Advice on rooster management.

[PennDude]

A little background. I have a flock of 13 hens and three roosters. Rooster A is a 5 month old Jersey Giant. Rooster B is a Sumatra/Ameraucana mix and rooster C is a 5 month old Polish.

Recently the Sumatra mix has been chasing off my Jersey Giant and ostracizing him from the rest of the flock. The Jersey Giant spends his day alone, at the edge of the flock. The Sumatra mix is a bit bossy and spends a lot of time corralling his hens around. He's noisy and even tries to prevent the hens from being near me. He is a good lookout though and has good instincts in showing the hens where food is.

The Jersey Giant has a gentle personality. He is much less flighty than the Sumatra mix and seems sweet natured. I would hate to get rid of him.

The Polish rooster might as well be a hen. He's at the bottom of the pecking order and seems happy there.

I don't think that I can or should keep three roosters with only 13 hens. I prefer the Jersey Giant's personality, and he is much quieter than the Sumatra mix. Would it be reasonable to assume that once the Jersey Giant matures, he will step in to the role of head of the flock? I don't want to see either rooster get injured in a fight and I think I'm going to end up eating the Sumatra, but I'd hate to lose such a beautiful bird. Your thoughts on the matter would be appreciated. Thank. Also, first post. Long time lurker.

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC - great that you have joined us.

One cock bird is sufficient to serve all your females. To keep more could result in over-mating / feather loss and significant stress. Personally, I'd keep the JG and get rid of the other two (assuming that you have no particular breeding aims).

 

[PennDude]

I think I'm leaning towards keeping the Jersey Giant. He has such a nice disposition so far and I like the novelty of a massive bird. My wife won't let me butcher the Polish, so I'm not sure what his fate holds.

 

[MerleMice]

One thing to consider when selecting which rooster to keep, is the size of your hens. They all look like dual purpose birds in the photo, but if you have any layers, a much heavier rooster could injure them during breeding. I know from experience; a buff rock rooster screwed up a white leghorn bad enough I had to put it down.

 

[Pork Pie]

One thing to consider when selecting which rooster to keep, is the size of your hens. They all look like dual purpose birds in the photo, but if you have any layers, a much heavier rooster could injure them during breeding. I know from experience; a buff rock rooster screwed up a white leghorn bad enough I had to put it down.

A point well made.

 

[PennDude]

I have 5 Black Sex Links, 4 Easter Egger, 2 Jersey Giants and 2 Welsummer. They're all relatively sturdy birds. I'm still feeling out what my ideal breed of chicken is right now and I doubt I'll be breeding any of these for future layers. To be honest, the only birds that I'm really happy with out of what I have right now are the Black Sex Links. They have the friendliest disposition out of my flock and seem to be the best foragers.

 

[Pork Pie]

I have 5 Black Sex Links, 4 Easter Egger, 2 Jersey Giants and 2 Welsummer. They're all relatively sturdy birds. I'm still feeling out what my ideal breed of chicken is right now and I doubt I'll be breeding any of these for future layers. To be honest, the only birds that I'm really happy with out of what I have right now are the Black Sex Links. They have the friendliest disposition out of my flock and seem to be the best foragers.

Personally, the only reason that i would keep a cock bird is if i intended to breed from it. A leghorn cock bird, for example, crossed with your sex links should result in a lighter bird that is a good layer which gives a better food conversion ratio - just a thought.

 

[aart]

Quote: Ditto Dat^^^^

Welcome to BYC @PennDude

 

[FlyWheel]

Hi and welcome to BYC - great that you have joined us.

One cock bird is sufficient to serve all your females. To keep more could result in over-mating / feather loss and significant stress. Personally, I'd keep the JG and get rid of the other two (assuming that you have no particular breeding aims).

+1 on the JG. If he's nice to you and protective of the ladies then you've been blessed. Re-home or stew up the more aggressive birds and avoid the headache. There are only two practical reasons to have Roos anyway; breeding and protection. I'm debating as to whether I should even keep Chaz, although he's calmed down considerably since I started taking a switch to him I wasn't intending on having a rooster anyway.