House rooster: an ethical dilemma

[Criticalicious]

Somewhere recently I read a story of a young woman who raised a house rooster in her apartment because he was orphaned and he goes everywhere with her. She's his everything, and there was never a question of putting him outside with a flock of hens. I believe fate (or God- whatever you want to call it) sends a special animal into our lives. If he seems healthy and happy, you're OK with him in the house, and he clearly refuses chicken companionship, enjoy your time with him!

 

[BarredRockMom]

Somewhere recently I read a story of a young woman who raised a house rooster in her apartment because he was orphaned and he goes everywhere with her. She's his everything, and there was never a question of putting him outside with a flock of hens. I believe fate (or God- whatever you want to call it) sends a special animal into our lives. If he seems healthy and happy, you're OK with him in the house, and he clearly refuses chicken companionship, enjoy your time with him!

I agree! Enjoy your time together & each others company. Clearly, he came into your life for a reason. I hope that you tell him that we all think he's handsome & that he's a celebrity now! He's just going to eat that right up. You just see if he doesn't puff up a little with pride, lol.

 

[chickens really]

He definitely sees you as his Flock and your house as his territory. With time he will adjust to being outside with Chickens. You could set up a small Coop and Run for him. Introducing him to other Hens on neutral ground would be best.

 

[Amatsuhono]

You've never truly lived until you've seen a buff orphington cockrel try to breed a basketball.....

Our neighbor has some 'special' birds (all buff orphs, probably about 20, 10 of which are males). My husband saw the whole thing going on out the window and called me over, asking me what the heck the bird was doing (country girl with multiple agriculture degrees vs. city boy).

This tenacious little dude kept trying to mount the basketball which kept rolling away, probably about an hour later I was in the yard and he'd managed to wedge it into the corner of the fence and was going to town on it... I just couldn't even... I will always make sure my roos have enough hens to go around so my toddlers toys don't become chicken sex toys...

 

[BarredRockMom]

You've never truly lived until you've seen a buff orphington cockrel try to breed a basketball.....

Our neighbor has some 'special' birds (all buff orphs, probably about 20, 10 of which are males). My husband saw the whole thing going on out the window and called me over, asking me what the heck the bird was doing (country girl with multiple agriculture degrees vs. city boy).

This tenacious little dude kept trying to mount the basketball which kept rolling away, probably about an hour later I was in the yard and he'd managed to wedge it into the corner of the fence and was going to town on it... I just couldn't even... I will always make sure my roos have enough hens to go around so my toddlers toys don't become chicken sex toys...

. Now THAT shows dedication, patience, an ability to problem solve AND think outside the box!!
Seriously, one of THE funniest chicken stories I've heard!

 

[Jenr1981]

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate your thoughts. As I said I don't think it will be possible to integrate him into my existing flock because I already have two roosters. I also have strong reservations about rehoming him since I know there are so many spare roosters. I tried to sell my second outdoor rooster at one point because I didn't really need two and no one was interested. Even when I advertised him as free there were few responses and I got the feeling they wanted him for free meat. So it would be very difficult for me to find a good home for him which is very important to me since I am so attached to him.

The option is there to try again to rehome my second outdoor rooster and integrate the house rooster in his place, but then am I trading one life for another simply because I personally prefer the indoor rooster? I willingly hatched these roosters so I am responsible for giving or finding them good homes. Although I am not entirely against people processing chickens, I would struggle with handing over a rooster of mine directly to be slaughtered unless I absolutely could not keep him for the sake of too much noise and neighbour complaints for example or if the hens were being injured by him etc. So I think realistically I will have to keep all three roosters which will mean keeping the house rooster where he is, unless one of the outside roosters starts causing problems or dies young (they are a couple of years older than the indoor roo).

However I do still wonder if the indoor rooster would benefit from some regular wtime alone with the hens/a single hen?

Keep him and make it work. You are his flock now. He knows nothing else being hand raised. As long as he's healthy and fed he's happy. Just like my hand raised house rooster. He goes free in and out of his personal pen outside as he pleases then he comes in at night to sleep.

 

[Jenr1981]

My baby

 

[Pharmgirl3d]

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate your thoughts. As I said I don't think it will be possible to integrate him into my existing flock because I already have two roosters. I also have strong reservations about rehoming him since I know there are so many spare roosters. I tried to sell my second outdoor rooster at one point because I didn't really need two and no one was interested. Even when I advertised him as free there were few responses and I got the feeling they wanted him for free meat. So it would be very difficult for me to find a good home for him which is very important to me since I am so attached to him.

The option is there to try again to rehome my second outdoor rooster and integrate the house rooster in his place, but then am I trading one life for another simply because I personally prefer the indoor rooster? I willingly hatched these roosters so I am responsible for giving or finding them good homes. Although I am not entirely against people processing chickens, I would struggle with handing over a rooster of mine directly to be slaughtered unless I absolutely could not keep him for the sake of too much noise and neighbour complaints for example or if the hens were being injured by him etc. So I think realistically I will have to keep all three roosters which will mean keeping the house rooster where he is, unless one of the outside roosters starts causing problems or dies young (they are a couple of years older than the indoor roo).

However I do still wonder if the indoor rooster would benefit from some regular time alone with the hens/a single hen?

Just keep him inside and enjoy his company as he enjoys yours, I also have a house rooster he’s a bantam silky little guy named Roscoe. He was picked on, so he is a house rooster and he’s very happy.