have hen chicks, and wanting a roo... BUT...

Not all roos are mean. I have a great EE roo that is a big baby. He was raised from a chick and still runs to me to get food and lets me pick him up and pet him. I have 2 hens and he mates with them, but not excessively and they don't have bare backs. I would recommend raising one from a chick though.

 

Hi, Hens will have bare back only if you have too many roosters,I have 12 hen and one rooster and I will keep it this way,I like the rooster because he is watching for the girls in case of danger,and I see some of the hens won't allow him to be mean if they don't want him.At the beginning he was trying to be mean to everybody including me till I read a post on BYC(thanks BYC Members) and dealed with him.He tried to attac me one day so I got in the pen and grabed him from his legs and holded him for few minutes to show him who ruels,I did that for few days and now I swear he is respecting me and he knows that he has to behave or he will be grounded,sounds silly but I did it anyway.Find you a young one about 4 months old and you will be ok.
Best luck.
Omran

 

We have one roo and 15 hens and most of the hens have bare backs. We raised them all from day-old chicks and while he is ok with DBF, he is not ok with me.

I think it really depends on the roo.

 

I got rid of my roo just in time. My wife wanted it out because the crowing was driving her nuts. We raised him from a chick with the rest and with 18 hens you'd think he would have been happy but he was very, very aggressive with the girls and had some favorites..... They seem glad he's gone too.

 

I agree not all roo's are mean i had a big br roo that was a real softie at the time i had a mix breed banty hen that he would mount and when he did u could not see her and the funny part was she was always going brody and would come to him to be mounted. But now i have a welsumer roo thats only mean in the morning after he mounts his first hen he's ok, he will go after anyone other then me and my dog he was raised from a chick and only me and the dog was around him so i tell everyone else to stay away from him and they will be ok.

 

We got a roo (Barred Plymouth Rock) one week ago to go with the 10 hens that we got back in April. He is the same age. We let our girls free range. Prior to coming home with us he had lived in a chicken tractor. He is pretty lusty and vocal. The first owners thought he was loud. I think he just didn't like the tractor. After a couple days of adjusting to his new pecking order, all things are just fine. The first day he wanted to have his way w/ one of my ladies and she grabbed his waddle and hung on while he shook as hard as he could. He learned his lesson and is very gentlemanly now. It was a hoot to watch! My girls are just starting to lay their eggs and he is even starting to guard the coop while they are in there. I think it helps if you commune with them a lot. I chicken whisper to all of them and they love it.

I think one of the reasons we have had good success is that he is glad to be able to free range now. Good luck!