Curious about roosters and predators

[McChooky]

My neighbor keeps his chickens in a 4 ft fence with roosters & a guardian dog . Predators have killed every chicken AND rooster that gets out of the fence but he still has 10 inside. Get a guardian dog.

 

[Mosey2003]

Best case scenario is the rooster does alarm calls and all can flee in time. Second best case scenario is the rooster actually tries to fight off a predator, in which case most of the time it will die trying.

Personally, I don't keep roosters as sacrifices, they're for breeding, so I securely contain my birds.

 

[McChooky]

Best case scenario is the rooster does alarm calls and all can flee in time. Second best case scenario is the rooster actually tries to fight off a predator, in which case most of the time it will die trying.

Personally, I don't keep roosters as sacrifices, they're for breeding, so I securely contain my birds.

I agree wholeheartedly but people will continue to throw roosters in a flock of free ranging hens as sacrificial tokens because its expensive to feed penned up chickens compared to free ranging them.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I agree wholeheartedly but people will continue to throw roosters in a flock of free ranging hens as sacrificial tokens because its expensive to feed penned up chickens compared to free ranging them.

Trying to clear this up so I don't take it the wrong way and get offended for no reason.

Are you saying that free ranging birds is only so they're cheaper or that putting roosters with them is as cannon fodder?

 

[Mosey2003]

Since I commented on it, to me free ranging can be for many reasons, not simply because it's cheaper.

But people ask constantly about getting roosters ONLY for predator protection while their hens free range. And yeah, that falls under cannon fodder to me and it's not something I'd do. You can scroll through any chicken forum or group on FB and see tons and tons of posts asking, "Will a rooster protect my hens from _______?" or "How big of a rooster do I need to fight off hawks that are after my hens?" and on and on.

On the one hand, it's perfectly fine if you want to do that, lord knows there are enough roosters around. On the other, I feel like a lot of newer people get the wrong idea and think that the rooster is going to come out tops in a fight and don't take any other precautions, and I just get tired of seeing it.

 

[McChooky]

Since I commented on it, to me free ranging can be for many reasons, not simply because it's cheaper.

But people ask constantly about getting roosters ONLY for predator protection while their hens free range. And yeah, that falls under cannon fodder to me and it's not something I'd do. You can scroll through any chicken forum or group on FB and see tons and tons of posts asking, "Will a rooster protect my hens from _______?" or "How big of a rooster do I need to fight off hawks that are after my hens?" and on and on.

On the one hand, it's perfectly fine if you want to do that, lord knows there are enough roosters around. On the other, I feel like a lot of newer people get the wrong idea and think that the rooster is going to come out tops in a fight and don't take any other precautions, and I just get tired of seeing it.

Most roosters free range without fences or guardian dogs or overhead coverage from predators and soon as a hens killed they're labeled worthless and thrown in a soup pot.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Most roosters free range without fences or guardian dogs or overhead coverage from predators and soon as a hens killed they're labeled worthless and thrown in a soup pot.

Thats not really accurate..... at least most places

 

[McChooky]

Trying to clear this up so I don't take it the wrong way and get offended for no reason.

Are you saying that free ranging birds is only so they're cheaper or that putting roosters with them is as cannon fodder?

My apology to those who were offended by my comment.This wasn't my intent, sorry! My own father loved his chickens dearly and free ranged leghorns 40 yrs .

 

[JacinLarkwell]

My apology to those who were offended by my comment.This wasn't my intent, sorry! My own father loved his chickens dearly and free ranged leghorns 40 yrs .

It's fine, I'm just trying to make sure I'm only taking offense to posts that legit are digging at me. I know it's easy to misread online and wanted to make it clearer to myself as well what you meant