HI, I have a flock of thirteen week old dual purpose birds. I want to keep one roo for producing the next generation in a year or so. How do I pick just one?? I have twenty six, straight run, so roughly half are going to be roos. I will be processing the extras in late winter, but I don't know how to decide which one I should keep. They don't free range, so protectiveness is not a high priority, and I want one who's gentle with the ladies, especially as some of them are fairly small (at present, anyway). I particularly want one that's fertile, as that's really what I want him for. I can just see if I took him to my vet that checks sperm quality on my male dogs!! Hee, hee. Might be worth it, just for the giggle factor! I know since these are dual purpose birds I'll want one that's got decent size and a reasonable amount of meat on his bones, but at what age are they mature enough to tell this? Can anyone give me some of the criteria you use to pick a roo? Thanks!
Let them all mature and pick the one that has the best traits for what you are looking for, or one will become your favorite. Also if you want high fertility you may want more then one rooster if you want every hen to be fertile consistently. If they grow up together they will more than likely all get along and share the hens. Then make a meal out of the rest or find them good homes.
Allow them to mature. If any become aggressive to you, cull them. If any become aggressive to the hens (not just mating, but nasty) cull them. Out of the remainder pick the one or two that best suit your needs. Lack of fertility would be the least of my worries.
This past spring I got a mess of birds from the hatchery. I ended up with 2 aracauna roos & 3 black silkies. I wanted to keep one of the aracauna's & my old roo. I let them mature for a while. One of the aracauna's was a beautiful silver color & he was pretty friendly. So I culled the other. The three silkies were a different story. I was feeding the flock one day & tripped over one of the silkie roosters. So I though anyway. he had waited for me to turn my back & then attacked! It took a second attack for me to realize it wasn't an accident. So he went bye bye. The second silkie roo did the same thing. He also went away. So that left me with 1 gentle silkie roo & 1 gentle beautiful Aracauna & my old rooster russell. We finally decided the aracauna was too darn loud to keep. So we gave him away. Long story - but the point is you need to let them all grow up & then decide which of them you like & which of them will be knuckleheads. You can't tell until they are mature.
Quote:Ryan ninja45 hey just some of my advice, What I did was let them mature usually the biggest rooster you have will be come dominate and then you will have you rooster. But around 5 or 6 weeks you will tell who you will want.
I strongly recommend keeping atleast two roos. The two "best" roos; but preferably where one is strongly dominate (but by no means aggressive) and the other a non-challenging submissive. If you lose one do to him protecting the flock, or by any other means, you will have a back-up roo. Furthermore; if you plan to raise your own, you will want to be sure the eggs are fertile. Not enough roos means not all eggs will be fertile... It can be a delicate balancing act, that is for sure. Free ranging helps minimize roo-on-roo fighting, and thus, allows one to keep a slightly higher ratio of roos
Wanted to add... The dual purpose roos will probably not be "dinner table worthy" until about 16~24 weeks of age. You'll have the keepers sorted out by then. So, worry not, my friend
