Question about Roosters: Pro's and Con's

[Shannonwbl]

So far here are your suggestions:

Silver laced wyandotte
Hamburg
EE (one pro/one con)

Hopefully I can find a roo in the area otherwise we will need to wait for spring to raise a chick. We will likely be adding to our flock then anyway. Maybe my husband can finally get a JG hen!

Thank you to everyone for your great suggestions. Really a big help to us newbies.

 

[opihiman911]

I have a big alpha Austrolorp roo that is very good to his ladies, even my runt hen who recovered from crookneck but is about half the size of her sisters.
I had a barred rock roo who was quite rough with the girls and had a favorite 2 hens that he constantly chased and mounted roughly, they both had bare backs and necks till I put him in the bachlor pad.
Interestingly this last batch of eggs I hatched, the eggs were fertalized by both roos, but when they hatched I could tell most of them were fathered by the BR, even though the Austrolorp is the alpha and will knock the BR off everytime he sees him mates...he must've been doing a lot of sneaking off in the corner to get the high rate of chicks.

Aloha,
Cory

 

[Momo]

My EE rooster, Dylan, is awesome. He's a little standoffish, which is fine; he's not at all aggressive to people. He's very gentle with his girls, always keeps track of them and runs to defend them if they sound distressed. He calls them over for treats which he will hold for them to take from his beak. There's no squawking when he mates; he just steps up with a particular chuckling sound and they squat for him. No one is missing any feathers. I've even let him in with my 5 week old babies a couple of times recently (under close supervision) and he just hangs out with them. Plus, he's big and beautiful! He really does add a lot to the flock and to the farm and I'm glad I have him.

If you're looking for a good rooster I would suggest you put an ad in your local paper, looking for a nice gentle rooster for your little flock. There are always surplus roos around; some are tyrants and some are gentlemen. One of these days Dylan is likely to be supplanted by one of my purebred Ameraucana babies, but he definitely deserves a good home and I would answer an ad like that.