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@Alexandra33 I love your stories, your attitude and your approach! Resonates with me perfectly. I'm so glad to read that that approach works! I was very uncomfortable with the idea of creating enemies, and that's exactly what the harsh approach you describe will do. I'm sorry you had to go through that, and I'm glad you've reached peace. I would LOVE to see videos of your flock! I'm so glad to hear that keeping a rooster won't necessarily take away from my bond with the hens, too. I'm sure it depends on a lot of things, and isn't black and white. I think I am going to try keeping a rooster after all, and if it doesn't work out for some reason... well, there's the pot 
I get it, and I agree. But the way you put it though... I just can't stop laughing, haha.
@CalBickieMomma Every story matters, as it adds another piece of the puzzle and completes the picture of chicken behavior. After all, you don't get a full view of things until enough people have weighed in for you to start noticing trends. Otherwise, isolated anecdotal evidence isn't helpful. I'm glad to read that you haven't had a lot of aggressive roosters in your experience. Makes me feel better about the whole thing - maybe it isn't common, but just a few people have gotten very unlucky... We had chickens when I was growing up, too, but they were "food chickens", not pets (meat and eggs). I still made friends with each batch anyway. The roosters were cool until they came of age, then they loved terrorizing us kids... Maybe because we were kids, and the adults weren't doing anything to control the situation (why are y'all up in the rooster's business anyway, get the eggs and get outta there! kinda attitude, haha). I did, however, have a pet rooster at one point. My sister and I nursed him back to health after he got sick as a chick, and then just kept him as our buddy. He had his own room in the house to sleep in and free reign of the whole yard, bonded strongly to us and was the most affectionate I could have ever imagined a bird to be. He died of a broken heart when we had to move away and leave him with my grandparents though... He was still on the same property and had his original flock there, but he'd have none of it... Grandma said he cried for us non-stop, stopped eating and just sat there looking sad, until he grew weak and died. He had just come of age and was shaping up to be such a nice rooster. I never got over it... So, in his memory, I want to have pet chickens again, and whatever their personalities end up being, hens or roosters, that guy set the bar so high that I'm gonna have to try to not be disappointed if they don't measure up
I get it, and I agree. But the way you put it though... I just can't stop laughing, haha.@CalBickieMomma Every story matters, as it adds another piece of the puzzle and completes the picture of chicken behavior. After all, you don't get a full view of things until enough people have weighed in for you to start noticing trends. Otherwise, isolated anecdotal evidence isn't helpful. I'm glad to read that you haven't had a lot of aggressive roosters in your experience. Makes me feel better about the whole thing - maybe it isn't common, but just a few people have gotten very unlucky... We had chickens when I was growing up, too, but they were "food chickens", not pets (meat and eggs). I still made friends with each batch anyway. The roosters were cool until they came of age, then they loved terrorizing us kids... Maybe because we were kids, and the adults weren't doing anything to control the situation (why are y'all up in the rooster's business anyway, get the eggs and get outta there! kinda attitude, haha). I did, however, have a pet rooster at one point. My sister and I nursed him back to health after he got sick as a chick, and then just kept him as our buddy. He had his own room in the house to sleep in and free reign of the whole yard, bonded strongly to us and was the most affectionate I could have ever imagined a bird to be. He died of a broken heart when we had to move away and leave him with my grandparents though... He was still on the same property and had his original flock there, but he'd have none of it... Grandma said he cried for us non-stop, stopped eating and just sat there looking sad, until he grew weak and died. He had just come of age and was shaping up to be such a nice rooster. I never got over it... So, in his memory, I want to have pet chickens again, and whatever their personalities end up being, hens or roosters, that guy set the bar so high that I'm gonna have to try to not be disappointed if they don't measure up
It sounds as though you've gathered A LOT of rooster experience over the years! Just goes to show they can make incredible pets....even more so than many hens. 
How sad that not everybody has experienced the special love of a roo. Nothing quite compares.
Little ham, posing for pictures. 
Thank you. As bad as things were in the beginning of my rooster-raising career, I'm thankful for the valuable lesson they taught me.
). Hopefully you can tell how tame both hens AND roosters are. 
Is it legal? 
I just built the floor and one of the walls for my chicken coop. One step closer...
