Just how useful is a rooster anyway?

[Faraday40]

We've had our roo, Cheep, for just over a year now. My wife thought it would be fun to hatch chicks ourselves. Of the 7 eggs that hatched, 5 ended up as roosters.....Guess who's job it was to cull the flock when we had 4 roosters all crowing at the same time? Cheep survived the culling because we thought he was a hen because he didn't grow any waddle or tail feathers or crow until we got rid of the other roosters. Sneaky little cock.

Anyways, we're looking to get rid of him because roosters are prohibited in our city and our new neighbors down the street who fancy themselves regulation experts threatened to tattle on us to the city.

My question, is there any social trauma to the flock by getting rid of the only rooster after a year growing up with the flock? Are there any serious drawbacks to not having any roosters? He's kind of useless on the protection front as I've watched him watch rats eat chicken feed right next to him and he doesn't make any noise when hawks are flying around. Thoughts?

Whenever a flock member leaves or is added, the pecking order must get re-established. It may only last a day or a few weeks, but they'll be fine.

We had the same issue when one of our former lav orps got too cocky around my kids. He was too unpredictable & I didn't trust him. I knew there were plenty of good roosters out there, so I didn't want to waste my time or endanger my kids. We got rid of him & the top 2 hens sort of took over. Eventually one of the spring chicks grew up into our new flock leader, but that summer, the 2 mature hens ruled the roost.

 

[Naser]

Just how useful is a rooster anyway?.

It depends how do you cook them.

You hear stories of roosters sacrificing themselves to protect the hens, I think what actually happening is the fox got the rooster first.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

A good rooster does a lot of things that help to protect their flock that often go unnoticed.
As others have correctly ime, mentioned; cockerels are pretty all round hopeless. That's youth in any species. If they don't die and grow up in a mixed age flock with a senior rooster, but often more important, a senior hen then the survivors will learn. It seems to me the poor cockerels aren't in with a chance with some people and are expected to know what to do and when to do it because they are males.
What about your hens? Maybe they feel safer having him around. Maybe the hens like how he stops the usual hen bickering, maybe while they're busy stuffing their faces while he stands guard they feel more secure. Maybe when they go to look for nest sites they like to have a cockerel, or rooster accompany them. Maybe they like the mating knowing that if that big predator on two feet doesn't steal their eggs they might be able to hatch some chicks.
Maybe people who want to keep chickens should learn a bit about what motivates a rooster and what he actually does for his hens.
Of course, if you just want to keep a few hens and not really keep chickens at all, then by all means don't have a rooster.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

What is it exactly you expect from your rooster?
I think your getting behavior you might wish from from a boyfriend, or husband confused with another species.
Of course he runs from a fox. He's not stupid!
Did you notice if he gave a warning call to his hens?
Do you think he should fight the fox? Seems like a rather unequal match to me.
Roosters are not equipped to fight predators. they are equipped to fight each other.
Honestly, words fail me.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

X2! However, my eight-month old cockerel is doing pretty well for not having a male role model. My seven older birds (all pullets) are eleven-months old and kept him in his place while he was figuring things out. Even though he’s young, he tidbits, dances for them, escorts them, finds good nest areas when they’re free ranging, herds them, watches the skies and for ground based predators, calls when he sees something scary, breaks up the bullying, and is not aggressive with people. It took him a while to figure out the mating part (I laughed at him, I’m not ashamed to admit it), but a lot of the rest of it he started doing by the time he was five months old or so. I’m holding my breath about the upcoming hormone surge in a couple months, but so far, he’s a keeper!

View attachment 1704869

He is Beautiful, such lovely colours

 

[Anna Ranieri]

I added a rooster to my flock about a week ago. Reason B was to fertilized eggs, I have read stories of a rooster protecting the flock plus keeping peace between the hens but other than that they're kind of useless other than fertilizing eggs and listening to them Crow all day long but personally I enjoy it..

View attachment 1710602

Gorgeous