borrowed rooster (?)

[canesisters]

This may be answered somewhere else but I haven't been able to find it...

Please don't laugh (too hard) but is it possible to 'borrow' a rooster for a few weeks but not have to keep one all the time?? Does he have to live with and be part of the flock to do his roostely duties? I like the idea of growing my flock by letting them hatch out a few eggs now and then, but not real keen on the idea of having a rooster all the time.

 

[lynnemabry]

don't know about borrowing but unless you have an incubator or a broody hen you will not get chicks. and a hen never goes broody when you want one too it seems.

plus if you hatch eggs you will get roos and then have to plan for them.

if you don't want a full time roo your best bet is to just by sexed day old chicks

good luck

 

[donrae]

Quote:
Good answer!

A roo needs to be with the hens in order to mate with them--I assume that's what you're referring to? Thing is, you can't just throw him in there and have him jump your girls. He needs to woo and court them first, most hens won't submit right away to a strange roo, they may even injure him.

 

[flspnr]

I have no idea, but just wanted to say thanks for asking. I had the same question floating around my head today, since I'm not allowed to have roosters where I am.

 

[canesisters]

Yeah, that's kinda what I was thinking - that the girls would gang up on him and have him cowering in a corner.
And I'm embarassed to admit it... but I should'be thought about getting baby roos before I 'opened my mouth" ...

'DUH!"

Thanks for your kind and patient replys.. I think that when I'm ready for more, I'll get them the slightly less old fashoned way.

 

[NovaAman]

Thats funny, cuz I am going to borrow the neighbors Wyandotte Roo next spring. He's a 4 monther right now, so... HOWEVER that said, he's also free ranging like my girls, so they've already crossed paths and they come over to steal food from the feeder and get bread, seeds and worms when I am out and my girls do the same to the neighbor. Its kinda funny. A few times a day I have 10 more chickens and a few times a day, she has 17 more! LOL.

However THAT being said, I wouldn't borrow a rooster from someone for a few weeks. Don't think it'd work out to well. You need a few weeks in a rooster pen, for flock health reasons, then you have to put him in the run, but confined till the girls are used to him, then in the coop with them confined till they are used to that, and the let him out with them and see how it goes. You are looking at atleast a month of just slow integration, and then a month or two till you get enough hens fertilized to have a cache of eggs to hatch...

SO maybe it would just be easier to get day old like PP said and give them to a broody hen, or brood them yourself for a few weeks.

 

[donrae]

Quote:
Please don't feel bad! You'd feel worse posting in a few months about "I hatched out all these roosters and I love them but can't keep them but I don't want anyone to eat them cause I love them so what do I do?" Those posts are way too common, and if we can prevent them we're thrilled! If there was a way to sex an egg at fertilization, that'd be a whole different story!

 

[dantodd]

You can buy fertilized eggs and let one of your girls sit and hatch them.

 

[fshinggrl]

Honestly, I would not do it but instead buy fertilized eggs. What if the rooster has a disease? Then there is the problem of introducing a chicken to an established group of hens. Just food for though.