My rooster is a coward

[RHRanch]

Those tiny hawks (Kestrals, Sparrow Hawks) should not be underestimated. You should pen up your birds until you havn't seen the kestral for at least 5 days, maybe a week. That hawk will come back every day until all your chicks are gone. Despite valiant attempts from many of my Roos (and my own), hawks have managed to get some of my birds. Even if your Roo were to try to intervene, he won't always be sucessful.

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

Quote:
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[Thespoiledchicken]

Thanks everyone

I think I might try adding an older rooster to help him take care of the girls, I think everyone is right and he needs alot more time still.
I was hoping that since I scared that hawk pretty good (I got within a few inches behind it while it was on the ground watching) that maybe it would not come back but I guess that is wishfull thinking

Hawks so far seem to be my only problem free ranging. I do not have a large enough run for them so I cannot pen them up, we are going to build something for times like this.

Thanks,
Trish

 

[speckledhen]

You may have trouble adding a rooster at this point. Those may not get along with each other. Give your boy a few more weeks.

My BR cockerel, Rex, out of nice heritage type show stock, was VERY slow to mature. He was older than yours when he started crowing, mating the girls, etc. Now, he's awesome at watching out for them and he stands out in the open after he gets the girls to safety, like a huge barred statue, daring the hawk to come, just like my late great Hawkeye used to do. Yours will come into his own within the next month, I'd say.

 

[daver]

Good timing on this post. I was second guessing myself after giving away the last BO cockerel that I had.

Kept the LB, but he hasn't shown a lot of promise so far at seven months. I had dubbed him "Commander Brahma" but sometimes acts like "Princess".

He did get better when he became the sole rooster but still lacks in the areas that th Op mentioned.

Glad I read this.

Dave

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'd personally be careful about bringing in another rooster. Depending in his age and maturity , there may be a pretty good fight with your current one. That may be more chasing and running than fighting or it may be a fight to the death. You just never know. My concern would be more from a biosecurity issue. You could quarantine and all that, but you are still taking chances and another whole month has gone by.

I agree to give him more time. Some are slower to mature than others. My last one was a lousy flock protector and he was fully mature. He kept all the hens fertile and would call them for food, but instead of placing himself in between the hens and danger, he would lead them to safety. Not the behavior I would expect from a flock protector. I've had 15 week old that did a much better job. They are all different.

Don't get hung up on ratios of roosters to hens or anything like that. The more roosters you have, the more likely you are to have problems, so I suggest keeping as few roosters as your goals allow. They are all different and you never know what will happen, but I'd think with your numbers and since they free range, the odds are really good that they will sort things out and make a pretty good group of flock protectors. It is interesting to see some of their behaviors when working together to protect the flock. For instance, when I have two, the dominant one is usually the first out the pop door in the morning while the other is the last one out. The first is checking things out. The other is protecting the rear.

What I would expect to happen with yours when they mature is that some roosters will carve out their own harem and sort of go their own way. I've also seen where roosters pair up and share their own harem. And with a flock that size, some hens will probably form their own group without a rooster and hang together. Either way, most eggs will wind up fertile.

Good luck. Sometimes those predators are hard to handle.

 

[Thespoiledchicken]

Quote:
Thank You! I had not even thought about the whole biosecurity thing. I guess it does not make sense to add another roo considering he would be in quarantine the same amount of time it will take for my younger guys and the LB to mature. Plus the possibility of fighting is not good, I think I will just leave well enough alone. I really didn't want another roo to deal with anyhow, I'm already worried about the LB accepting the younger roos.


Thanks everyone for the great advice!!! I'm not giving up on my big boy yet

Lets just hope I have some girls left by the time he gets there

(jk)

 

[chkn]

Also, I know the only time I've had problems with hawks is freeranging the young ones (teens). That's not to say a full size hen wouldn't be attacked; it's just that when they're not full grown, they seem to be targets for this kind of thing. I hope your roo works out too. He is a bit young though. I just picked up a young guy who was a give away and I have to say I was spoiled with my last RIR roo. But who knows, only time will tell. I like him a lot but they're all a little different.

 

[Little One]

I just wanted to add that my cockerel didn't really start to step up as the "man" of the flock until about 6 months old... so with a little more time his instincts should kick in. It started out as being bossy to the girls, but it quickly shifted to courting, alerting for birds overhead and killing crickets for them to come eat. All the entertaining roo stuff. Good Luck.