Pros and Cons of Roosters

[KDMck]

If there is a good thread, I hope someone will guide me, as I didn't find with a search.

I would like to hear from people the pros and cons of having a rooster. My dad had one with his girls, but they free ranged.

Mine don't/won't free range, primarily because of predators, not the least of which would be my weimaraner who has a strong prey drive. It would be a disaster for everyone. I have a nice sized covered run (16x60) and the chicken side of my coop is 88 sqft. I have two 2.5 year old hens, and six what I hope are all pullets who are 8 weeks old.

If one of this group, or a future group turns out to be a male, I want all the info I can get on pros and cons of having a rooster.

Have at it. Let me know the good, the bad, and the ugly.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

An all-hen flock can be like trying to manage a bunch of mean teenage girls. We have twelve hens and they all have problems with each other. It's exhausting. A good rooster sorts out the bullies and conflicts and bad behaviors and manages all of that so you don't have to.

Without a rooster, sometimes one or more of the hens tries to be the rooster, except they really don't know how and that just manifests as a lot of bad behavior: aggression, bullying other hens, biting humans, etc.

I would LOVE to have a rooster but we can't have them here. We did have a young cockerel who was just lovely but once he started crowing we had to cull him. I know a rooster might not solve all of the awful problems we've had to deal with but I believe a roo would have helped a lot.

In the next few years I'm going to relocate out of this $%^@#! desert and a requirement for a new place is that I must to be able to keep chickens - including a rooster.

 

[BonnieBlue]

Nobody can decide when, or whether, you need a rooster, but you. Please don't feel pressured to get one just because others are happy with theirs. Owning a rooster is not for novices.

Excellent advice, and hence, my question.

Even tho dad is no longer around, I did pick up enough from him to know my limits. Raising horses and cattle when I was young, one learns to understand where they are with animals, and to work with them and the abilities one has at the time.

I really want to know what I would be getting into. Learning is a part of understanding where ones abilities are. That is why I truly appreciate this forum. The wealth of knowledge is invaluable.

 

[The Birb King]

Roosters are pretty good to have around in general. As long as you have a good one they will protect the hens, stop the hens from fighting, and give you the ability to hatch eggs. They are also just pretty to look at. A bad rooster might attack you or hens but I wouldn't keep any like that

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Roosters are pretty good to have around in general. As long as you have a good one they will protect the hens, stop the hens from fighting, and give you the ability to hatch eggs. They are also just pretty to look at. A bad rooster might attack you or hens but I wouldn't keep any like that

This is really it in a nutshell. I feel like you have to go into it willing to dispatch any that prove to be a problem. This is particularly true if there are children around, as an aggressive or overly protective rooster can seriously harm an adult, much more so a child. Some people claim to be able to rehabilitate such a rooster, but it seems to me their methods, if they work, require major commitments of time and energy.

 

[The Birb King]

This is really it in a nutshell. I feel like you have to go into it willing to dispatch any that prove to be a problem. This is particularly true if there are children around, as an aggressive or overly protective rooster can seriously harm an adult, much more so a child. Some people claim to be able to rehabilitate such a rooster, but it seems to me their methods, if they work, require major commitments of time and energy.

I agree. There's tons of good roosters out there that are unwanted, so why waste time with the bad ones?