help me do the "Odds" math

Order all pullets - not straight run, and you will still get several cockerels.

 

If you order 6 pullets from a reputable breeder or hatchery， there is a chance you may have one cockerel. If not, there are always some gentle roos looking for home. No matter what type of cockerel you order as a day old chick, you never know if it will turn out to be mean. Aggressive silkie roo, anyone? So the safe solution is to take some one's good-behavior roo for free.

How many cockerel will you get depends on where you get the chicks. If you buy chicks from TSC， more than half of your "pullets" could be cockerels.

 

I've done special order of 3 pullets from a reputable hatchery. These pullets were auto sexing, so the minute I laid eyes on them, I knew they'd sent me 3 roos! One TSC in my state has been known to have a bin of SR auto sexing birds, and they were 100% male. If I were you, and wanted to end up with 11 pullets and 1 cockrel, I'd order 12 pullets and 1 cockrel. That way you're bound to have at least one cockrel. You might luck out hand have all 12 pullets live, or you may end up with a couple of extra cockrels. They're all tasty. So just eat your extras.

 

John, when you order chicks from full sized breeds from a major hatchery you can order pullets, cockerels, or straight run. Straight run means they pick the chicks at random so it’s just plain luck how many pullets or cockerels you get. I once got 7 pullets, no cockerels, from a straight run order. To balance my luck out someone got seven cockerels somewhere. I bet they were mad. To be honest I wanted a few cockerels too. I’ve had some straight run orders that were mostly male too but never 7 out of 7.

The major hatcheries have specialists that squeeze the poop out of a chick’s vent and look inside. They can pretty much tell which ae male and which are female by what they see but it’s not perfect. Most hatcheries guarantee a 90% success rate in sexing. From my experience they are probably a little better than that.

You have another luck problem though. Not all hatchery Easter Eggers lay colored eggs. Some can lay pink or brown eggs. You don’t know what they will lay until you see the first egg.

If I were you I’d order whichever male you decide you want. You might or might not get one with your pullet order. Then I’d order the pullets you say you want, three Brahmas, one Jersey Giant, and one Cochin. But I’d order about three EE’s and prepare to cull any that you don’t want. That should cover you in case you do get an accidental rooster.

 

I'd say that each roo differs, regardless of breed. Some turn out to be angels, others feathered assassins. They are generally worse during their adolescence so don't be surprised to find a roo being an absolute tool when he is 5-8 months (ish) but they can calm down.

There are threads on how to "manage" roos also, so maybe check those out prior to getting one as they will help you out.

All the best
CT

 

I agree with CT, it’s a matter of luck. If you look through the threads on here no matter the breed you’ll find some of any breed that are the sweetest thing ever and some that are holy terrors.

Don’t confuse an adolescent cockerel with a mature rooster, they are entirely different things. Many cockerels cannot control their hormones, most roosters can. When do they mature into a rooster? Anywhere from 6 months to a year. It varies. Most of those “holy terrors” I mentioned above were actually cockerels but so were some of the “sweetest things ever”.