Breed recommendations?

[bryan99705]

I'm looking for a big rough & tumble breed of rooster to protect my flock from ravens. I have a year old leghorn and he's just not big enough to handle the big ravens we have. He's first to the fight but is out-sized and usually gets pretty beat up by the time I can get there or get a rock flying in the right direction. Any suggetions on a breed to look into?

 

[Domestic_goddess]

What about Jersey giants?

 

[LaBaze]

RIR roosters can be really mean, they are big, and protect the flock but if you have kids I would steer clear of the RIR's.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

If your using your rooster to breed with your hens for hatching it'd be good to know what type of hens you have too. Guessing leghorns and also guessing you have them for prolific egg production. I'd get yourself a Rhode Island Red rooster. Excellent flock protector and will complement your existing flock with sex linked prolific laying pullets. The white offspring will be fair cockerel meat birds.

Add: Also any breed of rooster can be aggressive toward humans. I don't believe the RIR has a greater disposition to aggression. Though a docile breed it does have the disposition to dominate other birds and is known to be self sufficent, low maintanance breed. They fend for themselves well.

 

[aShMaNv]

Yep i agree with the RIR. When mine was a year old he fought off a stray dog. He lost a wattle in the fight but he wasn't about to give up. So now his name is rocky.

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

Quote:
Are you saying the ravens are fighting the roosters?? OMG, where do you live? I have never heard of such.

 

[tandersphoenix]

Maybe a couple turkeys or guineas. My turkeys won't let anything in the yard. Guineas are pretty territorial too..

 

[bryan99705]

Thanks for all the advice and ideas. I'll try to answer questions and pick your brains further if I can:


I'm not breeding birds as I'm here "at the North Pole" (Google 99705) with 8 months of winter to temps of -60, no not ready to tackle that one yet. I do have turkeys but they're only about a month old and the ravens have already made a run for them but were stopped by the deer netting but there is no way I'm deer netting a 1 acre field in. I did get both fox last year with a rifle and although there are a lot of them around, the eagles and hawks don't seem to bother our birds. It's however, hard enough to keep a 6' fence upright against the moose. And in case your're wondering, if a grizzly cames in and wipes me out, I'm gonna get chicken pictures glued to stakes and stick them out in the yard!

The RIR sounds like something to check into, I know nothing about Jersey Giants except they're big..... Size is ok but the fight is what I need. I just lost a half grown goose that probably outweighed the raven by a pound! Another part of the issue is getting birds to full size early however I may simply order hens as early as possible and keep the rooster thru the winter in a cage in the garage. That way he'll be full size for the spring battles and I can still have the fun of raising birds plus chicken in the freezer. I told my wife that if this becomes too much of a issue, I'll try catching and raising ptarmigan!

 

[aggie9296]

Good gravy, man! I'd be more worried about the cold than the Ravens!! Tell Santa, "Hi."

 

[bryan99705]

You got it man, we'll be out on a Harley ride with him this weekend. Any special requests for the stocking this year?

Quote: