Can roosters be "LOANED"

[Xerocles]

Perhaps this is a self-evident answer. But with many Chicken tenders living in areas where roosters are legally not allowed. Can roosters be loaned? My bull is very protective of his herd, but if loaded and taken to another Farm he does not hesitate to do his neighborly duties. My stud horse loves to go visiting. And even my buck rabbit likes to meet unfamiliar does. But chickens? They are so clannish. Without a proper and often extended introduction chickens do not seem to get along well. Has anyone tried a foreign rooster into a flock of hens? For a city dweller not allowed to have roosters, at first blush this would seem a solution for those with hens, who want to raise chicks with their hens bloodlines. With one breeding producing enough sperm for a two-week "supply" enough fertilized eggs should be produced to develop a reasonable clutch of eggs. Find a hen who is starting to go broody, let her visit with a neighbor's rooster. And hatch your own chicks. Avoid losses caused by rough handling in shipping eggs. And know exactly what bloodlines you would be getting.
Has it already been done and covered in BYC? I searched but could not find anything on this. Anybody?

 

[Kiki]

No...too much risk of spreading diseases. Bad idea in my opinion.

 

[sourland]

It could be/has been done, but is a bad idea as @Texas Kiki has suggested because of the possibility of disease transmission.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I agree with @Texas Kiki risk of spreading disease would be great. Could be your rooster brings in something or takes home something.

I'm not sure if there would be even be a 'market" for that in backyard chicken keeping. Whoever had hens only, may want to hatch their own eggs, but they would still end up with "unwanted" cockerels --- but that happens often anyway.

Artificial Insemination is used in poultry - look up videos on youtube, it shows you how - the few videos I have watch, once collected, they pretty much have a hen ready to "receive" the specimen. Most are breeders or commercial operations that are using this method for their own lines/breeds.

 

[SarahGfa]

I have a small flock and no rooster. I would borrow a rooster if it came from a neighbor, since my chickens have probably already been exposed to the same diseases.

There is a company called Rent-a-coop that rents out a few hens at a time, and I think most of their customers are city dwellers. It is not a bad idea, in my opinion.

 

[centrarchid]

Concerns of disease issues are easy to stress as they can shut down further investment, without a lot of effort, in how to swap genes between flocks .

There are situations where such an exchange is worth the effort. Both owners first need to come to consensus on health status of birds / flocks to be used. Then a quarantine area for both locations is setup. Some roosters are slow to act after being moved so I would have female moved to males quarantine for conjugal visit(s). Before taking hen, make certain she is conditioned in isolation from males for at least 3 weeks if no genetic markers to detect sperm from undesired male housed with female before isolation starts. She needs to be in lay. Male I would acclimate to his quarantine area for a couple days to make certain he will not be too stressed to be properly randy when he is to do the deed. Take her to male's quarantine and allow them to do the deed a few times over a couple of hours at least. Then return hen to her quarantine area and begin collection of hatching eggs while she goes through hen owner's quarantine regimen. Owner of male can be going through quarantine process before returning him to his normal quarters.


We used to do something similar without as much consideration for health issues as stressed today. We would setup walks (free-range breeding locations) where a rooster (often on loan from another breeder we knew well) was introduced to hens (1 to sometimes as many as 6 of our stock from a particular line) at the onset of breeding season. Hens would become broody and raise a brood or two of chicks before the male is collected by time he started going into heavy molt. Offspring of the efforts where then harvested as approaching sexual maturity roughly during September. To be certain of parentage on female side only one female could be used. Normally higher numbers would be desired at expense of knowing maternity, but females used were more often that not full to half-siblings anyway.

Artificial insemination (AI) is not difficult, but will likely be less reliable for a novice or potentially two novices in this case. Even AI is not risk free with respect to disease (certainly some health issues can be transmitted sexually) and you have to trust semen collector is taking semen from bird you want. It is easy to find examples where somebody botches this part even in humans, sometimes purposely.

There are other approaches that could involve extended borrowing to collect more hatching eggs which potentially reduces value of rooster to his owner for that season.

 

[123RedBeard]

If one is willing to transport a bird yourself locally, to reduce the poor shipping of eggs ... why not just transport the eggs yourself? (If you'll drive a rooster to the neighbors, why not take eggs instead?)

While I do understand the desire to sometimes hatch a half relative of their favorite hen ... it just seems like too much hassle and risk to me ...

And then the same "problem" shows up ... if your not allowed to have roosters in the first place, and you want a sperm donor ... what are you gonna do with all the little cockrells that hatch?

Lots of people don't want the hassle and cost of keeping a bull around all year, for one calf ... so paying a stud fee makes sense.

 

[aart]

why not just transport the eggs yourself?

Because the hen one wants might not be where the cock is located.

 

[123RedBeard]

OP mentioned ...

Avoid losses caused by rough handling in shipping eggs

 

[SarahGfa]

If one is willing to transport a bird yourself locally, to reduce the poor shipping of eggs ... why not just transport the eggs yourself? (If you'll drive a rooster to the neighbors, why not take eggs instead?)

While I do understand the desire to sometimes hatch a half relative of their favorite hen ... it just seems like too much hassle and risk to me ...

And then the same "problem" shows up ... if your not allowed to have roosters in the first place, and you want a sperm donor ... what are you gonna do with all the little cockrells that hatch?

Lots of people don't want the hassle and cost of keeping a bull around all year, for one calf ... so paying a stud fee makes sense.

My idea is a little bit different from the OP. I am thinking of something like those Rent-a-chicken companies that let people rent a chicken for 6 months to see what it's like before they buy their own flock. I would like to rent a rooster for a few months to see if he is nice to the hens and if he is a man-fighter. If things work out, then I would either buy hatching eggs or let him breed with my hens. Sort of like speed-dating, but for chickens. Maybe the new company could be called Rent-a-Roo

Roosters are allowed here, but people without a lot of space don't want to waste time raising roos that might not be any good.