New flock, first time with a rooster

[justlearning]

We recently moved and will be starting a new flock. This is the first time we will be able to have a rooster. Since we are going to have a mixed flock, will it matter what kind of rooster we get (long term we would love to not have to purchase chicks again). Also since we have kids, what breed rooster tends to be nice. A mean rooster will head straight to the soup pot.

 

[Folly's place]

Have a plan; what are your goals and climate? Henderson's breed chart and books will help research breeds. Pick breed(s) that fit in with your plans and climate, and get cockrels that fit with those breeds. I order straight run chicks, and private breeders only sell straight run chicks, so you will have several males to choose from. Some breeds and strains produce more nice roosters than others, so look at that too. Salmon Favorelles, for example, are nice dual purpose birds, with very sweet personalities. Males are also very nice. New Hampshires tend to be a lot tougher. Hybrid layers won't reproduce themselves, so not the best choice if you want a self-sustaining flock. Mary

 

[Ridgerunner]

The main thing is to know your goals. You seem to have that down. Since you have a mixed flock you are not breeding for show or to have a pure breed, so there are a lot of roosters that will work for you. We all have our favorites but mine might not be yours. There are a lot of roosters out there that could work really well for you, including mixed breeds. Just try to get one that meets your general goals.

Breeds do have tendencies but you have to have enough chickens for those tendencies to mean much. Each chicken is an individual with an individual personality. No matter what breed you choose, you can find posts on here where some roosters of that breed are nice and some need a dinner invitation. If you are talking about one rooster, that is not enough for the averages to mean much. There is some trial and error involved, but if you go with one that is supposed to be nice, your odds are a little better. But yes, you always have to be open to the possibility that the soup is a better place for some roosters, regardless of breed. There are a lot of nice ones out there but it may take some effort to find the one for you.

I think Henderson’s Breed Chart is a good starting point, then go to Feathersite to see what the chickens will look like. I probably have not done you any favors giving you these links. There are so many good ones to choose from it’s hard to make up your mind.

Henderson’s Breed Chart
http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

Feathersite
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKPoultryPage.html#Chickens

Welcome to the adventure.

 

[justlearning]

Thanks for the charts. I know the hens we're getting are silver laced wynandottes, buff Orpington (since they are sweet and go broody) production reds, Americanas plus maybe a few more. We had a really nice Americana that had to head to the soup pot since we lived too close to the city. That's no longer an issue.

Will a rooster breed with any of the girls or do they stick with their own kind? Also is it good to start with a few roosters and see which is the best fit?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Breeds are a manmade thing. Roosters don’t care. They will mate with any hen.

There are different ways to bring in a rooster. If you get an older rooster, get a mature one. Mature hens can be fairly brutal to an immature cockerel. Try for one at least a year old.

I like raising several so I can choose between them. But my goal is mainly meat so I’m always hatching them anyway and raising them with the flock. It sounds like you may have been through some of it already but it can get fairly stressful when you have an adolescent cockerel trying to get to maturity. If you don’t understand chicken mating and flock dynamics, well that phase can be rough on the faint of heart. There is some uncertainty involved because their personality can change when they become flock master, so sometimes you have unpleasant surprises. You are dealing with living animals so you don’t get guarantees. If you can get through that adolescent phase you should do OK.

 

[aart]

You've been given some great advice already.
One thing I thought to suggest is to have a separate enclosure or a few wire dog crates(or both) to separate some of the cockerels as they reach that rambunctious sexual maturity age. Then you can swap them out in and out while deciding which is your keeper, when they are all together with the pullets their behavior is hard to judge as the competition of multiple males usually puts them at their worst, but when you remove the competition they can behave much differently.