My hen is a him

[Katrinasofia]

Okay so one of my chicks turned out to be a rooster. He's pretty cool bird though. Is it okay for him to just continue to live with the hens? I can eat the eggs still can't I? That is if I ever get any

 

[aart]

Male can stay with females as long as he isn't too rough with them.
That can depend on several factors, a couple being the demeanor of birds involved and space provided.
Always good to have a back up plan if things go sideways,
a crate is the easiest way to separate a troublesome bird, IMO.

Fertile eggs can be eaten.

PSA FYI.....semantics, maybe, but can be important communication terms when discussing chicken behavior.
Female chickens are called pullets until one year of age, then they are called hens.
Male chickens are called cockerels until one year of age, then they are called cocks(or cockbirds or roosters).
Age in weeks or months is always a good thing to note.

 

[MROO]

Absolutely! As long as you are the alpha - just make sure he moves away from you, not the other way around, then you'll likely really enjoy him. A rooster in the flock adds a whole new - and often entertaining - personality dimension. I LOVE my boys!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Is it okay for him to just continue to live with the hens?

A cockerel or rooster changes the dynamics of the flock. Some people would not dream of having a flock without a rooster, they like them that much. Others are extremely happy to not have a male around. There are a lot of differences in how different flocks interact with males. How much room you have, the ages and age differences, and just basic personalities of individual birds can have a lot of influence in how they interact.

Having a rooster will not cause them to lay more eggs or lay fewer eggs. Having a rooster will not cause them to go broody or stop them from going broody. The only difference is that the eggs will or will not be fertile. And it can change flock dynamics.

Once they hit a certain level of maturity the males will mate with the females. Once they are mature that usually gets pretty peaceful but especially when the boys first hit puberty the hormones go wild and the pullets don't know what is going on so it can get really wild. Some people see that stage as brutality and rape, others see it as chickens being chickens. Sometimes puberty gets too rough for even me to watch, but not always. Typically my pullets start to act mature about the time they start to lay, often at 5 to 6 months. I've had cockerels start to act mature as young as 5 months though some wait until they are practically a year old. My average is probably close to 7 months but that can really vary from one flock to the next.

Instead of saying yes it will always be great or no, it will always be a disaster, I suggest you watch and see how they behave. Make your decision based on what you see, not what might happen. But I agree, have a Plan B ready for an instant's use. That means have a place to isolate him right now if you need to.

Some cockerels or roosters can become human aggressive. Not all do but it is a possibility. So have your Plan B ready for that also.

I can eat the eggs still can't I?

Absolutely. And yes, you eventually will get some. As long as you do not incubate the egg there is no real difference in a fertile egg versus an infertile one. People have been eating fertile eggs for thousands of years and we are not yet extinct.

This has nothing to do with fertility and having a rooster around does not play into this, but I suggest we always crack our eggs into a separate bowl before using them. It is not that unusual for a hen to put something in the egg you don't want, a blood spot or meat spot. It's basically an "oops" when the hen is putting the egg together in her internal egg making factory. Most hens don't do that much if at all but it can happen to any hen. It's common enough that commercial operations electronically candle their eggs before they sell them to us to remove any of those. There is nothing really wrong with those eggs but there is certainly a Yuk factor. They sell their defective eggs to places that make pet food or to bakeries. I think breaking them into a separate bowl is a good habit to get into.

 

[Katrinasofia]

Male can stay with females as long as he isn't too rough with them.
That can depend on several factors, a couple being the demeanor of birds involved and space provided.
Always good to have a back up plan if things go sideways,
a crate is the easiest way to separate a troublesome bird, IMO.

Fertile eggs can be eaten.

PSA FYI.....semantics, maybe, but can be important communication terms when discussing chicken behavior.
Female chickens are called pullets until one year of age, then they are called hens.
Male chickens are called cockerels until one year of age, then they are called cocks(or cockbirds or roosters).
Age in weeks or months is always a good thing to note.

Thanks for the vocabulary lesson