With only their own peers around no one teaches them to behave.

2. Fertilized eggs are just the same as infertile ones as long as they're not incubated.

3. Hens go broody with or without males around.

4. Males, especially young cockerels, can be quite randy and competition among males can result in a lot of "rooster wear" on the girls. The usual suggested ratio of 1-10 doesn't guarantee anything.

 

[Pampered chicken girl]

Then if you end up wanting to breed replacements instead of buying them you want a male from a production-oriented breed and not the bantams.



1. This is always a big gamble. There are as many ways of "predicting" a rooster's behavior as there are people doing the prediction and there are no guarantees.

One thing that seems to help -- at least in the chicken-to-chicken aspect is for the cockerels to grow up with adult hens and, even better, an adult rooster to teach them chicken manners. With only their own peers around no one teaches them to behave.

2. Fertilized eggs are just the same as infertile ones as long as they're not incubated.

3. Hens go broody with or without males around.

4. Males, especially young cockerels, can be quite randy and competition among males can result in a lot of "rooster wear" on the girls. The usual suggested ratio of 1-10 doesn't guarantee anything.

You beat me to it, this is just what I would say. Only thing to add is I know someone said how cuddly boys are more likely to be aggressive but I have a boy that let's me hold and cuddle him (even sits in my lap) and he is a year old and not the tiniest bit aggressive. In my opinion, get rid of Phyllis if the other 2 get along with each other and don't like Phyllis, and you said Phyllis was a little to much for the girls.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Not sure how old all of yours are. Maturity levels can have a big effect on how they act. In general, immature teenagers can be a pain in the butt while mature chickens are usually more mellow. But that is not always true. Sometimes there is practically no drama at all. The more room they have the more likely you are to have reduced or nonexistent drama.

I know I have too many roos for the size of the flock, and at least two of them need to go in one method or another.

Some people firmly believe that if you have some magic ratio of girls to boys the boys don't fight, the girls are not over-mated or bullied, and the girls never become barebacked. That has not been my experience. Boys will fight over thirty-one girls as fast as they will fight over one girl. No matter what ratio you have (1 to 1 or 1 to 30) some can become barebacked and some can be over-mated. Or you may have no problems.

That said, I recommend you keep no more boys than you need to meet your goals. That's not because you are guaranteed more problems with more boys but because the more boys you have the more likely you are to have problems. From what you said I suspect you could meet your goals with zero boys.

My question is, how is this likely to affect flock dynamics if one or two of the roos are suddenly gone?

Any time you add or remove a chicken you will change some flock dynamics. The higher in the pecking order those are the more dramatic those changes can be. But that's only a short term effect. They will readjust the pecking order and get on with the business of being chickens.

Am I projecting too much that the hens will care if one or two of the boys disappear? Any insight or words of wisdom to make this easier would be appreciated.

In my opinion, yes.

They might one day be mean.

They might or they might not. That is one of the potential risks of having boys.

1. Because of the potential for fertilized eggs

If you can tell us what your concerns are about fertile eggs we can address those. I'm not going to dismiss those out of hand. Some of the possible concerns may be based on misconceptions but others may be legitimate to that person.

1. Potential for the hens to go broody

Having boys around has no effect on whether a hen goes broody or not. With some of the breeds you have you will likely have some go broody. You might think how you will manage that so you are prepared.

1. The boys seem to go after the girls quite often if you catch my drift. And Phyllis has become quite the big boy.

That is totally normal expected chicken behavior. There would be something wrong with them if it didn't happen. It's part of them being chickens. If you have trouble watching maybe you don't need any boys.

I want to take more of let nature take its course, but I also don't want the girls to be unnecessarily harassed and have it impact egg production.

Have a boy around should not impact egg production one way or another. There can be exceptions to anything any time you are dealing with living animals but the girls would have to be really stressed out. You saw where they want to be when you tried separating the boys. Doesn't sound like they are overstressed to me.

It is totally your decision, yours and your husband's, but I still think zero boys would be a great number for you.