Best Rooster for My Flock?

[valesmichelle]

Hello,
My flock consists of:

• Pure Rhode Island Reds
• Red Sex Links (Cross between RIR Rooster and Red Sex Link Hens)
• Red Rocks (Cross between RIR Rooster and Barred Rock Hens)
• Rhode Island Blue (Cross between RIR Rooster and Black Australorp)

My question -
I'm looking at getting a Rooster. I do NOT want a Rooster that is aggressive towards adults (we don't have kids), but I do want one that is protective against predators, as our area (living on the lake) has an abundance of Hawks and Eagles. We also have a stray dog or two from time to time. Our hens will NOT be what you would call Free Range, but they will have plenty of space in their run and we may let them out of their run from time-to-time to forage in our yard when we are with them. We live in a small community with no rules. Most of our neighbors are weekenders in the Summer and not all of them visit the majority of the time anyway. So, I'm not worried about the neighbors.

I may possibly decide to incubate a few eggs for anyone who may want to start their own flock or add to their current flock, so I would also like a Rooster that would make pretty babies with my babies.

Your thoughts and suggestions are appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time.

Michelle

 

[5 Points Wingfeather]

I think you have two options.

1. You can find someone who is getting rid of a well behaved rooster and just be very diligent about keeping him separate for a while to make sure you aren’t bringing in a disease.

Or

2. You could get 5-6 baby chicks already sexed male and keep the one you like best.


If it were me with your flock makeup I would probably get a Rhode Island Red or Blue or an Austrolorp or Jersey Giant. The latter two are known for being more mellow than the Rhode Islands but honestly every chicken is an individual; there’s no sure thing.


Just my opinion.

 

[NatJ]

I do NOT want a Rooster that is aggressive towards adults (we don't have kids), but I do want one that is protective against predators, as our area (living on the lake) has an abundance of Hawks and Eagles. We also have a stray dog or two from time to time.

There are no guarantees, with any rooster.
If you are sure about how you want him to act, you may want to get an adult rooster from someone (maybe look in the rehoming section of this forum). That will give you less choice of breed, but the chance of more information on the specific individual rooster.

It's pretty common for people to butcher annoying cockerels or roosters, but to rehome the really nice ones. One of those might be just what you're looking for.

Hello,
My flock consists of:

• Pure Rhode Island Reds
• Red Sex Links (Cross between RIR Rooster and Red Sex Link Hens)
• Red Rocks (Cross between RIR Rooster and Barred Rock Hens)
• Rhode Island Blue (Cross between RIR Rooster and Black Australorp)

I'm guessing you got those from a hatchery or store, and copied what they said about the breeds. But you were given wrong information on most of them.

--Red Sex Links never have a "red sex link" for their mother. For genetic reasons, that is impossible.
--RIR rooster crossed with Barred Rock hens produces black sexlinks, not "red" anything (unless they are using a really strange name for hens that are mostly black!)
--Rhode Island Blue is definitely a hybrid of some kind, but if they are blue they must have a blue or a splash parent. Crossing RIR with Black Ausralorp will never give blue chicks.

I would also like a Rooster that would make pretty babies with my babies.

Given your list of hens, I would go with any breed of rooster that shows some black and lots of red or gold. So he could be Rhode Island Red, or Gold Laced, or Buff Columbian, or quite a few other options.

With those hens, such a rooster should produce some black chicks, some blue chicks, probably some white chicks (maybe solid white, maybe with some black or blue on them as well), and some chicks that have a lot of red or gold in their coloring. The red or gold ones will have some amount of black, blue, or white as well (maybe just the tail, maybe on more of the body, depending on what other genes are involved.)

 

[Folly's place]

Also, do you want high egg producing chicks, or larger bodied cockerels good for eating? Then add New Hampshire to your list. Also the Plymouth Rocks in the right colors.
Raise a number of cockerels, so there's hope that one or two will work for you.
Mary

 

[valesmichelle]

I think you have two options.

1. You can find someone who is getting rid of a well behaved rooster and just be very diligent about keeping him separate for a while to make sure you aren’t bringing in a disease.

Or

2. You could get 5-6 baby chicks already sexed male and keep the one you like best.


If it were me with your flock makeup I would probably get a Rhode Island Red or Blue or an Austrolorp or Jersey Giant. The latter two are known for being more mellow than the Rhode Islands but honestly every chicken is an individual; there’s no sure thing.


Just my opinion.

Thank you for your suggestions. I have thought about a Barred Rock, RI Blue, and Australorp, but not a Jersey Giant. I will look into them and I will most definitely raise it from a chick so it is used to me and I know what I get.

