Culling roo's. Who to keep?

[wvplucker]

I got 24 chicks at TSC thinking I would about be 50-50 hens and roos. Well I only ended up with 6 roo's. I think I'll keep 2. They are Rhode Island Reds. I have two that look fine, long green tails, and are the dominant ones when they interact. The other roo's are missing tail feathers (presumably because of the two dominant ones.). Only concern is the two dominant ones have much larger combs. I am close to Pittsburgh and we get about 10 to 15 single digit to negative degree temps. Should I keep the dominant ones to help protect the gals? We do have a Great Pyrenees pup that just loves being around the chickens. Should I keep the more docile ones with the smaller combs, and just know the dog will keep them safe? Does it even really matter? Regardless, 4 of them are going to the freezer Saturday. I tried hard to re-home them with no luck.

 

[chicmom]

I love a pretty rooster, but this is how I would decide. I'd watch them interact with the hens, and keep the one that treats the ladies the best. Which means, showing them food, watching over them, not mating too roughly.

Hope that helps.

 

[mmaddie's mom]

Quote:
Good advice... you don't need a mean roo to take care of the flock... I always keep the one who is good to his hens and me... he will fight for his girls!

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

I have also heard (not personal experience however) that hatchery RIR roos can be mean, esp with people

Might want to look at an alternative if you have a good one available

 

[booker81]

mmaddie's mom :

Quote:
Good advice... you don't need a mean roo to take care of the flock... I always keep the one who is good to his hens and me... he will fight for his girls!

Same here - I'm in the process of slowly culling roos. One down, and I have two candidates right now that are just waiting for a weekend to open up....That leaves me with two that so far are showing nice traits - the gigantic RIR who is laid back and fairly polite when mating, and the handicapped SLW roo who doesn't really mate, but he likes to share treats with his girls. The girls like to hang with him....my husband thinks he's, well, you know, wishing he could lay eggs.

The other two are not as brutal mating as the one we had for dinner, but they are still pretty rough, much more rough than the giant RIR boy.​

 

[wvplucker]

So nobody is really concerned with the larger comb and the cold winter temps? That was a big concern, frostbite and all. They aren't as big as a leghorn, but a couple of them have much larger combs and wattles.