Help me decide which rooster to keep!

[MorwenSeregon]

I have two roosters and only space for one. I’m leaning toward keeping the OE, but I’m not sure if I’m making the right choice.

Profiles:

BCM:
+ 1.5 years old
+ pretty coloring
+ softer crow
+ gentle
- over mated all the hens last year
- not a great defender of the girls
- feathers on feet

OE
+ has a cute beard
+ no feathers on feet
+ vaccinated for Mareks
-5 months old (will he overmate?)
-somewhat friendly but also feisty and bites (better defender )
- hasn’t crowed yet so we don’t know how loud he is

I know if someone who might be able to give one a good home, I just don’t know who to keep! Do any more experienced chicken people have advice?

 

[ChicNmom]

I currently have a 5 month old and I'm having the best time watching the older girls train him and show him his boundaries.

Do you have some time to watch and see how the younger one will turn out?

 

[MorwenSeregon]

I currently have a 5 month old and I'm having the best time watching the older girls train him and show him his boundaries.

Do you have some time to watch and see how the younger one will turn out?

Yes, the roosters are t challenging each other, so I think I have some time. I just get worried they’ll hurt each other. I guess as long as I figure it out before they get physical it will be okay.

 

[Mrs. K]

The best way, is to pick one, remove the other and watch. See how the girls react, see how the flock feels. If you like it, that is the choice. If you don't, give that one away, and try the other one. But of course this depends on you having a dog crate or something, for him to stay in.

Another good thing if you are breeding - is to look carefully at their feet, beak, and wings- you want good symmetry, no crooked toes, beaks lining up. Wings well placed on each side.

Do know, that either might not work out. Sometimes they don't. And also know, that the minute you give one away...you will become reasonably positive that you should have kept the other one...like me.

Mrs K

 

[MorwenSeregon]

The best way, is to pick one, remove the other and watch. See how the girls react, see how the flock feels. If you like it, that is the choice. If you don't, give that one away, and try the other one. But of course this depends on you having a dog crate or something, for him to stay in.

Another good thing if you are breeding - is to look carefully at their feet, beak, and wings- you want good symmetry, no crooked toes, beaks lining up. Wings well placed on each side.

Do know, that either might not work out. Sometimes they don't. And also know, that the minute you give one away...you will become reasonably positive that you should have kept the other one...like me.

Mrs K

I’m sure I’m going to have doubts either way. Thank you! This sounds like a good thing to try.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Because you mentioned BCM you've peaked my interest.. I'm slightly biased towards them having just started as a beginner breeder and a flock of 30 ish Marans.

So here's a few thoughts and questions to ponder.
What's your goals with having a rooster? Just eye candy or do you want to breed more for whatever reason?
You've gotten some good suggestions and I'm looking at your pros above.

Depending on how nice looking your BCM is to the breed standard and what hens your flock consists of you can breed and sell Black Coppers, you can also produce more Olive Eggers mating him to EE's and by backcrossing these Olives back you get differing shades of color and also produce a Marans hybrids (what some hatcheries call Midnight Majesty Marans) if you have Barred Rock hens (sex linked) all of which lay popular egg colors.
He was over mating last year but take in to consideration he was a hormonal teenager then. He should be mellowing out now but if he is still over mating still your OE cockerel coming to age could be causing this competition. You say he's gentle now...
As far as not being a great defender/protector? Not sure what your expecting there but most roosters won't fight off a predator. If they do try, most will die trying. There are exceptions to this, but my experience is they should be just an early warning system to get his hens to safety.

On to the OE.. I don't know a lot about breeding these other than breeding OEs to anything else is just a mix and will always produce just a mix as there is no breed standard. Using him to continue breeding OEs gets you different shades of Olives if eggs are your goal. He's still too young to know what his attitude is going to be especially having a second male present competing for the hens.

If I was picking, again I'm biased but my thoughts are..you have more options with your Black Copper.
Or you could have 2 separate flocks and have the best of both worlds if that's an option.

Just to add an fyi... I have 2 separate flocks. My Black Coppers I'm breeding towards the French SOP and darker eggs so that's my obsession studying and learning genetics and I have a mixed flock which includes the breeds mentioned above with their BCM roo is my fun flock to produce the Marans hybrids and Olive Eggers on the side for selling cool egg colors and I sell what cockerels and pullets I don't want from each flock.

Hope some of this helps with your decision...

