In your experience--what breeds are the nicest roosters? And meanest?

[PlumTuckered]

I've had roos in these breeds: RIR, Buff Minorca, Cuckoo Maran (still have him), SLW, and White Leghorn. THe only one that was ever mean was the white leghorn. All of my other roos and their offspring roos were lovely, gentle fellas. Our Cuckoo Maran is so laid back it's not funny, however he keeps his hens quite busy LOL

Michelle

 

[tammyd57]

The meanest rooster I ever had was a RIR. But he was very tasty after bathing in the crock pot for about 8 hours on low heat.

The sweetest tempered roosters I have had have all been Cochins. I've never had a mean Cochin. I've had Buff Orpington roos that were friendly and never flogged me. I had a Leghorn roo that was scared to death of me. Turned out he had good reason, I couldn't keep him in the pen, he always found a way to escape. So to keep the dogs from eating him I bar-b-qued him. I've had EE roos that were good to the girls but hated me and avoided me like the plague.
I'd have to say my favorites are the Cochins, They actually like me and are always really good to the hens.

 

[Barry Natchitoches]

I have a hatchery EE rooster who is the most considerate feathered gentleman you could ever meet.


He protects his ladies. He lets them catch and eat the strawberries we throw to the birds (we give them the strawberries out of the garden that are pecked at by wild birds before we can harvest them).


He is the first to come out of the henhouse in the morning, to check things out. And he waits until the last lady returns to the henhouse in the evening, before he goes in. If one of his hens leaves the henhouse after they have all gone in, he goes out too to watch over her.


He will even let you hold him IF the two of you are inside the henhouse. Out in the chicken run, however, he does not appreciate being picked up and held. But he doesn't get nasty about it. He just runs away from you if you try to pick him up while he's outside in the chicken run.


We have a second cockerel who is also a wonderful bird.


This second cockerel is the son of the EE rooster and a Barred Rock hen. He is going to be 21 weeks old tomorrow.


What is strange about this cockerel is that he:

1, does NOT crow (I mean he never crows and never even tries to crow)

2, almost never mounts any female -- the only female he has ever even tried to mount is the little pullet who was the other bird hatched in his clutch. They grew up together, and are inseparatable. But the only time we ever saw him mount her, he was unsuccessful as she is so skiddish that she fought him off successfully. (BTW, up to now, the EE rooster has not tried to mount this young pullet either, though we expect that to change soon as she is rapidly growing to egg laying age.)

3, does not fight the EE rooster at all. He is really afraid of the older birds -- even the older hens -- and he is so timid that he just does not act like a male at all, he's so subservient. He is second to lowest on the pecking order. Only the pullet born the same time he was is lower on the pecking order than he is.


He's a very good cockerel, and the son of a very good rooster.


Both birds are docile, friendly, and a delightful addition to our family.

 

[SeaHen]

My first rooster was supposed to be an EE pullet. He was beautiful and very sweet tempered; I would give anything to replace him. My next roo adventure was with 2 BR brothers that were at the feed store with a "free" sign attached to their cage. They were docile for the most part, except that one of them would chase and flog my youngest son at every opportunity, and one day when my FIL was visiting and witnessed an attack he kicked the offender across the yard and then we only had one. That guy lived to a ripe old age, but meanwhile a friend gifted me with 7 banty cochin chicks, and 5 of those turned out to be cockerels. Over the ensuing years I've raised like 10 generations of their progeny, which have crossed with several of my standard hens, so now I have quite the barnyard mix. My current favorite roo is a RIR X named Big Red, but I also have an EE X - unrelated to my first dear one, Roody - that tries to intimidate him and everyone else (but he's irresistible to the ladies). I have a BO X rooster that is sweet, and the pure cochin roosters have been really sweet too. We even had one that raised a clutch of chicks by himself when the mom abandoned the nest. The more I think about it the more I'm inclined to agree that they all have their individual temperaments and personalities regardless of breed. I spend a lot of time handling and interacting with all my chickens from the time they're tiny because they're pets and I like them to be friendly, and I have the expectation that everyone is going to get along.

 

[carmenchicken]

We had a polish-araucana roo that was mean and really had it in for my daughter who was 4 or 5 at the time. He would also run at me and occasionally hit my legs. He was a good protector for my hens although funny looking (he had a mohawk) so I didnt want to get rid of him. I resolved to "re-program" him if possible. The next time he acted aggressively, I grabbed him and tucked him under my arm and carried him around the yard for a couple of hours. I really think he hated being helpless. I also gave him to my daughter to hold. He actually became much less aggressive as he learned that he would be carried around helpless if he persisted in his attacks.

This chicken never bothered my son who was a foot taller than my daughter, so I told her when he charges you, put your arms up in the air and it will confuse him. She tried that and he stopped dead in his tracks and just kept looking really puzzled.

 

[NHchicks]

I have to post a photo of our handsome rooster:

He's some kind of a mutt, I'm not sure what, but he seems to have a lot of NH Red in him.

He joined our flock of 4 hens a couple months back. He takes good care of the hens. He clucks when he finds food for them, even if it's food I'm throwing them, he clucks around like he found it for them. I've never seen him eat the food himself, he mainly lets them eat it. He finds nesting spots for them in the bushes, and calls for them to come see it. He watches like a hawk when they're grazing. When I walk up the path to the henhouse, he clucks to me that he has food, and then picks me dandelions or blades of grass.

I think my husband is jealous - ha. If one of the hens is dawdling at dusk to get back to the coop, he goes searching for her, and drives her home. One hen, a NH Red (in the photo), took to him from day one and they pal around together a lot. The other hens tolerate him. Once we saw him fling his long hair at the NH Red and almost hit her in the face with it. It was a riot. He is such a pretty boy.

Well, I could go on talking about my babies forever. Some people pull out photos of their grandchildren and bore others to tears. I upload photos of my flock.

 

[Monk]

Quote:
Same here! When I would collect eggs in my old coop, my Barred Rock Rooster came right for me. It would take a few swift kicks before he would leave out the pop door for the run. I once spooked it off the roost when place a new hen I had picked up on the roost on evening. I went to place him back on the roost and it bit me between the thumb and index finger, drew blood too!

This is just my personal expreience with a Barred Rock Rooster...

 

[SmartyChick]

I've heard Cochins are nice. I have one and he is a real gentleman with his ladies, grant it, they aren't the best protectors but my boy will sound the alarm and then herd them all in a bush.

My other roo was a BO and he was very rough with the hens, though he never attacked us (yet), we re-homed him to a farm where he could free range with several other hens.

 

[MareeZoCool]

OLD ENGLISH GAME I have one he's very dedicated to the ladies, wants to care for the youngsters too. Not much of a guardian, he holds back from people, dogs, & cats. Other roosters, he wants to declare war on sight!

 

[countrygurl]

DO NOT get a rhode island red! Those roosters are just plain nasty!