Help with Choosing a Rooster

DEChickGal

In the Brooder
May 25, 2020
23
28
36
Sussex County, Delaware
I’m trying to figure out when and how to start choosing the rooster for my ladies...

My 3 month olds Cornish Crosses have 11 hens and 5 roos. I’ve am not sure when is a good age to start picking the rooster for them. One has a bit of a bumble foot so definitely not him and another had ait sac issue (it healed) so I’m thinking he probably isn’t a good candidate. I do have one medium rooster that follows me everywhere and is very sweet.

The others are 3 weeks old and 8 have about (approx guess) 21 hens and 5 roos. Some of these are already showing signs of protectiveness but it seems to soon to tell. They all seem super healthy, alert, and pecking around.

Any help in when and how to pick a good roo would be greatly appreciated.
 
I am assuming you do not mean meat birds?

Feathers hide a lot of sins, pick them up and feel them carefully. Weigh them. Go to the SOP of cornish birds, and see what is considered good, even though these are crosses. Look at their feet, loot at their beaks and head shapes, you do want symmetrical shapes.

Ridgerunner, a notable poster on this sight, says she has better luck with early maturing roosters. So there is that.

But I think you are starting right, culling any that you don't like or that have a weakness or infirmity. Then cull the other way, these 2-3 I do like, cull the others, then make your finale cut.

Definitely do not keep anything that is aggressive, however do know, that when you cull birds, often times that changes the behaviors of the birds left behind. So I would recommend, culling a few, wait a bit, cull a few more, wait and see, then a final cut.

Mrs K
 
I am assuming you do not mean meat birds?

Feathers hide a lot of sins, pick them up and feel them carefully. Weigh them. Go to the SOP of cornish birds, and see what is considered good, even though these are crosses. Look at their feet, loot at their beaks and head shapes, you do want symmetrical shapes.

Ridgerunner, a notable poster on this sight, says she has better luck with early maturing roosters. So there is that.

But I think you are starting right, culling any that you don't like or that have a weakness or infirmity. Then cull the other way, these 2-3 I do like, cull the others, then make your finale cut.

Definitely do not keep anything that is aggressive, however do know, that when you cull birds, often times that changes the behaviors of the birds left behind. So I would recommend, culling a few, wait a bit, cull a few more, wait and see, then a final cut.

Mrs K
Thank you so much. I will probably cull the first 2 then check the behavior of the others. We just didn’t want to do it too early.
 

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