Cuckkoo Maran rooster selection.

AnnieFoothills

Chirping
Jan 26, 2021
23
65
79
Okotoks, Alberta, Canada
I have 8 rooster and 6 hens from my batch of chicks from April. They are fast approaching 16 weeks age and I have culled two roosters already. They were cowering the coop all day.
I plan to keep one rooster.
I am unsure about my flock behaviour. There are two- three roosters that are out of the coop, ranging on the grass ( electric netting in place) but the girls and a few boys are hanging around inside the coop. Will this improve once the numbers of rooster reduce?
Which boy should I keep, one who is hanging inside with the girls, or one that makes a lot of noise outside?
I dont want a rooster who doesn’t let girls roam outside? Or will rooster cull just even things out a bit and the girls will get adventurous.

many thanks for words of wisdom.
 
What are your goals for keeping a rooster? Are you planning on hatching chicks? If you are not, then why do you want one? You need to know your goals so you have a better chance of getting what you want. Often, especially with someone just starting out, that's not easy.

If you are planning to hatch chicks what do you want those chicks to be like? If it is important to you that they look like the breed standard then get a copy of your Canadian breed standard and see which boy comes closest to that. If you want to raise the chicks for meat then look at the boy that gets bigger at the age you want to butcher them. Roosters don't lay eggs so it's pretty hard to use egg laying as a criteria unless you know how well their mothers or grandmothers laid eggs..

Behaviors are a lot harder to judge. Right now you don't have hens and roosters, you have immature pullets and cockerels. Behaviors can change a lot as they mature. Watching them go through puberty can be rough because there is often violence involved, between the boys and how they act with the girls. Typically when the boys and girls all mature things calm down a bunch but it can be wild until they do. They don't all mature at the same rate. Another big problem is that the more dominant boys can suppress behaviors of the less dominant, which often means less mature boys. If you remove a dominant boy the one remaining can flip in behavior. Trying to judge how a cockerel will behave when he is both immature and being held in check by a more dominant male, either mature rooster or immature cockerel, can be extremely challenging. I don't always get it right.

I don't know how much room you have either, inside or out. Typically the more room you have the better. One thing that can happen with immature cockerels is that their hormones are driving them crazy to mate with the girls but the immature girls don't want to have anything to do with them. Sometimes the girls will stay in the coop and maybe even on the roosts to avoid those rowdy boys. Even if you have a lot of room outside that can happen but the less room you have often bad behaviors are magnified. I have a lot of room outside and this hardly ever happens, but it can. It's a little unusual for those other boys to stay inside like that, but that probably means they are slow to mature.

In other words, what you are describing doesn't sound all that unusual to me.

I know what my goals are, what I want to chicks to be like. I typically have 15 to 25 cockerels a year to choose from. One of my goals is playing with genetics so I typically keep a new rooster every year. I start by butchering the ones that obviously don't meet my goals, take the easy ones first to narrow it down. It's usually pretty easy to get down to the last 2 or 3. Then it can get hard, but at the same time all of them might be a pretty good choice. As I said I still sometimes get it wrong as far as behaviors because behaviors is one of my criteria. With more than one boy certain behaviors can be suppressed.

One of my goals is early maturity. Part of that is they put on more meat earlier, which is better for my meat goals. But I think it helps with behaviors too. At the end of the day the rooster has to be the flock master for the flock to function a it should. The hens have to respect the rooster. A weak willed rooster with no self-confidence often has trouble managing that. Instead of winning them over by the sheer strength of his personality and magnificence he has to rely more on brute force. I find the transition to a peaceful flock can be easier with a self-confident boy (which generally means early maturing) but getting through puberty can still be pretty rough.

One he matures a good rooster welcomes the girls outside. Reducing the number of boys can help that process a lot too. But whether you have one or eight boys, getting through puberty can be rough to watch. As long as no one is getting hurt I don't worry about it but violence is often involved, either between the boys or wit the girls. You do need to watch for injury.
 
I have 8 rooster and 6 hens from my batch of chicks from April. They are fast approaching 16 weeks age and I have culled two roosters already. They were cowering the coop all day.
I plan to keep one rooster.
I am unsure about my flock behaviour. There are two- three roosters that are out of the coop, ranging on the grass ( electric netting in place) but the girls and a few boys are hanging around inside the coop. Will this improve once the numbers of rooster reduce?
Which boy should I keep, one who is hanging inside with the girls, or one that makes a lot of noise outside?
I dont want a rooster who doesn’t let girls roam outside? Or will rooster cull just even things out a bit and the girls will get adventurous.

many thanks for words of wisdom.
Once you are down to 1 rooster the flock will stay with him. The hens will pretty much have to accept the one you choose. For myself, I kept the largest one of the Barred Holland cockerels I raised. They can be too small, they are a pretty rare breed and are supposed to be dual purpose -- meat from the cockerels and lots of eggs from the hens. I would suppose that Marans would have the same goals, with the addition of dark eggs. Check them out, and keep the one that has the widest back and pelvis, the biggest feet, and is healthy. Of course you would not keep one that was attacking you, either! Next year you can see the results of the choice in your young chicks.
 
What are your goals for keeping a rooster? Are you planning on hatching chicks? If you are not, then why do you want one? You need to know your goals so you have a better chance of getting what you want. Often, especially with someone just starting out, that's not easy.

