Are hens happier with a rooster around?

[rooster-red]

I'd say it depends on the rooster And how many hens there are for him to mate with.

The more hens, the happier all of them will be.

 

[redwa]

Our flock consisted of 6 hens and one roo (we hatched them last spring in our kitchen). They seemed to be stressed out by the constant mating. They lost the feathers on their backs and one hen (his favorite) just seemed to look like a bag lady all the time. When we got rid of the roo their environment seemed a lot more serene and peaceful. However, one hen went on protest and hasn't laid an egg since he left (5 months ago). I'm not sure she will start to lay again.

 

[Southern28Chick]

Quote:
I think it really does depend on how many hens you have. I have 1 roo to 23 pullets and they're fine. He doesn't have a favorite girl at all, he likes them all.

 

[silkiechicken]

I think my hens are happy with their roo. With just 6 hens, that's about half of you should have if they are always housed together.

 

[Rosalind]

Definitely depends on the roo. When I put all the roos but one meek one in Chicken Jail, the girls fought amongst themselves almost constantly, always jockeying for position. When I put just one very dominant, manly roo in there, he laid down the law and everything settled down. So now I have two roos per 10 hens, but since the one roo is so meek the girls are OK. The meek roo, Mordred, only mates his favorite girls, and not often (not all my Buttercup eggs are fertilized), while Hugo is less picky and will mate EE or cochin hens, but does it reliably.

Edited to add: As of now I have two roos in the Bachelor Pen. The weirdest thing happened a few weeks ago--one hen, which I was sure had become coyote chow months ago, somehow flew back into the barn with the chilly nights, and started roosting in the rafters by the Bachelor Pen. She wouldn't let me catch her, but when DH opened the Bachelor Pen gate, she went right in. She has since settled in and the boys cuddle up to her and protect her. She isn't missing any back feathers, she doesn't appear to be over-mated and in fact I've never seen her get mated at all. She hasn't laid any eggs for me either, unless of course she's hiding them really, really well. Think I'll get peeps this spring?

 

[jjthink]

Agree with the many posters who said, depends on the roo. The roo I've got treats hens like princesses and they want for nothing. He does not badger. He finds food for her, coos, nurtures, protects. A prince of a roo. He is with one hen.

I noticed something interesting though, when he was temporarily in another home with 25 hens or so. He was not so happy - I think because there he was confined to a pen despite initial set up that included free ranging and so he was bored and seemed frustrated and was less gentlemanly.

As soon as he was back in a calm situation with the freedoms he had once known, and just one hen, he was his dear sweet huggable self again.

Having said all this, I know every situation is different.
JJ

 

[Standard Hen]

I have just found out that it depends on the roo. In the spring I got a rooster and he turned out to be nasty and started attacking me this summer. VERY aggressive with the hens, and I did not see him either protecting them, letting them eat first and all those things roostersare supposed to do. I kept on hoping he was going to change but when I could not be out there without always looking over my back I knew this was not the rooster for me.
A friend of mine has a farm with lots of poultry and she took him for breeding and gave me what I found out on this wonderful board is a young Columbiam Wyandottoe which she thought was a Brahma. But clean legs no Brahma and they do look alot alike. I was getting on average when that nasty rooster was here only like 3-4 eggs a day, sometimes only 2, and could not figure out why because I should have been getting alot more. I have 23 hens, not all young but still!
The day after that nasty roo was gone I got 9 eggs! And it has continued since. The new roo arrived two days after the mean one left and still I am getting a good amount of eggs. He is not mean with the girls at all and obviously it had alot to do with their egg production!
So I agree it depends on the roo and I am hoping for babies in the spring!

 

[peeps7]

I agree with all of you, I have 3 roos and the girls love one of them. They hate my younger EE and love my silkie/cochin roo. Azor(Old sterile EE) doesn't breed so they just treat him like their dad or something, it's really funny to watch them.

 

[hencackle]

Whether my roos affect egg production among my hens, I don't know...I've always had roos with them. Currently, I have 2 roos to 21 hens/pullets and they "own" the entire backyard.

The Jersey Giant is the ladies favorite roo, it's obvious to see at night because he has more hens bunched up next to him on the roosts. Same thing occurs during group dustbathing sessions. He has a calm demeanor and he stops more hen squabbles than the EE roo. So, I think he exerts a peaceful influence among the competitive hens. The worst fighting in my flock has occurred between 2 hens instead of between 2 roos. I have seen an impatient hen grab the comb/wattles and pull another hen out of the nestbox, even though there are empty nestboxes. Blood will be shed, feathers plucked until a rooster steps in and stops the fighting.

I know that many BYC'ers live in the city, their flocks limited to a few hens. Perhaps the absence of a roo doesn't really affect them. However, larger flocks may have a dominant hen undergo hormonal changes so that she resembles a rooster and "mates" with the other hens. Obviously, something signaled a need for that flock to have a rooster.

 

[joanc]

I have 2 roos (cockerels) for my 25 hens. The dominant roo is a Silver Spangled Hamburg (Little Roo) and he's smaller than the majority of my assortment of hens (mostly standard, though I think MM hatchery slipped me a banty BO). The other roo is a Buttercup (Cupcake) and he is 6 weeks younger than the rest of the birds.
The girls line up around Little Roo when they want attention. I haven't had any problems with their feathers being plucked out or anything. I have noticed some bloody combs-I figured that is from the hens picking on each other. I have a couple girls who constantly squat for me. Little Roo doesn't come near me, but once in a while he'll mate with a hen some distance away. Chicken discretion??
Up until 1 week ago I had a 3rd roo (Speckled Sussex). He was a beautiful chicken but he was always chasing the ladies around and creating a lot of stress. He was doomed when I caught him chasing down a hen and holding onto her comb until she started bleeding. He was not trying to mate with her--it looked like he was just being a bully. Anyhow, he's in the freezer now.
For my flock, I think the ladies are happier with the 2 smaller roos, only I will be keeping my eye on Cupcake to make sure he doesn't mistreat any of the them.
My ladies started laying in late Sept, and I am now getting 3-5 eggs each day. I haven't noticed a significant jump in egg production since the SS was taken away, but less daylight may also be a factor this time of year.
I love my chickens!!!