Are hatched Roos more aggressive?

[Pinger05]

September of last year one of my hens hatched 4 eggs. Two Roos and two hens. Flock currently consists of 21 hens and 4 Roos...yes too many Roos....

the two hatched Roos are terrorizing everyone. They attack the established Roos and pull feathers from the hens. Attached are picks of the hen who gets most of their attention. Also the Roos when they were younger. They are beautiful birds

so my question is two fold:
1) Are home hatched Roos always this aggressive?

2) should I cull? I have one customer who pays $30 per bird from me.

thank you for your expert advice.
—Dan
PA Country Cluckers

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I'd remove them from the flock and use that 60$ for something. Hatched males are not always little devils. I have two currently that I know of (one of my old males may have been broody hatched but I bought him as an adult) that are broody hatched. One is very polite and one doesn't really do too much damage, certainly not going after the flockmaster

 

[Folly's place]

Cockerels are individuals, and actually when they are raised in a flock including adults, many times they tend to be better behaved. your two boys are being jerks, not a good thing.
IMO having them gone will be best! Always solve for peace out there, and those hens shouldn't have to be abused like that.
Nasty cockerels shouldn't contribute to the gene pool either.
Mary

 

[AprilsZoo]

I have no idea— prevailing wisdom says temperament is mostly genetics, and to a lesser degree husbandry (environment & socialization/training).

I’ve read posts that noted that an, umm— let’s say difficult— roo behaved very differently when they were removed to a different flock. Perhaps they have a mental reset when everything they’ve ever known changes, and they’re forced to figure out their place in the new environment, idk.

The only behavior I’ve seen mentioned that likely will not change in a new place is overbreeding. A roo that is randy to the nth power will still be in overdrive when introduced to a new flock. If he will have lots more hens to service, then it shouldn’t be a problem, and could even be beneficial.

Do the potential buyers want them as breeding stock? As flock leaders & protection? Are they prepared to send them to freezer camp (recently saw it called Camp Kenmore lol) if they don’t integrate? Personally, I don’t think you can ever promise well-behaved Roos... there’s just no way to know. Their hormones could surge a month after you’ve sold them, turning them into [donkeys] then.

I guess if you’ve got ppl lined up to buy roosters (awesome ... in many areas you can’t pay someone to take a roo. ) perhaps you need to talk with them & tell them that the roo leaves something to be desired behavior-wise while in your flock. And let them know that the behavior may or may not improve in a new flock. I think that’s all you can do.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

My first (admittedly snarky) reaction when I saw the thread title however, was “No, the artificially created ones beamed down from UFO’s are much, much worse... *those* Roos are complete and utter [bleep-bleep]es”.

Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself.

 

[Ridgerunner]

1) Are home hatched Roos always this aggressive?

I have no idea where that question came form. All cockerels and pullets are hatched, either at a hatchery, in an incubator in your home, or under a broody hen. That does not have an effect on aggressiveness.

2) should I cull? I have one customer who pays $30 per bird from me

Not sure what this means. Will they give you $30 now? Make that deal right now. Do you have to raise them and butcher them first? What is involved in that? Is it worth $30 bucks to wait? I'd probably find a way.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I have no idea where that question came form. All cockerels and pullets are hatched, either at a hatchery, in an incubator in your home, or under a broody hen. That does not have an effect on aggressiveness.


Not sure what this means. Will they give you $30 now? Make that deal right now. Do you have to raise them and butcher them first? What is involved in that? Is it worth $30 bucks to wait? I'd probably find a way.

I'm pretty sure they meant are broody raised more aggressive than human raised

 

[sourland]

They are teen aged cockerels doing their normal hormone driven routine. $30 each? I'd sell them in a heartbeat.

 

[Pinger05]

The $15 each is for them processed, shrink wrapped and frozen. She loves them ready to cook, and I don't mind processing. Besides she likes the chicken without skin and it is impossible to get them from the store without skin. She doesn't like to de-skin the store bought birds.

The question is for home reared chickens vs. chicks from the hatchery.

I have heard that chickens from Mars are donkeys @AprilsZoo

The boys are separated from the flock. Tomorrow is harvest day. I am going to miss them because they are sooo pretty.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

The $15 each is for them processed, shrink wrapped and frozen. She loves them ready to cook, and I don't mind processing. Besides she likes the chicken without skin and it is impossible to get them from the store without skin. She doesn't like to de-skin the store bought birds.

The question is for home reared chickens vs. chicks from the hatchery.

I have heard that chickens from Mars are donkeys @AprilsZoo

The boys are separated from the flock. Tomorrow is harvest day. I am going to miss them because they are sooo pretty.

You can always skin them carefully and preserve the skin with the feathers. I forget who does it, but someone on here did that with a male and the resulting skin was stunnibg. They hung it like any other skin as decoration

 

[Brightside1]

You can always skin them carefully and preserve the skin with the feathers. I forget who does it, but someone on here did that with a male and the resulting skin was stunnibg. They hung it like any other skin as decoration

Gross.