Choosing rooster

[Sportsman94]

How do you choose what breed of rooster in your flock? First off, Im new to chickens and recently acquired a flock of about 15 chickens ranging from 4 months to a year. They are mostly rhode island red and black australorp with a few mixes of the two thrown in there. There is a those island red rooster, and I believe a couple cockerels as well. Im new and don’t know enough about the appearance differences between males and females when they are young. Eventually, I want to get a lot more variety in my flock because there are so many cool breeds. When you have a mixed flock, how do you decide what breed you want your rooster to be? Is it solely based on appearance and attitude of the individual rooster? I would love to be able to hatch chicks in the future and let some of them be true to breed so I want to pair up my future rooster with hens of the same breed as well. There are just so many options that I don’t know how to choose. Im leaning towards welsummer or blue laced red Wyandotte’s currently, but time will tell. What factors do you consider when choosing a rooster breed for your mixed flock?

 

[CrazyChicken Lady]

My mixed flock is full of colors and when my colorful Rooster passed away I wanted another very bold, colorful roo. I also look for manners as well ( nothing worse then a mean rooster). So when my friend offered a young, handsome, and sweet cockerel I accepted. Also I highly suggest Blue Laced Red Wyandottes, I’ve personally never had them but I’ve heard fantastic things and they are gorgeous birds. So are Welsummers. As for the factors you mentioned,
Looks, Personality, Breed, and age are the factors I pick.
Good luck!

 

[Ridgerunner]

How do you choose what breed of rooster in your flock?

What are your goals with chickens? I try to choose a rooster that is in alignment with my goals. If I hatch chicks with him the father I want a rooster that will help give me the chicks I want. The hen has some say in that too.

If you want to raise the chicks for meat then a larger rooster would probably be good though some of us prefer an early-maturing rooster for that, as opposed to just big. If you are into egg production a rooster doesn't lay eggs so it's harder to guess how he may contribute to that, but if you know how his mother laid you can make some good guesses.

If you want to hatch chicks of a certain breed you want a rooster that actually looks like that breed. I know your question is about breed but it gets a little trickier than that. Some roosters of a breed don't necessarily meet all those breed qualifications.

If you want a colorful flock some will depend on what hens you have. In general a black or white rooster can have a big influence in what color the chicks will be, his colors can dominate over what a hen has to offer. On the other hand, a red rooster tends to father chicks that get a lot of color or pattern from their mother. Certain patterns tend to be dominant, like barring. Some patterns like mottling won't show up in the first generation unless the mother also has mottling.

We all have different goals, experiences, and personal preferences. We'll all choose different roosters for our flock, different hens too.

If you are not planning on hatching chicks then choose a rooster that you think you will like. Maybe something for eye candy.

Some people think breed has a lot to do with a rooster's personality. I don't. If you read enough posts on here you can find stories where a rooster of any breed was a total jerk or another of that breed was an angel. In that respect I consider a lot of luck is involved much more than pure breed. One of my goals is personality but breed doesn't factor in for that. It sounds like you have several males to choose from. For personality I go by how they behave instead of going by breed.

I don't even keep breeds, I keep mixes. My flock's ancestry has Sussex, Delaware, Black Australorp, Buff Orp, Ameraucana (true Ameraucana from a breeder), and Buff Rocks in it. That suits my goals. At one time I had those breeds but now they are just a mix.

Since your youngest is four months old if you post photos of the ones in question we should be able to help sex them. If you can post a close-up of the head showing the comb and wattles (looking for size and color) of each one and a second photo showing the legs, profile, and posture that could help. Maybe try to get a shot of the hackle (neck) feathers in the head close-up. In boys that age they should start to look sharp instead of rounded.

There are just so many options that I don’t know how to choose.

You have hit the problem squarely on the head. As long as you pay a little attention to your goals it is kind of hard to make a truly bad decision. But sometimes you study it to death and make a decision and it just doesn't work out. Good luck!

 

[Sportsman94]

Wow! What an in depth reply. Thank you for that. I guess my goal is to keep myself in a mix of different breeds of chickens (mutts and mixes included). Ideally, I would like the rooster to match one breed of chickens that I have. With that said, it would make the most sense to me to pick a breed that I can’t get locally as easily. I could then make sure I have those purebreds. We have a breeder down the road who has a pretty good variety of chicks for sale throughout the year so I can get several of my girls from him.

I guess I also don’t know anything about chicken crosses and letting different hen/rooster combinations breed. I just assumed that Willie Nillie crosses would result in less egg production. I would plan to raise and eat any cockerels out of my hatches, but would rather breed for eggs/aesthetics instead of meat as the first choice.

