Question on rooster selection?

[bhawk-23]

I've only judged one rooster who we ended up passing on to a friend. As a chick he hung close to his mama. As a juvenile he preferred the pullets and hens, who accepted him, and avoided the rough housing with his brothers. He was never overly friendly with me and always moved out of my way. He kept a watchful eye on me from a distance but never had shown aggression. He did not tidbit or dance really but he was still working his way up in ranks when he left. Fast forward and he's 8.5-9 months now and my friend says he is a great rooster! She was hesitant to take on another rooster but she is extremely happy she did. He is working out great! Same personality, watches her for a bit but moves on. He knows where she is but moves out of her way. Gets along with the other rooster even though he is much bigger and stronger. They live side by side each with their own flock to watch over. I am so happy to have spared him from the same fate as his brothers, he is enjoying life now.

 

[Ebony Rose]

I currently have 2 mature cockerels, 12 pullets, and a group of five that are nowhere near sexually mature that consists of four cockerels and one pullet. These mature pullets came from three separate broods; the eldest brood containing five laying hens, the mid-aged brood offering three more laying hens. All eight of these hens 'belong' to the alpha cockerel. The youngest pullets group of four have not started laying yet but they're at the point of lay, any day or week now; this group 'belongs' to the beta cockerel.
I have never dictated sleeping locations within the coop that they all share. This is how they choose to arrange themselves therein:
The alpha and beta cockerel sleeping together with the beta cockerel's girls, they've selected a lofty location but not the highest spots available. The alpha cockerel's girls spread out on various roosts and perches without their fella, some mid-aged girls choosing for themselves the highest roosts with the older girls selecting lower roosts or even lower perches. The totally immature flock of five sticking together in an out of the way perch away from their seniors. For the sake of clarity, I have used the word roost to signify a two-by-four, dowel or branch; I have used the word perch to signify a small table or upside down, flat sided plastic box or plastic shelving that is easy and lightweight for me to move for cleaning underneath, where the poop collects away from the feet and body of my babies.
Eventually, I will process all four of the cockerels in the youngest group of five but am biding my time for the young pullet in this group to be of sufficient age to have her 'brothers' just starting to fight over her. I will likely process these four cockerels in a 'most dominant' down approach, knowing that I haven't any intentions of keeping another cockerel, but allowing the most submissive cockerels to remain until the one pullet in the group is big enough to select which of the cockerels that I am keeping will become her family. Socially speaking, it is a real shame that I ended up with mostly boys from that group.
My point being, keeping two cockerels is possible, if it's the right two cockerels and if they have sufficient room to wander in the daytime to stay out of the other's 'space'.

 

[Pollito Pelon]

Can't speak on friendliness my rooster doesn't like getting picked he was gifted and never was picked when little however he takes good care of hens, prepares nest, calls for food, and takes them outside our house to eat and brings them back inside, he also keeps foreign roosters out of the house. Our secondary rooster only crows but I also assume he doesn't want to get into a fight with the dominant rooster but he is sometimes mean compare to the dominant rooster

 

[Flockking]

So true, I had two roos (snow a Isa brown and ray a cross between a copper marans and austrolop) the hens where always with snow despite ray was the dominant one, ray wasn't romantic at all
He'll always react aggressively when ever a hen tried to give him extra attention
Instead of ray to call his hens (like snow)to food, he'll bully and run over them
In short let your hens decide which they like then check if his human aggressive

Watch the behavior of the pullets to determine which cockerel that they prefer. Chickens know.

 

[Mrs. K]

My point being, keeping two cockerels is possible, if it's the right two cockerels and if they have sufficient room to wander in the daytime to stay out of the other's 'space'.

I am curious as to the size of your coop. And how long have you kept chickens? I think that people with larger set ups, and people with years of experiences willing to cull birds and multi-generational flocks have completely different outcomes with roosters.

 

[Ebony Rose]

I've kept chickens for a dozen years, and quail a slightly less number of years. Coop size for the chickens is 15x8 feet (120 square feet). I live in the tropics, it is never cold here. I raise my chickens primarily for meat, and incubate most of the eggs to provide myself and neighbors with chicks throughout the year. I just love the hatching process and watching the little birds as they learn to be chickens. I frequently have 2 roosters, and make my decision on the second in command taking into consideration how well he is tolerated by the alpha rooster. I look for a bird that is reasonably well matched, that the alpha is willing to make small concessions to so that should something awful happen to the alpha, his replacement isn't deficient. If, after time, I see that my judgement was in error on who to select as his backup... then I make a choice on which rooster to keep and select a promising cockerel or two to start the selection process over.

 

[Mrs. K]

Yes, that is what I thought. You have space, you have experience, and you have a multi-generational flock, and your birds serve you. I would be incredibly surprised if you had an attacking rooster.

We all give advice from our own point of view. Me included.

I really think

• roosters take experience
• need more space than hens
• do better when raised by/with older chickens
• are not flock mates in a single generation
• are not a pet

Not by someone who thinks they have a forever friend.

MRs K

 

[Ebony Rose]

Yes, that is what I thought. You have space, you have experience, and you have a multi-generational flock, and your birds serve you. I would be incredibly surprised if you had an attacking rooster.

We all give advice from our own point of view. Me included.

I really think

• roosters take experience
• need more space than hens
• do better when raised by/with older chickens
• are not flock mates in a single generation
• are not a pet

Not by someone who thinks they have a forever friend.

MRs K

Exactly.
A novice rooster keeper needs to have a mental set of rules and expectations. They need this mental list of deal breakers and they need the gumption to do what needs to be done with a cockerel/rooster that becomes a deal breaker. This can be anything from re-homing to inviting the offending bird FOR dinner.

A rooster requires quite a bit more space than a hen in the run, and he will also appreciate some of that space to be elevated so that he can gaze out over his domain and better see any dangers that lurk therein.

It has been my experience that a cockerel (less than a year old male chicken) tends to turn out MUCH better as a rooster when he is properly schooled in the fine art of wooing by elder hens, preferably hens that have seen a couple years or more. They're big enough, strong enough, and confident enough to make him toe the line.

I'd only consider a cockerel/rooster for a flock that was raised in the same brood as a last resort. It tends to make the cock a bully, rather than a gentleman, as he lacks the schooling mentioned before. Having had this setup in the past, I solved my problem by eating the bully and allowing one of his sons to take over the job... his Auntie's having schooled him properly. (While on this subject, I get hatching eggs off of my 'farm' every few years to bring in fresh genetics).

Handle suspected male birds MUCH less than females so that they maintain respect for the humans in the flock. I'm female, but as far as my flock is concerned I am the top cock of the walk.

My birds are well cared for, even loved and pampered, for every minute of their lives. I try to make their life wonderful, up until that very last second when it's all over. You can love your chickens and eat them too.