Keeping a rooster with a small backyard flock?

[abigailb]

I know I am getting a little ahead of myself with this post, but I am a planner! We have six chicks in the brooder, they will be four weeks old next Tuesday. They are all different breeds, from Murray McMurray and were supposed to be hens. We have suspicions of our golden laced Wyandotte being a little roo. Wing feathers coming in more slowly, only one with a short stubby tail, and only one with bright red comb area forming. I know that none of this means for sure. However, just so we can be thinking ahead and whether or not we will need to rehome, I would love to hear about people keeping a rooster with a small backyard flock? We have had chickens before, but never a rooster. I have done some research and seem to get conflicting info. I suppose much will depend on the temperament, although again that is part of my planning, if there’s any chance that this is a Roo and that we would keep him, I would think we should be spending extra effort socializing and handling him every day? We have four kids, and my daughter likes to handle the chickens anyway...
Any info you can provide would be helpful. Can he stay in the coop with them? Are we destined for “over-mating”, which sounds horrible to me, with a 5 to 1 ratio? We will just be eating the eggs, so not worried about the fact that the breedings wouldn’t make for good chicks since they are all different breeds. Thank so much!!!

 

[DobieLover]

I know I am getting a little ahead of myself with this post, but I am a planner! We have six chicks in the brooder, they will be four weeks old next Tuesday. They are all different breeds, from Murray McMurray and were supposed to be hens. We have suspicions of our golden laced Wyandotte being a little roo. Wing feathers coming in more slowly, only one with a short stubby tail, and only one with bright red comb area forming. I know that none of this means for sure. However, just so we can be thinking ahead and whether or not we will need to rehome, I would love to hear about people keeping a rooster with a small backyard flock? We have had chickens before, but never a rooster. I have done some research and seem to get conflicting info. I suppose much will depend on the temperament, although again that is part of my planning, if there’s any chance that this is a Roo and that we would keep him, I would think we should be spending extra effort socializing and handling him every day? We have four kids, and my daughter likes to handle the chickens anyway...
Any info you can provide would be helpful. Can he stay in the coop with them? Are we destined for “over-mating”, which sounds horrible to me, with a 5 to 1 ratio? We will just be eating the eggs, so not worried about the fact that the breedings wouldn’t make for good chicks since they are all different breeds. Thank so much!!!

With cockerels, it's always a crap shoot.
I can say that cockerels that are broody raised in a multigenerational flock tend to have better temperaments and manners than those raised with chicks their own age by humans.

 

[abigailb]

OK, so that is already a strike against us! for argument’s sake, if he does have a good temperament, what will this mean in terms of flock management. Can he sleep in the coop? I’ve heard a lot of people say their roosters sleep in trees. This would most certainly mean he’ll be eaten by a predator??

 

[rosemarythyme]

Yes he can sleep in the coop, but he may reach a rough patch as hormones start going and end up being too hard on the girls. At that time he may need to be separated from the girls, but that doesn't mean he should be up in a tree. A small prefab would be acceptable as an enclosure in that case.

 

[Folly's place]

It's totally a guessing game at this point! He might be wonderful, or a total jerk, and do have a plan if he's not a 'keeper'!
How young are the children? Toddlers are a bad mix with many roosters, because they run around, and are at eyeball level. Dangerous!
My plan when raising cockerels is the 'hands off' approach, not the 'cuddles' method. I don't try to make pets out of the cockerels, they need to respect my space instead. I walk 'through' them, and want them to move out of my way. I don't hand feed the cockerels, or carry them around, or 'play' with them. They are out there to pay attention to the flock and watch for danger, and be aware of me, but not get in my way.
It's often best to raise cockerels in mixed generation flocks, including mature hens, at least. Your boy will mature first, and push those pullets around, and not have any adult to have him learn some humility. It can work out fine, or not.
Mary

 

[Mrs. K]

Roosters are not like puppies and kittens. If you handle them, they begin to trust you and are life long friends. Chickens are not like that. They have a pecking society and any two chickens meet, one is above the other. The rooster is the top bird of all.

A lot of times the rooster is friendly and brave. They are not afraid of you and people think that is trust. But it is not, when they sit in your lap, you are taking the lower social position. You are preening them. Chickens see fear as respect, no fear, no respect. Roosters will use aggression to get that respect from you.

A lot of roosters do not work out, as stated above, roosters and small children do not work out with inexperienced people.

If you ask me, I recommend an all hen flock the first year, then as you add chickens to replace losses, you can add a rooster chick to be raised up under bigger and older chickens. Roosters raised with flock mates, grow faster, and become sexually mature earlier than pullets. They very often become bullies and sometimes human aggressive.

Always have a plan B in place and ready to go. But if he is a rooster, I would make other plans for him if you can.

Mrs k

 

[goldfinches]

I've almost always had a rooster in my flock and I've always hatched and raised most of them by hand. They've been good protectors of my flocks and respectful of me. I've taught my daughters to move slowly and watchfully near them, (we've had nasty hatchery roos in the past so they know what a pair of spurs can do.)
Give him a try, I hope he works out for you!

 

[Buckeye Amy]

Very good advice here. Definitely give him a chance. And as Mary said, walk through the flock. The top rooster (you) goes wherever he wants. There’s a few very good articles here that go into detail about how to raise cockerels and how to behave around mature cocks. Good on you for preparing now. A good rooster is a huge benefit to the flock. I’ve had several sacrifice themselves to a raptor in order to save the rest of the flock!

 

[Heffalump]

I had a flock of just hens for 2 years before my mum offloaded her 4 yr old banty cochin roo and it's hen friend on me.

We've had him for about 8 months now and we've had no issues. He is a scardy cat though and will scream and run away if I try to pick him up. So long as I'm not pursuing him he's happy just pecking about with the others. He's in there with 9 hens at the moment. Having him about is basically just like having an extra non-laying chicken that crows. He also gets his girls all into the coop before dusk and sounds out the alarm if he sees any predators. I do walk through him and expect him to move out of my way. He does. While screaming. I'm obviously terrifying .

I think much will depend on the roosters temperament. It might have worked in our favour that he was an older roo when we got him and he was joining an established flock, or maybe he would have always been ok. My mum hatched him and had him for the first 4 years and never had any problems.

I hatched half a dozen eggs and now I have 2 roosters and 4 pullets who are 5 weeks old. I do handle them to move them about or see to their needs but I don't spend time petting or cuddling the males.

I'll see how it pans out. I have a couple of extra coops so I can mix up flock dynamics, split some off or isolate any roos if need be. I will certainly make every effort to live in harmony with my roosters, but utimately i have kids so aggressive roosters won't be tolerated.

 

[Pinckney]

I agree with others here. Don’t try to hand tame a rooster. They have to respect you. I have roosters I really like but they aren’t my pets. One I do pick up every night to get him on his roost. He’s a Jersey Giant, huge and mellow. Haven’t had a nasty one yet.