Better to have large rooster or small rooster

[LaurenRitz]

I have all large breed dark and mottled birds. I have deliberately mixed in Jersey Giant, but the first JG roo lost his life defending his girls against a dog. One of his sons is now protecting the flock. It's a good thing that they're fertile early!

Hawks and owls will fly by, look, and try elsewhere. I think that is primarily because of size, but the young birds do look like ravens. The hawks have never taken any of the chicks either. All the girls are large as well, I'm guessing around 7 pounds.

Build now for your future generations. If you want large birds in the future, you probably don't want to introduce small hens. It's not just the rooster that matters in the long term.

I mixed in some quickly maturing breeds to balance the JG slow growth, got some high production layers to balance the lower production of the heritage breeds, and so on.

The first JG x RIR crosses were quick maturing. They took more after the RIR side. Their sister looks pure JG, with the JG slower growth. The dog attack got one of the pullets. The other isn't old enough to lay yet so I don't know if she'll follow the JG pattern of laying at about six months, or the RIR pattern.

In the long term it doesn't really matter, since this is just the first mix. When the JG x RIR cross mixes with the Speckled Sussex, mixes with the Bielefelder x Black Australorp, the Ranger, the Marans, the Buckeye, over generations I should get to my goal. A self-sustaining, large dual purpose breed with excellent foraging skills that thrives in cold and heat and has good predator evasion.

8 week old Bielefelder x Black Australorp

 

[NatJ]

I’m trying to weigh out my options. I want a cost effective but self sustainable flock. Egg production is important and down the line I would like to have the option for meat production as well. Well I’m stuck between a rooster like a leghorn or a black Jersey giant. The rest of my hens are going to be mixed. Susssex, Orpington, whiting blue, leghorn, etc. some of these are just for eggs like the leghorn but if mixed with a Jersey giant rooster then the offspring of all of them will be larger than the hen theoretically. But also i would say my current rooster is the biggest free loader. I would hate to feed a Jersey giant and not get eggs from it. What do you guys think?

Big rooster = protection and the chick babies are good breed mix

Small rooster = less free loading because less food intake but also means less protection

You can eat chickens of any size.

Given that you want eggs now, and you will want eggs in future too, I would go with a good egg-type rooster (maybe a Leghorn).

Chicks with a Leghorn father will not grow as big as chicks with a larger father, but they should mature quickly. You can save time and feed by butchering them at a young age, knowing they will never get much bigger anyway. Feeding several fast-growing chickens to a young/small size can be more efficient than feeding a single slow-growing chicken to a big size, in terms of how much feed is needed to get you how much meat.

If you are looking for protection against predators, I agree with the other posters that a bigger rooster may not be any better as a protector. In fact, a Leghorn-sized rooster might do better than a larger one, because he is probably faster and more agile.

If you want a black rooster, you are not limited to Jersey Giants. Black Leghorns do exist, and Black Minorcas are moderately common. Chicks sold as Blue Andalusians will typically include some black ones as well. Anconas are black with white mottling. All of those breeds should be pretty good layers, relatively fast to mature, along with being quick and agile when they decide to do something (whether that "something" is running for a treat, chasing a predator, or anything else.)

(What I recommended is just one option. There can be good reasons to do something different, and I do not know what will actually be the best choice in your situation.)

 

[Klutch]

You need a Brown Leghorn roo.

 

[chickenlover8969]

I’m trying to weigh out my options. I want a cost effective but self sustainable flock. Egg production is important and down the line I would like to have the option for meat production as well. Well I’m stuck between a rooster like a leghorn or a black Jersey giant. The rest of my hens are going to be mixed. Susssex, Orpington, whiting blue, leghorn, etc. some of these are just for eggs like the leghorn but if mixed with a Jersey giant rooster then the offspring of all of them will be larger than the hen theoretically. But also i would say my current rooster is the biggest free loader. I would hate to feed a Jersey giant and not get eggs from it. What do you guys think?

Big rooster = protection and the chick babies are good breed mix

Small rooster = less free loading because less food intake but also means less protection

Have you checked out plymouth rocks?