If you are planning to hatch chicks what do you want those chicks to be like? If it is important to you that they look like the breed standard then get a copy of your Canadian breed standard and see which boy comes closest to that. If you want to raise the chicks for meat then look at the boy that gets bigger at the age you want to butcher them. Roosters don't lay eggs so it's pretty hard to use egg laying as a criteria unless you know how well their mothers or grandmothers laid eggs..

Behaviors are a lot harder to judge. Right now you don't have hens and roosters, you have immature pullets and cockerels. Behaviors can change a lot as they mature. Watching them go through puberty can be rough because there is often violence involved, between the boys and how they act with the girls. Typically when the boys and girls all mature things calm down a bunch but it can be wild until they do. They don't all mature at the same rate. Another big problem is that the more dominant boys can suppress behaviors of the less dominant, which often means less mature boys. If you remove a dominant boy the one remaining can flip in behavior. Trying to judge how a cockerel will behave when he is both immature and being held in check by a more dominant male, either mature rooster or immature cockerel, can be extremely challenging. I don't always get it right.

I don't know how much room you have either, inside or out. Typically the more room you have the better. One thing that can happen with immature cockerels is that their hormones are driving them crazy to mate with the girls but the immature girls don't want to have anything to do with them. Sometimes the girls will stay in the coop and maybe even on the roosts to avoid those rowdy boys. Even if you have a lot of room outside that can happen but the less room you have often bad behaviors are magnified. I have a lot of room outside and this hardly ever happens, but it can. It's a little unusual for those other boys to stay inside like that, but that probably means they are slow to mature.

In other words, what you are describing doesn't sound all that unusual to me.

I know what my goals are, what I want to chicks to be like. I typically have 15 to 25 cockerels a year to choose from. One of my goals is playing with genetics so I typically keep a new rooster every year. I start by butchering the ones that obviously don't meet my goals, take the easy ones first to narrow it down. It's usually pretty easy to get down to the last 2 or 3. Then it can get hard, but at the same time all of them might be a pretty good choice. As I said I still sometimes get it wrong as far as behaviors because behaviors is one of my criteria. With more than one boy certain behaviors can be suppressed.

One of my goals is early maturity. Part of that is they put on more meat earlier, which is better for my meat goals. But I think it helps with behaviors too. At the end of the day the rooster has to be the flock master for the flock to function a it should. The hens have to respect the rooster. A weak willed rooster with no self-confidence often has trouble managing that. Instead of winning them over by the sheer strength of his personality and magnificence he has to rely more on brute force. I find the transition to a peaceful flock can be easier with a self-confident boy (which generally means early maturing) but getting through puberty can still be pretty rough.

One he matures a good rooster welcomes the girls outside. Reducing the number of boys can help that process a lot too. But whether you have one or eight boys, getting through puberty can be rough to watch. As long as no one is getting hurt I don't worry about it but violence is often involved, either between the boys or wit the girls. You do need to watch for injury.
I am not going for show breed standard. Ultimately I would like to keep a rooster for future chicks, either a natural brooding or incubator.
This weekend my partner and I will eat some of the earlier cull roosters, and from that, work out whether it is worth the effort of letting the roosters mature.
I definitely want eggs, and the option to grow a larger flock/ replenish stock is the reason for keeping one top rooster.
 
Once you are down to 1 rooster the flock will stay with him. The hens will pretty much have to accept the one you choose. For myself, I kept the largest one of the Barred Holland cockerels I raised. They can be too small, they are a pretty rare breed and are supposed to be dual purpose -- meat from the cockerels and lots of eggs from the hens. I would suppose that Marans would have the same goals, with the addition of dark eggs. Check them out, and keep the one that has the widest back and pelvis, the biggest feet, and is healthy. Of course you would not keep one that was attacking you, either! Next year you can see the results of the choice in your young chicks.
Thankyou, none of the boys are attacking me so far. But that can change…..
I guess after this weeks taste I can work out where I am headed.
 
I am not going for show breed standard. Ultimately I would like to keep a rooster for future chicks, either a natural brooding or incubator.
This weekend my partner and I will eat some of the earlier cull roosters, and from that, work out whether it is worth the effort of letting the roosters mature.
I definitely want eggs, and the option to grow a larger flock/ replenish stock is the reason for keeping one top rooster.
The fertile eggs was also my reason to keep a rooster. Now that I have to not keep a rooster since my neighbor complained, I will be getting my fertile eggs from the friend who is getting my rooster. I split the Barred Holland chicks with her, that has always been our deal. So, you do not have to keep a rooster at all. I like the way the rooster breaks up the hen squabbles. He will stand between the White Rock that is picking on the lowest ranked hen, and then breed her! I will miss having a rooster in the flock.
 
Thankyou, none of the boys are attacking me so far. But that can change…..
I guess after this weeks taste I can work out where I am headed.
You can go one by one, you do not have to decide on all boys in one day. I eat even the small ones, they all taste like chicken! Small ones are the best on the BBQ. :drool I have had some that only dressed out to 1 1/2 lb, they are good eating. Just a lot of work for the meat you get.
 
My thoughts before my initial post was keep the top boy. None of the boys are extra fighty (yet) and the girls were out to the feeder this morning when I topped it up.
I am looking forward to eggs again.
Thankyou all for your replies so far.
It depends if you decide you like eating the boys or not. Depending on your area and how popular your Marans are where you live, you might sell a few cockerels. Where I live cockerels are not allowed once they start to crow. So, there is no market to sell the extra boys.
 

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