Good mixed flock rooster?

[Folly's place]

Welcome! Ordering only one cockerel will be tricky, because any individual can be nice, or not. Both genetics and management matter.
Salmon Favorelles are beautiful and tend to be very mellow souls. The hens can be too gentle to manage in a mixed flock, but a cockerel might be just the right bird for you.
Bantam Brahmas are really nice too. I've had both the buff and the light bantams, and the cockbirds were lovely.
EE boys are iffy; you might get wonderful, or not.
My few BC Marans cockbirds were nice too.
Consider ordering more than one cockerel, and watch them grow, and choose one to keep. Only do this if you WILL give the others up!
Mary

 

[lazy gardener]

2 each of barred rocks, buff orpingtons, silver & gold laced wyandottes, welsummers, easter eggers, and cuckoo marans, all hens.

You might consider looking at the "Sex Linked Information" thread. If you order the right rooster, you stand a very good chance of getting some good sex linked chicks in your first generation of home raised birds. That would be my goal.

As for your ? about an EE roo passing on the blue egg gene: that will be hit or miss. (It would also be hit or miss if he would even possess the right genetics to produce any sex linked chicks.)

My avatar roo had one copy of the blue egg gene, so about 1/2 of his daughters laid those colorful eggs.

If the hatchery you are ordering from has true Ameraucanas, you could order a black Am, and he would be guaranteed to pass on the blue egg gene. And he would have the right coloring to produce BSL with your cuckoo Marans and your PBR, and red sex links with your wyandottes (I'd have to check the chart regarding the GLW), and possibly your BO. (Again, I'd have to go check the chart on that one.)

Otherwise, if there is one particular breed in that mix that you really like, I'd choose a roo of that breed also.

 

[GreenEggsAndHens]

After looking around more I’m really liking how welsummer roosters look. Can’t go wrong with the cornflakes rooster right??
My husband wants a buff so we will see.
Does anyone keep welsummers?

 

[chickens really]

Hello...I have a Dark Brahma Rooster and he is fantastic..Such an all around good guy..Fantastic with the Hens are helps raise the Chicks too..

 

[aart]

Keep in mind that a cock/erels demeanor has much more to do with the keeper(s) behaviors than the breed of bird.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

I'm not an expert by any means, but I have had no aggression problems with my 5 Welsummer roosters (they are perfect gentlemen IMO) and they are gorgeous.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

After looking around more I’m really liking how welsummer roosters look. Can’t go wrong with the cornflakes rooster right??
My husband wants a buff so we will see.
Does anyone keep welsummers?

Yah that's all I have. 30 of them

 

[song of joy]

Two cautions about Brahma and Cochin roosters: They are very large, which may be an issue with smaller hens. Also, if I recall correctly, feathered legs are a dominant trait, so all of their offspring will have feathered legs.

Your best bets for hens that might go broody are buff orpington and black australorp.

 

[Mrs. K]

When you get the mail order chicks, give them a drink of water immediately. There may be one or two that do not make the trip. Or die shortly afterwards, but I have had pretty good luck with them.

As for ordering a rooster, I really prefer a rooster that was raised up in a multi-generational flock, not with just hatch mates. No one lives in their chicken coop, a rooster chick rapidly becomes bigger than the other chicks, and interested in sex a long time before the pullets, and with nothing bigger to teach him some manners often becomes aggressive.

These chicks are often more personable, outgoing, and tend to be become people pets. Which they lose all fear of people, and often later the darling becomes the nightmare.

I suggest that you wait till your hens are laying, and look around you for a rooster in someone else flock that has been schooled by older hens and a rooster. He is so nice, that he was spared being culled. That is the rooster that you want. Roosters are cheap, and easy to find.

Good luck
Mrs K

 

[GreenEggsAndHens]

I'm not an expert by any means, but I have had no aggression problems with my 5 Welsummer roosters (they are perfect gentlemen IMO) and they are gorgeous.

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Beautiful bird!!! I think I’m going to end up with welsummers. I just love them more and more each time I look at them online.