Picking the right rooster to keep out of 4.

[RichnSteph]

As the title says we have four roosters that are coming of age in our flock of 22. We have an established rooster who is just about a year old and he's doing great with his girls. We have four new roosters (we hatched 7 chicks and thought that one of them was a rooster and the others hens... nope) in a young group of chickens and are trying to decide which one to keep. Of those four one is a barred-rock/australorpe mix that is HUGE but he's very kind around the ladies. He makes sure they eat before he does but he hasn't crowed yet. The other candidate is a RIR mix with a beautiful green tail but he's rather aggressive. He pecks the hens for no reason, gets into fights, just an all around ding bat. The other two are timid and tend to run away from things, even hens.

So between the BR/A mix and the RIR mix we're thinking the BR/A mix to keep but we don't want a rooster that is slow to mature and might not be as aggressive in his protection of the hens.

Help? We're culling three of them at the end of next month and want to make the best choice for our flock. Right now we're leaning heavily towards the BR/A mix. He really takes care of his girls.

 

[XxMingirlxX]

Unless you are breeding you should always go for the rooster that is the nicest especially if their are two Roos in the flock because it means they won't try and fight.

 

[aart]

It's hard to tell true nature when they are all together because of the pecking order, remove 1 or 2 or 3 and behaviors of remaining individuals can change. The lower order cockerels may not crow because your existing cock is dominant.

Is the BR/A dominant over the RIR?
The other two are obviously submissive.

I would pick the nicest one..... because IIRC you have little kids?...and nice to the hens is important too.

Protection of flock by a cocks/cockerels is negligible IMO...flock harmony is probably more important.

 

[Folly's place]

How old are they? Eliminate any that challenge people IN ANY WAY, and then keep the nicest, who hopefully is also the largest, or keep two of the youngsters a bit longer to see how they continue to mature. Mary

 

[RichnSteph]

Mary these birds are a little over 20 weeks old.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Unless you are breeding you should always go for the rooster that is the nicest especially if their are two Roos in the flock because it means they won't try and fight.

Roosters will be roosters. Cockerels on the other hand will be cockerels. How a particular cockerel acts toward his owners or hens as a juvenile will have very little to do with his actions or personality as an adult.

In fact if breeding for traits was so easy, I suspect that by now some hatchery would be selling pullets that only lay cubical shaped eggs to make it easier to pack and ship the eggs to market

 

[Mrs. K]

there is no sure way to pick a good rooster. I have a theory that rooster chicks raised under a full grown rooster, do better. I would go with the nice guy too.

 

[XxMingirlxX]

Roosters will be roosters.  Cockerels on the other hand will be cockerels.  How a particular cockerel acts toward his owners or hens as a juvenile will have very little to do with his actions or personality as an adult.

In fact if breeding for traits was so easy, I suspect that by now some hatchery would be selling pullets that only lay cubical shaped eggs to make it easier to pack and ship the eggs to market

I said unless you are breeding as in unless one possesses certain qualities that you have been trying to breed for within the SOP of that breed, eg. The right tail angle which has been a problem in your flock, you should go for the one which is the nicest to the hens and people.

I never said anything about breeding for specific traits or that is was in any way easy, quite the contrary infact.