Best roo for protecting my hens from predators?

[briana1975]

We use turkeys for extra watchful eyes to the sky and their size keeps our family's smaller dogs away. Actually the toms find it fun to intimadate the dogs, or it looks that way to me. We do have a couple roosters and our silkie actually stopped a hawk from getting at the hens, but again our large tom was right there with him so maybe the hawk saw that big bird and decided it was more than he could handle. We put all the bird in a secure coop that I actually pad lock at night. I do not think our roosters or turkeys would be much of a match for the racoons or anything else that would be prowling around after dark.

 

[willheveland]

Quote:
This is the only useful answer you've gotten. The notion that a cock bird will defend against preditors is another BYC myth/fact.

Very true, but the question the op asked was "which rooster is best to protect her hens", not what fence or what building materials. If you want them to free-range and live alittle natural a good rooster is very important to your flock. BYC myth/fact/opinon/ some cocks with stand up to anything,yes anything. Reguardless of the size. Sure they might not kill a german shepard but, that dog may never see out of both eyes again.
Crows won't even dare land in my yard,or as soon as they touch down the roos are there.
I never could figure out how Cockbirds got the name "chicken". They are far from that. Will

 

[Pathfinders]

Quote:
I'll answer this again, and be more blunt this time (as my previous answer was taken to be evasive for some reason.)

No breed of rooster will be good for protecting your hens from predators, especially dogs/foxes/coyotes, raccoons/opossums/mink/weasels/martins, or much of anything else really.

To ensure your hens will be safe, you need to protect them yourself with the things I listed earlier. If you rely on a rooster to protect your hens, you will eventually lose some or all of your birds. Sad, but true.

 

[SteveH]

Quote:
I'll answer this again, and be more blunt this time (as my previous answer was taken to be evasive for some reason.)

No breed of rooster will be good for protecting your hens from predators, especially dogs/foxes/coyotes, raccoons/opossums/mink/weasels/martins, or much of anything else really.

To ensure your hens will be safe, you need to protect them yourself with the things I listed earlier. If you rely on a rooster to protect your hens, you will eventually lose some or all of your birds. Sad, but true.

I agree , we are living in the 21st century and the human population of this nation versus wild lands or uninhabited properties dictates certain precautions . On the other hand there are some people living a more primitive life in rural areas and still breeds that are more suited to living a more primitive life of " fly , run , fight , or die " .

 

[eggboy]

I do keep my hens secure but I was just wanting to know if I got a rooster if it would give extra protection for my hens.

 

[M To The Maxx]

Get a standard breed roo. Like a RIR, BR, BO or EE roo. My EE roo was very protective of his hens. My BR ooster is very protective. My Self Blue OEGB was very protective. Lastly my Silkie roo was very protective.

 

[willheveland]

Quote:
Yes, In my opinon they do. If you free range much, often the Roo will keep them rounded up together and if trouble comes kinda sounds the alarm(so to speak). If you watch them, many times if a hen gets drifting off from the flock a Roo will chase her back in the group. The only predator I've lost chickens to were neighbors dogs running loose. Both times the dogs came into the yard and the roos intentionally put themselves between the hens and the dog. Both times I lost the roos but all of the hens were unharmed. One roo I watched got carried off with his head and feet dangling,as soon as the dog put him down to get a better grip he came alive and ran into the woods.Still drawing the dog away from the hens. Three hours later he was back in the coop.

In a book I have from the Notebooks of Herbert Atkinson of Ewelme, it talks about an Old English Game Rooster that was documented killing over 12 rats in one night from a coop that eggs were getting destroyed.(eaten by the rats).
So if someone were to ask me if having a roo would give extra protection for their hens,I'd say "Yes, they do." Will

 

[M To The Maxx]

Quote:
I'll answer this again, and be more blunt this time (as my previous answer was taken to be evasive for some reason.)

No breed of rooster will be good for protecting your hens from predators, especially dogs/foxes/coyotes, raccoons/opossums/mink/weasels/martins, or much of anything else really.

To ensure your hens will be safe, you need to protect them yourself with the things I listed earlier. If you rely on a rooster to protect your hens, you will eventually lose some or all of your birds. Sad, but true.

I disagree with what you put in bold. My Self Blue OEGB roo Thunder KILLED a hawk 3 times his size protecting his hens. The hawk I guess swooped down and tried picking up my Red Cochin Frizzle Omelet and Thunder came over and kicked his butt. I went out and saw Thunder standing on top of the hawk. How do you know he did it? You may ask. Well Thunder was covered in blood and so was the hawk. So you are wrong. But I guess you are right for the most part. That will not happen with a lot of people. RIP Thunder RIP

 

[Svarthona]

A roo can not protect his girls from all predators, but a good roo will try his best to do so.

Imho.

At night a safe chicken-house is of course the only effective protection, so night time predators aside. But during daytime when free-ranging a roo really adds to the safety of a flock imo.

While the girls are focused on food and chicks, he will watch out and warn them from predators. So the flock has the chance to flee and hide before they get attacked.
Given the chance he will attack predators, to at least try to protect his girls and giving them more time to get away.
Success/survival of roo and flock will depend on the predator and the flock I guess.

I´m not sure how much a sheltered live in a predator safe housing for generation after generation affects the ability of a flock to operate like this. Though I assume that the natural selection and learning process which is taking place in a free-range flock contributes to it that careful birds / protective roos have more opportunities to pass their genes along to the next generation since they live longer.
I have a rustic

free ranging flock whose ancestors have probably been free ranging since forever and they act differently from other more protected living flocks I´ve seen. Especially new started flocks via incubation seem to be prone to predators, so maybe broody raised in an functioning flock is another thing to think about besides the varying aggressiveness of the breed.

 

[NYREDS]

Quote:
I have had preditor problems twice in the last 20 years. one was an Opossum, the other was a Mink. In both cases every bird in every pen the critter got into was killed. Cocks & hens alike. Any preditor that can kill a hen can kill a cock just as easily.
Since Crows aren't preditors I'm not sure what it matters if they land in the yard or not.