I was surprised to find a rooster in my brood of ladies...

[jrwillden]

So I bought some chicks that were suppose to be females but I found out that wasn't true. I have a rooster. 8 hens and 1 rooster. I'm not opposed to the idea of having him but I'm not sure what I need to expect from him....Please keep in mind I know nothing.

• Do you just let them go on about their business or does he need to be separated at some point (I'm thinking like with horse or cattle.) I know some are aggressive; which at 4 1/2 months he hasn't shown signs of that but I also know he is not fully matured.
• Are there concerns with him fertilizing eggs for all the hens or is there an issue with cross breeding?
• And what about breeding...if he fertilizes some eggs and they hatch, are the chicks safe with their mother? Do they have to be separated?

I actually have other questions but I thought maybe you guys know a good link for beginners that got a rooster accidentally and has no idea what to do with him...

 

[Chicken Heel]

What breed(s) do you have? Since you are a newbie to chickens, photos might be helpful. One rooster for eight hens should work well under normal circumstances.

 

[sóley]

you don't have to separated the rooster from the hens, it's not often that there aggressive to there hens. when you have young chicks you should keep them separated from the adults until they can defend them selfs.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

In my experience, the mama hen protects the chicks from roosters and other hens alike. Roos are usually way too interested in hens to be concerned with chicks. I wouldn't want to mess with a mama hen myself, lol.

 

[chickens really]

Keep an eye on the Cockerel with the Rooster. The Rooster might one day decide to dispatch him. Or they might get along fine?
Roosters will protect the Hens and Chicks. He will tidbit to feed them. It's really cute watching a Rooster care for chicks.

 

[jrwillden]

What breed(s) do you have? Since you are a newbie to chickens, photos might be helpful. One rooster for eight hens should work well under normal circumstances.

I only have a few pics with me...

 

[jrwillden]

I'm not sure of their breed...I posted in that forum and was told he was probably a type of Easter Egger. I know I have 3 brown hawk-looking EE but not sure the other ones.

 

[jrwillden]

Keep an eye on the Cockerel with the Rooster. The Rooster might one day decide to dispatch him. Or they might get along fine?
Roosters will protect the Hens and Chicks. He will tidbit to feed them. It's really cute watching a Rooster care for chicks.

Cockerel... Isn't that a young rooster? DO I HAVE TWO ROOSTERS?!?

 

[Chicken Heel]

Based on the photos it appears you have a larger breed rooster with mostly medium to large breed hens so you should be okay with one caveat. His trying to mate with the smaller Polish hen (with crest) might cause some angst. But you should see my Bantam Red Pyle rooster try to mate with much larger Calico Princess hens; now that is a hoot.

 

[jrwillden]

Based on the photos it appears you have a larger breed rooster with mostly medium to large breed hens so you should be okay with one caveat. His trying to mate with the smaller Polish hen (with crest) might cause some angst. But you should see my Bantam Red Pyle rooster try to mate with much larger Calico Princess hens; now that is a hoot.