Do hens prefer to have a rooster?

[princess araucana]

We live in a residential neighborhood so decided to not have any roosters because they crow.
We got unsexed chicks and ended up with a rooster. He is actually pretty quiet and not too aggressive with the ladies. He is still less than a year old so maybe he will get louder. Also it's winter so windows are shut.

I have a good home for him to go to but am tempted to keep him if he stays quiet.

Question is: do the girls prefer to have a man around?

 

[silkiechicken]

I think my girls like to have their man around. They follow him around... or he follows them around, and he give them goodies to eat if he finds them. Flock just looks more complete and less like a feminist group on a rampage. LOL

 

[redneckgirl]

my hens went without a rooster for a while, after my old guy died.
but when I got a new guy, the flock looked more complete and he helps them out a lot... (p.s. I like him more than they do...)

 

[ella]

Most of my girls love the boys. When I seperated them with half the roosters in one yard and half in the other I had hens flying over fences to be with the roosters they preffered.

The ones who were too heavy to fly would pace along the fence line. So I finally just put them where they wanted to be.

I do have a couple of hens who don't like the roosters like Lucy the RIR, and Ella is molting right now and doesn't want to bother with them.

But for the most part yes, they do love their roosters. They snuggle up underneath them while roosting and just sunbathing. And the lower ranking hens will be glued to the roosters side as they eat from the feeder because the boys will protect them from other hens.

Mind this is 5 years into it. My young roosters are still terribly hormonal and the hens avoid them. But they'll mellow with age and right now the older guys keep them in line.

 

[setter4]

I have 10 hens and zero roosters. My girls seem quite happy.

My favorite shirt ever said "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle"

I have a DH and I love him dearly but I don't think your hens need a roo to be happy.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

My hens seem fine without a roo. i hatched out a beautiful white silkie roo this past year and thought i would keep him. After reaching "that age" i tried to put them all together. He made a fool of himself trying to figure out how to do the deed, many times flying completely over the backs of the hens and landing on his keester. They were distressed and so was he, so i found him a nice new home. i'm not adverse to having a rooster if i could fine a mellow guy who didn't crow until our eardrums bled.

If you like your roo and they all get along, why not keep him? It's probably not easy finding a nice, gentle, relatively quiet rooster.

 

[colby318]

I just my 51 pullets outside with adults today. The 2 grown roos are on lockdown in a dog crate in the coop until I know they won't outright kill the little ones. My ten adult hens split immediately into 2 factions: those with no feathers on their backs thinks it's margaritaville/ladies' night out and are having a blast. Those who don't get bred much are glued to the rooster's cage. Sort of like hysterically weeping groupies. I had to put a blanket over the roosters to calm them (and the groupies) down.
Go figure.

Oh, the little ones? They're blending right in.
Colby in KY

 

[FrontPorchIndiana]

As much as it pains me to admit it, I think they really do like having the rooster around. The rooster is the flock protector and sounds the alarm if anything is amiss. So they like the feeling of security. If they are raised from chicks together they're especially attached to each other.

 

[dixiechick]

I have to agree...shh, don't tell. One of my roos is sick and inside the house tonight, the other is locked in a separate pen until after the Florida Sunshine Classic next week (He's lovin' the feathers off of one of my best hens)...

and the girls are a little off-key without their fellas around....

 

[Rhett&SarahsMom]

I think mine are happier now that ours is gone. He attacked me twice.

Now that he is gone the girls get more attention and I am not walking around with a rake when I come up to the coop and run.