 

[Ridgerunner]

What are your goals for having a rooster? The only reason you need one is if you plan on hatching the eggs. Anything else is personal preference. Nothing wrong with personal preference, I have a few of those myself. Plenty of us free range flocks with no roosters. Others would not have a flock without a rooster, even if they don't want fertile hatching eggs or free range.

To me that is your first decision, do you keep either. If yes, then why do you want to keep one? What are your criteria? If you are hatching eggs what are the chicks for: eggs, meat, eggs and meat, bug patrol, eye candy, to show or raise to a breed standard, a combination of these or something else? Some people like a flock where every chicken looks the same while others like a wide variety. Does eggshell color matter? My goals are different from @wrathsfarm and @Mrs. K I suspect yours are different from all of us. Your goals are the ones that matter, not ours. But if we know your goals we may be able to help.

You do not have two roosters. You have what should be an established family man. He's mature enough that you should be able to see how he treats his hens and they respond to him. Do they willingly squat for him or does he have to chase them down if he wants to mate. That shows how much they respect him. It's not unusual for a hen to run a few steps when he shows interest. As long as she squats when he chases her things are OK. She's a tease and just wanted to know if he was really interested. But if he has to chase one down and force her that hen does not respect him and you should not either. Is he human aggressive?

Consider your 5-month-old an immature cockerel, similar to a teenage boy. Some are more mature and responsible than others. Some can be relatively calm but many can get pretty wild, especially if unsupervised. He's not worried about supporting a family, his hormones are telling him to have fun.

One complication you have in assessing him is that he is supervised. The dominant rooster is probably suppressing his behaviors. Each rooster and cockerel is different, each have their own personalities so it is hard to generalize. But what often happens is that the rooster suppresses the cockerel from crowing, mating, tid-bitting the ladies, and other behaviors he would express on his own. Especially in the rooster's presence. It is hard to assess how an immature cockerel will behave when he matures even when he is alone with the flock. It is harder if a dominant rooster is there. At some point that cockerel will probably mature to the point that he challenges the rooster for flock dominance. That could be later this week. It could be months away. Sometimes that is resolved with a little intimidation. Often it involves vicious fighting. With living animals you never know.

This is based on my observations and opinions. Others have different observations and opinions. if you can tell us what you want we may be able to help you decide but ultimately it has to be your decision.

 

[MorwenSeregon]

Because you mentioned BCM you've peaked my interest.. I'm slightly biased towards them having just started as a beginner breeder and a flock of 30 ish Marans.

So here's a few thoughts and questions to ponder.
What's your goals with having a rooster? Just eye candy or do you want to breed more for whatever reason?
You've gotten some good suggestions and I'm looking at your pros above.

Depending on how nice looking your BCM is to the breed standard and what hens your flock consists of you can breed and sell Black Coppers, you can also produce more Olive Eggers mating him to EE's and by backcrossing these Olives back you get differing shades of color and also produce a Marans hybrids (what some hatcheries call Midnight Majesty Marans) if you have Barred Rock hens (sex linked) all of which lay popular egg colors.
He was over mating last year but take in to consideration he was a hormonal teenager then. He should be mellowing out now but if he is still over mating still your OE cockerel coming to age could be causing this competition. You say he's gentle now...
As far as not being a great defender/protector? Not sure what your expecting there but most roosters won't fight off a predator. If they do try, most will die trying. There are exceptions to this, but my experience is they should be just an early warning system to get his hens to safety.

On to the OE.. I don't know a lot about breeding these other than breeding OEs to anything else is just a mix and will always produce just a mix as there is no breed standard. Using him to continue breeding OEs gets you different shades of Olives if eggs are your goal. He's still too young to know what his attitude is going to be especially having a second male present competing for the hens.

If I was picking, again I'm biased but my thoughts are..you have more options with your Black Copper.
Or you could have 2 separate flocks and have the best of both worlds if that's an option.

Just to add an fyi... I have 2 separate flocks. My Black Coppers I'm breeding towards the French SOP and darker eggs so that's my obsession studying and learning genetics and I have a mixed flock which includes the breeds mentioned above with their BCM roo is my fun flock to produce the Marans hybrids and Olive Eggers on the side for selling cool egg colors and I sell what cockerels and pullets I don't want from each flock.

Hope some of this helps with your decision...

In my dreams I will win the lottery and have lots of space for chickens with a bachelor coop! But for now, I can only have one coop. We aren’t especially looking the breed them, but you have a good point about egg colors if we do decide to. We have some Americaunas.

I think we’re mostly looking for someone to protect the flock. And maybe an early warning is all we’re really going to get.

Such a hard decision! Thanks for the input!