 

[valesmichelle]

There are no guarantees, with any rooster.
If you are sure about how you want him to act, you may want to get an adult rooster from someone (maybe look in the rehoming section of this forum). That will give you less choice of breed, but the chance of more information on the specific individual rooster.

It's pretty common for people to butcher annoying cockerels or roosters, but to rehome the really nice ones. One of those might be just what you're looking for.


I'm guessing you got those from a hatchery or store, and copied what they said about the breeds. But you were given wrong information on most of them.

--Red Sex Links never have a "red sex link" for their mother. For genetic reasons, that is impossible.
--RIR rooster crossed with Barred Rock hens produces black sexlinks, not "red" anything (unless they are using a really strange name for hens that are mostly black!)
--Rhode Island Blue is definitely a hybrid of some kind, but if they are blue they must have a blue or a splash parent. Crossing RIR with Black Ausralorp will never give blue chicks.


Given your list of hens, I would go with any breed of rooster that shows some black and lots of red or gold. So he could be Rhode Island Red, or Gold Laced, or Buff Columbian, or quite a few other options.

With those hens, such a rooster should produce some black chicks, some blue chicks, probably some white chicks (maybe solid white, maybe with some black or blue on them as well), and some chicks that have a lot of red or gold in their coloring. The red or gold ones will have some amount of black, blue, or white as well (maybe just the tail, maybe on more of the body, depending on what other genes are involved.)

Thank you for your response and education. I actually got the chicks from a friend. I came up with those breed names myself, only because I'm new to how the breeds are labeled these days and I just assumed if you cross a RIR Rooster with a Barred Rock Hen, you would get a Red Rock. And, from what I have read online a RIR Rooster crossed with a Black Australorp is called a RI Blue. But, then again, who can trust the internet these days. I don't remember ever hearing of a Red or even Black Sex Link when I was kid, but that was over 40 years ago. So, I do appreciate you sharing your knowledge.
Thank you, as well, for sharing your suggestions. I will research a Gold Laced and a Buff Columbian and I really never thought about a Rooster being rehomed. Most people I know just cull the Roosters. I was thinking if I raised a Rooster from a chick, I would have a better chance at taming it. But, I will keep rehoming in mind.

 

[valesmichelle]

Also, do you want high egg producing chicks, or larger bodied cockerels good for eating? Then add New Hampshire to your list. Also the Plymouth Rocks in the right colors.
Raise a number of cockerels, so there's hope that one or two will work for you.
Mary

Thank you. My flock is just for egg laying, not eating. I'll research the New Hampshire as well.

 

[5 Points Wingfeather]

Thank you for your suggestions. I have thought about a Barred Rock, RI Blue, and Australorp, but not a Jersey Giant. I will look into them and I will most definitely raise it from a chick so it is used to me and I know what I get.

Again this is just my opinion but I would get more than one. I’ve raised 3 roosters from chicks to adulthood. One was a terror. One was good 95 percent of the time and his misbehavior was only mild. And the 3rd has never even threatened harm. We raised all three the same way. It’s kind of a crapshoot.

 

[valesmichelle]

Again this is just my opinion but I would get more than one. I’ve raised 3 roosters from chicks to adulthood. One was a terror. One was good 95 percent of the time and his misbehavior was only mild. And the 3rd has never even threatened harm. We raised all three the same way. It’s kind of a crapshoot.

Good to know! Thank you.

 

[NatJ]

I don't remember ever hearing of a Red or even Black Sex Link when I was kid, but that was over 40 years ago.

Sexlinks are pretty common now.

For any kind of sex link, someone crosses one kind of rooster with a different kind of hen, and the chicks can be sexed by color when they hatch. This works because some genes are on the Z sex chromosome, so a hen inherits those genes only from her father, and a rooster inherits them from both his mother and his father. (Chickens have sex chromosomes ZZ for males, and ZW for females, and the females determine the gender of the offspring. Yes, that is backwards of how mammals work.)

Red sexlinks are based on the gold/silver gene. They are sold with a wide variety of names: Golden Comet, ISA Brown, Red Star, Gold Sexlink, and many others. I know some of them existed at least 35 years ago, but I think they are more common now than they were then. (Gold females, silver males.)

Black sexlinks are based on the barring gene (puts white bars across the feathers, and a white dot on the head of the chick when it hatches). On chickens that would otherwise be mostly black, the difference is very easy to see. (Barred males, not-barred females.) I don't know how long they've been around, but I think a fairly long time.

Blue sexlinks use the barring gene just like black sexlinks, but both genders also have the blue gene. Blue is just to make them look pretty, and has nothing to do with sexing the chicks. They are fairly new, probably appearing in the last decade or less. They have become pretty widely available in the past few years.