How do you decide what rooster to keep?

[Cammo77]

If you're worried about early morning crowing I built a "rooster condo" in our coop for the last cockeral we had. It stopped him from crowing at 4:30am but still crowed at 6am just before they got let out.

 

[Sussex19]

I like the most intelligent cockerels.
The ones that use their brains, to actually think about things, rather than just allowing their hormones to drive them.
It is hard to put my finger on what I mean by this, and I think it just comes with time.
But to give an example:
I had to catch one of a young cockerels flock mates. He couldn't see it was me, or what was happening, from where he was.
The one I grabbed was making a big fuss, and he heard it.
He came in charging around the corner, in full on protection mode.
And then he saw that it was me.
He stopped, you could see his eyes change to understanding, and left me to it. He didn't particularly like me, just knew me as the person that fed them, but never allowed me near him. It certainly wasn't affection which made him stop, just an understanding that he didn't have to do anything.

 

[BDutch]

8 and 2.5

I wouldn’t keep a full grown cockerel or young rooster that defends his harem. Not with young children, unless he is caged 24/7 and children have no acces.

Take the next step (or not) after his hormones have settled and you learned how he behaves.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Ultimately, what matters is that we keep one that isn’t aggressive towards our kids. And isn’t jerk to our hens.

Most cockerels are going to be jerks toward the pullets and hens when they are cockerels. Their hormones are out of control and tell them to dominate. If you can get through that phase many if not most cockerels mature into roosters that take good care of their hens. That phase can be hard to get through.

You do not have older mature hens. Sometimes a hen, usually the dominant one, will beat up a cockerel so she can maintain control of the flock. At some point he will mature to the point that he decides to take over as flock master. Sometimes that is a peaceful transition; sometimes it gets really vicious if she does not want to give up her position. I don't hold him responsible for that, it is normal and natural that the rooster is dominant. Often, once they fight it out they become best of buddies. She is still the dominant hen, you always have one, but she does not attack him when he mates another hen. Hopefully you will avoid all that drama. Your cockerel should mature faster than your pullets.

Some cockerels never grow out of that jerk phase. You won't know that until he gets older. You don't need to keep one of those, there are too many good ones out there.

A huge problem in making this selection is that the cockerels affect each other. Sometimes the competition brings out the worse in their behavior. Sometimes the more dominant suppresses the weaker so you don't have an idea how he will behave if he becomes the one in charge. Cockerels are a crap shoot. Several of them may suit your needs very well. It is also possible there is not a good one in the entire group.

I'll tell a story on the human aggression thing, especially with small children. A few years back a man on this forum had a flock where the rooster was fine around his kids. Then one day his 5-year-old son started chasing the hens. His parents thought it was hilarious watching him. The rooster did not agree, he attacked the kid for harassing his flock. After that, every time that rooster saw that kid he attacked. What had been a great rooster could not be kept any more because of that kid chasing the hens.

Some roosters are a danger to any human, they can draw blood and threaten eyes. Young kids are more vulnerable, they have trouble defending themselves or escaping and their eyes are at a level where they are more in danger. You do not want one of these around. Roosters can change in an instant, often for reasons you don't understand. People have been raising families for thousands of years with free ranging chicken flocks. Sometimes there are problems but usually the kids do not play where the chickens are. The kids may have chores like collecting eggs but usually the eggs are collected when the chickens are outside of the coop.

I consider you to have responsibility to protect your kids. If your chickens are penned, don't let your kids in that pen without adequate protection. Older siblings if you trust them, otherwise you. If your chickens free range, well you want your kids to enjoy the outdoors, at least I do. The more they interface the higher the risk. It is up to you to manage that risk.

 

[Vicker]

I choose based on the crow and the temperment. Recently, I had to narrow it down from 5. I didn't keep the prettiest because his crow was too much. I wouldn't keep a Brahma rooster with smaller breeds of hens. I had a nice one but he was too hard on the ladies.

 

[FattyChickens]

Hi, just wanna say that it's best to look into the laws of your area, and if it's even legal for you to have a rooster. In my county, you have to have like 7 acres per rooster. Also you don't need a rooster to enjoy keeping chickens, and in my experience the hens are more pet-like and less skittish when there isn't a rooster around. Ultimately it's your decision who/what you keep, but as others have stated, it might be more trouble than it's worth

 

[Tashua]

I didn't realize it was an underbred trait. My rooster dances. I will have to save this advice for when I replace him.

I also had no idea and this just made my decision for me ....out of the first bunch anyway .

 

[Rock and Rhode]

I have 25 hens and kept to roosters who were fine and got along until they reached 1 year. Suddenly the Rhode tried to kill the Barred Rock. It was aweful. So we sent the Rhode to weasel heaven (where bad chickens go). He tasted good though

 

[nnheacox]

I have 25 hens and kept to roosters who were fine and got along until they reached 1 year. Suddenly the Rhode tried to kill the Barred Rock. It was aweful. So we sent the Rhode to weasel heaven (where bad chickens go). He tasted good though

Oh no! I’ve heard RIR roosters can be aggressive. A friend told me she’s had three (I think) at separate times and they were all mean. They became rooster noodle soup one of our RIR was definitely a cockerel and was already squaring up with our biggest Speckle Sussex cockerel. So the two of them and one other suspected cockerel left for greener pastures this past Friday.

 

[BDutch]

Oh no! I’ve heard RIR roosters can be aggressive. A friend told me she’s had three (I think) at separate times and they were all mean. They became rooster noodle soup one of our RIR was definitely a cockerel and was already squaring up with our biggest Speckle Sussex cockerel. So the two of them and one other suspected cockerel left for greener pastures this past Friday.

I had a bantam RIR cockerel who was the friendliest guy I ever had.