I took in a rooster

[Grateful_Tawna]

Hello and blessings! I took in a black rooster named Phantom a few months ago and he is a bantom silkie. Super sweet most of the time hahhaaa I know he needs friends but I am on the fence if I should get him a rooster or two or go with some females. Whatever I go with they need to be small as he is quite small and was aggressive with a larger female but gentle with a smaller female. I don't particularly want 10 hens as I have quite a few animals already with not enough time. I used to have 12 chickens many years ago and it ended up being quite a bit of work. Does anyone have any advice on a bachelor pad? Advantages vs disadvantages? Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thank you so much!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi,

We recently had a bachelor pad with eight roosters, but they were all the same age and grew up together in a flock of 40. Those eight got along perfectly. It might work if you found another silkie rooster, but there is also the chance they might fight. Generally, if there are no hens around, they're much better behaved.

If you got some silkie pullets, that's hard because unless you go through a hatchery or DNA testing, they can't be sexed until they're 3-4 months old, sometimes longer. If you can find some, 4-5 should be fine.

I'd maybe try my local/state poultry groups on Facebook and see what bantam pullets might be out there.

 

[Mrs. K]

The real problem with roosters is you cannot use todays behavior in todays situation to predict what a rooster will do.

Adding full grown adult roosters is asking for a cock fight. Maybe it will settle, maybe it will get worse and worse.

I second the idea above - get 3-4 point of lay, or older laying hens. Contact 4-H groups, state boards, local poultry groups, and find a few.

I do not recommend chicks or roosters.
Mrs K

 

[Grateful_Tawna]

Hi,

We recently had a bachelor pad with eight roosters, but they were all the same age and grew up together in a flock of 40. Those eight got along perfectly. It might work if you found another silkie rooster, but there is also the chance they might fight. Generally, if there are no hens around, they're much better behaved.

If you got some silkie pullets, that's hard because unless you go through a hatchery or DNA testing, they can't be sexed until they're 3-4 months old, sometimes longer. If you can find some, 4-5 should be fine.

I'd maybe try my local/state poultry groups on Facebook and see what bantam pullets might be out there.

That makes a lot of sense and confirms my concerns about having a bachelor pad. Thank you so much. I will go with giving him a few females that are on the smaller side of same species or similar size. Have a beautiful day.

 

[Grateful_Tawna]

The real problem with roosters is you cannot use todays behavior in todays situation to predict what a rooster will do.

Adding full grown adult roosters is asking for a cock fight. Maybe it will settle, maybe it will get worse and worse.

I second the idea above - get 3-4 point of lay, or older laying hens. Contact 4-H groups, state boards, local poultry groups, and find a few.

I do not recommend chicks or roosters.
Mrs K

That was absolutely my concern with getting another rooster. I might end up with a bigger issue on hand and have to have two flocks, which I definitely do not want or have space for. Thank you so much for confirming my concerns. Hahhaaa he did attack a large female once, and she looked kind of like a rooster. At this point, he’s just become so attached to me. I know he needs friends because I can’t keep letting him in my house all the time my husband‘s losing his mind. Hahahaaa

 

[FrostRanger]

That was absolutely my concern with getting another rooster. I might end up with a bigger issue on hand and have to have two flocks, which I definitely do not want or have space for. Thank you so much for confirming my concerns. Hahhaaa he did attack a large female once, and she looked kind of like a rooster. At this point, he’s just become so attached to me. I know he needs friends because I can’t keep letting him in my house all the time my husband‘s losing his mind. Hahahaaa

I would also have a plan just in case he doesn't get along with the hens you end up getting since he has a history of attacking hens. Hopefully it was just an issue of him not liking that particular hen, but I'd still be wary. I do think it has a higher chance of long term success than a bachelor flock though, bachelor flocks can work well, not work at all or work until they don't, just depends on the setup and personalities of the birds involved