I am not quite sure why, but chickens are fascinating to me (guess I’m in the right place!). I’ve wanted them for a long time, but just now moved to an area where it was feasible to do so. I am loving the instant eggs we started getting from this flock, but I already find myself scheming to make room for new varieties! Thanks for all the help

 

[aart]

I would like the rooster to match one breed of chickens that I have.

Then pick the breed you want the most.

 

[NatJ]

I just assumed that Willie Nillie crosses would result in less egg production.

It depends on what breeds are involved. If all the parent breeds are good egg layers, the daughters should lay just fine.

There are just so many options that I don’t know how to choose.

Since you already have some males, I would start by paying attention to them. Notice what things you like, and what things you do not like. If there is one you do not like, butcher him (but remember what you disliked, so you can watch for that in future males as well.)

If you want a rooster of a specific breed, I would either buy an adult, or get several male chicks of that breed so you can select the one you like best and eat the rest.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm probably not doing you a big favor since this stuff can get addicting but I'll give you these links. Henderson's Breed Chart lists many (not all) of the breeds and Feathersite shows what they look like. Many of these are not going to be available to you, they do not come close to showing all the breeds plus many hatcheries are selling various crosses and mixes that are not breeds. Your problem is that you have way too many options.

Henderson’s Breed Chart

http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

Feathersite

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKPoultryPage.html#Chickens

I guess I also don’t know anything about chicken crosses and letting different hen/rooster combinations breed. I just assumed that Willie Nillie crosses would result in less egg production. I would plan to raise and eat any cockerels out of my hatches, but would rather breed for eggs/aesthetics instead of meat as the first choice.

Willie Nillie crosses within the same breed can have the same results. But if you select your best egg layers of that breed (or flock in general) to breed you can often improve breed or flock egg laying.

As far as aesthetics beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you breed purebreds of specific colors and patterns you can predict pretty well what the offspring will look like but once you start breeding crosses all of that is out of the window. You can get some big surprises.

I am not quite sure why, but chickens are fascinating to me (guess I’m in the right place!). I’ve wanted them for a long time, but just now moved to an area where it was feasible to do so. I am loving the instant eggs we started getting from this flock, but I already find myself scheming to make room for new varieties! Thanks for all the help

Yeah, you are in the right place. At a certain level chicken genetics aren't that hard, but the more you dig into it the more complicated it gets. One big challenge is actually putting theory into practice. There are so many combinations and exceptions that you often don't get the results you'd expect. That makes it frustrating but also fascinating.

 

[MROO]

How do you choose what breed of rooster in your flock? First off, Im new to chickens and recently acquired a flock of about 15 chickens ranging from 4 months to a year. They are mostly rhode island red and black australorp with a few mixes of the two thrown in there. There is a those island red rooster, and I believe a couple cockerels as well. Im new and don’t know enough about the appearance differences between males and females when they are young. Eventually, I want to get a lot more variety in my flock because there are so many cool breeds. When you have a mixed flock, how do you decide what breed you want your rooster to be? Is it solely based on appearance and attitude of the individual rooster? I would love to be able to hatch chicks in the future and let some of them be true to breed so I want to pair up my future rooster with hens of the same breed as well. There are just so many options that I don’t know how to choose. Im leaning towards welsummer or blue laced red Wyandotte’s currently, but time will tell. What factors do you consider when choosing a rooster breed for your mixed flock?

Since you're just starting out with chickens and you like a lot of eye candy in your flock, try just keeping your ladies for awhile. They don't need a rooster to lay eggs, and having cockerels the same age as your pullets can cause problems, as the boys tend to mature (aka "get randy,") earlier. That can put a lot of stress on your young ladies. Once you know what you want, you can always add a rooster, later. Or you could keep to the pure breds and just let an incubator or a broody Maiden Aunt hatch a mix of purchased eggs. There are LOTS of options!
This, of course, is why the first thing a new chickeneer is warned about is Chicken Math. Chicken keeping is NOT a hobby ... it's a DISEASE ... and I'm happy to be afflicted!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

It is a disease and there is no cure. But group therapy helps!

 

[Folly's place]

We're all enablers here!
Start with the birds you have, and see how they do. Eliminate and cockerels who want to be human aggressive, or who are causing injuries to their flockmates.
It is easier to raise cockerels with adult hens, at least, because they get lessons in humility, a very good thing. With this small group, one rooster will be plenty, or none this first year, until you have more experience, and those mature hens.
Do read up about biosecurity!!! You won't be happy if a new bird brings some disease into your flock. Here we either raise our own, or get chicks from good hatcheries, or very carefully selected others.
Pictures! post some pictures!
Mary