Please help me with my roo dilemma....

[juliemom25]

I have kind of posted about this before, but now I am feeling some pressure.......

We have 25 hens right now that are 7 1/2 weeks old. They are BO, RIR, Black Australorps, EE's and New Hampshire Reds. They are doing great. We ordered all pullets and indeed it appears we got what we ordered. I posted pics on here of the ones that I thought might be roos and BYC-ers said I probably had all pullets. Well, that was over a week ago and they all still look like girls to me.

I also have 6 bantams, one of which I would be shocked if it were not a roo. They are only 1 week old so I am gauging this by "his" attitude and disposition.

My plan has been to give the "hens" a couple more weeks to be sure there aren't any late bloomers and then pick up a rooster or two that was 4 months to a year old. But, after reading about the devastating effects bringing an outside chicken into the flock (here on BYC) I am worried about doing that. I know there are precautions to take, but I am thinking I might not even want to risk it. Plus, I don't know how to be sure I am getting a good roo (protective but not aggressive to my kids).

So now I am thinking that maybe I should pick up a couple roo chicks from a hatchery. I would have to go local because I am sure no one will ship just a couple. I live in Ohio and I know there are a couple hatcheries in the state, but none are real local to me. I like knowing that I am socializing the chick and hopefully helping it to become the rooster it needs to be around here.

So here are my question....

1. Am I making too much of picking up an older roo (4 to 12 months) from an outside flock?

2. If I end up having at least one roo out of the bantams, would that roo and one standard sized roo be enough for 30 hens? The main thing we want in a rooster is for him to protect and lead the flock. They will be free ranging some on our 9 acres.

3. Our main goal here is eggs, but we like the idea of possibly letting a broody mom or two hatch some eggs next spring. Should we get a roo that matches one of our other breeds or does it matter?



Thanks for reading and really any thoughts would be helpful. I feel like if we pick up a roo chick or two, we need to do it now. Hopefully we could just add it/them to our 1 week old Bantams.

Thanks so much!!

Julie

 

[Chickenaddict]

1. Am I making too much of picking up an older roo (4 to 12 months) from an outside flock? Abosulutely not!!! better to be safe than sorry, too many people lately are having issues with bringing in birds from others flocks.

2. If I end up having at least one roo out of the bantams, would that roo and one standard sized roo be enough for 30 hens? The main thing we want in a rooster is for him to protect and lead the flock. They will be free ranging some on our 9 acres. I think one standard and one bantam roo will be just fine to cover 30 hens. Thats 15 hens a piece....15 hens= one happy roo

3. Our main goal here is eggs, but we like the idea of possibly letting a broody mom or two hatch some eggs next spring. Should we get a roo that matches one of our other breeds or does it matter? That only matters if you want to sell purebred birds, mixes are just as cute altho some are only out for pb's It depends on what YOU would like

As far as tameness goes the only real way to achieve that is to raise them yourself and give them lots of hands on at a very early age.