Partial Roo

[cluckcrazy]

Would it be okay to have a rooster somewhere where the hens won't see him, and he won't see the hens. But I would probably let him have one or two hens all to himself.

 

[Mrs. K]

He will overbreed the hens, they will be ragged to the point of bleeding. And unless you have a very large acreage the hens will hear him, and want to get to him, and fight you and the artificial setup that you have in mind.

If the fertilized egg is bothering you, how about this, don't get any roos. Then when you have a hen go broody, (if, depending on the breed) wait until it is close to 21 days, and slip baby chicks under her. She will generally take them and raise them. You can just get pullet chicks, and you never have the problem of what to do with the roo.

Or if you want the hatching experience, (but there is nearly 100% chance you will get at least one roo) Watch the paper in your area, and hook up with some other people that have chickens with fertilized eggs, and you can slip those under the broody hen. When I got my first broody hen, this is what I did, and people were amazingly generous, or you can go on here, and order eggs from someone. The big draw back here, is that you will get roos, and need to decide what will you do with them.

Perhaps you know this, but maybe not, but if you are planning to raise your own chicks with a hen, you should start with breeds that tend to go broody, buff orpingtons, black austroloupes, are just a couple. A hen will go broody when it suits her, and is quite receptive to new eggs or later on, new chicks.

Mrs K

 

[cluckcrazy]

He will overbreed the hens, they will be ragged to the point of bleeding. And unless you have a very large acreage the hens will hear him, and want to get to him, and fight you and the artificial setup that you have in mind.

If the fertilized egg is bothering you, how about this, don't get any roos. Then when you have a hen go broody, (if, depending on the breed) wait until it is close to 21 days, and slip baby chicks under her. She will generally take them and raise them. You can just get pullet chicks, and you never have the problem of what to do with the roo.

Or if you want the hatching experience, (but there is nearly 100% chance you will get at least one roo) Watch the paper in your area, and hook up with some other people that have chickens with fertilized eggs, and you can slip those under the broody hen. When I got my first broody hen, this is what I did, and people were amazingly generous, or you can go on here, and order eggs from someone. The big draw back here, is that you will get roos, and need to decide what will you do with them.

Perhaps you know this, but maybe not, but if you are planning to raise your own chicks with a hen, you should start with breeds that tend to go broody, buff orpingtons, black austroloupes, are just a couple. A hen will go broody when it suits her, and is quite receptive to new eggs or later on, new chicks.

Mrs K

The fertilized egg doesn't bother me so much now, but I have a few questions.


Do you have a rooster? If you do, how do you deal with him when you need to clean the coop? How many hens do you need per rooster? I was not planning on getting a lot of chickens. I've been searching for a chicken breed where the rooster isn't very aggressive towards people. Do you know of any? Thank you for the information!

 

[donrae]

Please keep in mind, when you hatch out babies you get 50% roosters. You'll need a plan in place to deal with those boys.

Sounds to me like you should just have hens for a year or so, then see if you want to step up to a rooster. If you're not comfortable asserting your dominance over animals, and it sounds like you're not, just stay with the hens. If you're already worried about being around him in the coop, he's going to pick up on that and kick your butt as soon as the hormones kick in. Then you're going to be attached to him and not want to get rid of him, but your entire chicken keeping experience will be spoiled because you'll have a bird you're afraid of.

I've had roosters for 20 years. I've had 2 we had to put down for attacking humans. I've also spent my life around thousand pound horses, so am very comfortable being the boss of an animal. It's all in the attitude and needs to start from the beginning. Roosters need to NOT be treated as pets, and it sounds to me like you're wanting more of a pet situation. Start with a nice mix of hens, and if you want more and one goes broody, do as Mrs K suggested and slide some sexed pullets under her.

 

[salt and pepper]

The fertilized egg doesn't bother me so much now, but I have a few questions.


Do you have a rooster? If you do, how do you deal with him when you need to clean the coop? How many hens do you need per rooster? I was not planning on getting a lot of chickens. I've been searching for a chicken breed where the rooster isn't very aggressive towards people. Do you know of any? Thank you for the information!

I have roosters, and they are all friendly, so I clean the coop with them in the pen or free ranging, around 6 hens per rooster, silkies, black copper marans, brahmas, and buff orpingtons all have been friendly in my experience.

 

[Clackclack]

I have roosters. One sits on my lap when I have coffee. It's like humans - there are jerks and then there are sweethearts.

 

[cluckcrazy]

Sorry if this question sounds a little weird, but does your rooster ever go in the nesting box?

 

[salt and pepper]

Sorry if this question sounds a little weird, but does your rooster ever go in the nesting box?

Lol, yes they do, some will try to make a nest for the hens to lay in, it's like they're trying to get on their " good side "

 

[Clackclack]

Yes, roosters sometimes like to hang out in the nesting box, and, why not, it's a comfortable place

 

[cluckcrazy]

Funny! A friend of mine has a rooster, and everytime they go away, we pet-sit for them. So we need to bring the broom in with us whenever the water and food need to be refilled. The oldest son is very dominant over their rooster, and he got a kick out of beating the rooster up.