Raising Roosters vs Acquiring One

[AZWhiteKnight]

Be careful introducing an older rooster. If you don't get it right, you could have a bloody mess on your hands. A young roo that is currently top dog will not appreciate an older roo being brought in and taking his spot.

 

[AquaDuck]

Very interesting information folks! Thank you! Our current flock has ladies of various ages (mostly 2 years and under) with one "old gal" who is top bird. We have some chicks varying from 1-4 months old from which we plan to choose our breeding male from. Unfortunately when we did this last year our rooster was not a great protector and was only making "barnyard mix" chicks (ie was mating with other breeds of hens but not with the hens of his breed to give us the planned purebreads). We weren't sure if because he wasn't raised with an older rooster was he not taught his job, or was it just poor luck. Sounds like it maybe was a bit of both! Maybe we will try and find an older rooster to show our cockerel the ropes!

Roosters will pick a few favorite hens and mate with them often. He should mate with everyone though, but sometimes a hen can be too stubborn or mean to be mated. I had an older hen that the younger cockerels weren't allowed to touch... In order to make sure the right rooster mates with the right hens, the best way is to separate the hens and rooster in the same pen for at least a couple of months before collecting eggs. That way they'll get to know each other without the distraction of the male's favorite hens. I take it you don't have that old rooster now?

If your plan is for the new young cockerel to be the father of the babies, introducing an older one won't be a good idea. The older will most likely end up as the boss and mate with all the hens, and at the same time stop his subordinate doing the same.

If you keep all the birds together and monitor them as they grow, you can choose the cockerel that's the most integrated with the flock and on the best terms with the old ladies.

 

[Mimi13]

I have read and reread everything possible on how to raise a good rooster. It wasn’t until my 13th one that I think I finally achieved it.

I held on to my old mean roo hoping he would help me raise a good youngster, however, I don’t believe he did a thing toward raising a decent one. I attribute my mixed age flock for raising a mannered cockerel. He grew up with 22 older hens, 3 pullets and 6 cockerels his same age. I had to put 5 of the cockerels in their own run (the ones I knew I wouldn’t be keeping) and kept out two keeper possibilities.

The older girls kept those two cockerels in line, I’m here to tell you. When I was around the chickens, the two boys couldn’t stay fixated on me, they had to constantly watch their backs from each other and the older hens. This time around, whenever the cockerels would seemingly be running at me, it was only because they were running from the old biddies. It has been quite funny at times. So so much different than before when I’ve tried.

I hope I have not jinxed myself by bragging on the one I chose to keep and this little 24 week old cockerel remains a good one. So far, so good. I do separate him from the flock some mornings just to lessen the stress on my 3 oldest girls. He and most all roosters want to show their love in the early mornings and then again right before roost.

I don’t think I answered your question necessarily, but I wish you the best in finding an excellent roo.

 

[lutherpug]

Interesting discussion....I adopted my first rooster earlier this year. A beautiful 1 year old salmon favorelles. He came from a flock with multiple roosters and I expect he was lower on the social ladder than most of the other roosters. He absolutely terrorized my hens. We gave it a month to see if he would settle in but he never did. It wasn't just over mating, he was downright mean to them. We culled him. Shortly afterwards I had a broody hatch out a single Speckled Sussex who has turned out to be a little cockerel. He is about 10 weeks old and has been raised and socialized with a flock of 20 something adult hens. I'm super interested to see how he turns out as an adult as I would still like to keep a rooster in the flock. I'm optimistic that they'll teach him good manners. He certainly hasn't been handled much, I think we may have picked him up briefly 3 or 4 times for various reasons. Fingers crossed.

 

[SlyReb]

Each rooster has their own personality. It is just like each person is different. However, I have found most roosters to traditionally be very good at taking care of hens, no matter how they were raised. It is their instinct. However, if you super concerned, why not simply adopt an older rooster from the animal shelter who will be less prone for aggression? Just look at Adopt a Bird Network - http://www.adoptabirdnetwork.com/listed.php they list roosters all over the US who need homes.

In my limited experience, I would agree. I got my first rooster when I purchased six chicks at tractor supply. At only two months, he immediately started exhibiting protective responsibility of the flock. He always positioned himself between them and danger, and he herded them from safe area to safe area as they moved around the yard.

 

[Harmony Fowl]

Interesting discussion....I adopted my first rooster earlier this year. A beautiful 1 year old salmon favorelles. He came from a flock with multiple roosters and I expect he was lower on the social ladder than most of the other roosters. He absolutely terrorized my hens. We gave it a month to see if he would settle in but he never did. It wasn't just over mating, he was downright mean to them. We culled him. Shortly afterwards I had a broody hatch out a single Speckled Sussex who has turned out to be a little cockerel. He is about 10 weeks old and has been raised and socialized with a flock of 20 something adult hens. I'm super interested to see how he turns out as an adult as I would still like to keep a rooster in the flock. I'm optimistic that they'll teach him good manners. He certainly hasn't been handled much, I think we may have picked him up briefly 3 or 4 times for various reasons. Fingers crossed.

This is just another one of those chicken hunches, but I think sometimes that less dominant birds are less dominant for a reason, like they aren’t good at chicken leadership or the others sense something dysfunctional about them. Not all, someone has to be on the bottom even when they’re all super, but I also have had birds on the bottom turn out to be weirdos when those above them were removed from the equation and they were put on top.

 

[Country Girl Wannabe]

I am in a dilemma with my rooster situation. I have had one rooster "big man" for two years and he is the best rooster. He has watched and protected 16 hens very nicely. Six months ago I decided to expand my flock and bought 6 Black copper marans, 10 olive eggers from a breeder. Out of the sixteen, I have 7 roos! It is now bedlam in the barnyard. I also bought 6 hens (buff orpingtons and wyandottes) 1 month after getting the chicks from the breeder. So I now have 12 pullets and 7 cockerels and the original flock and Big Man completely ignore the newbies. My problem is that the 7 new roos are competing for the pullets attention and I am afraid that 1)roos my kill each other, 2) hens will be so traumatized that they won't lay. I have put 6 of the new roos in a separate coop run and left one roo with the pullets.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can permanently resolve this problem?

 

[AmyJane725]

I am in a dilemma with my rooster situation. I have had one rooster "big man" for two years and he is the best rooster. He has watched and protected 16 hens very nicely. Six months ago I decided to expand my flock and bought 6 Black copper marans, 10 olive eggers from a breeder. Out of the sixteen, I have 7 roos! It is now bedlam in the barnyard. I also bought 6 hens (buff orpingtons and wyandottes) 1 month after getting the chicks from the breeder. So I now have 12 pullets and 7 cockerels and the original flock and Big Man completely ignore the newbies. My problem is that the 7 new roos are competing for the pullets attention and I am afraid that 1)roos my kill each other, 2) hens will be so traumatized that they won't lay. I have put 6 of the new roos in a separate coop run and left one roo with the pullets.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can permanently resolve this problem?

Find new homes for the 6 you separated out (assuming the one you left in with the girls is the nicest to them). You've got 7 roos to pick from there, I'd keep the kindest and rehome the rest.

 

[Mimi13]

but I also have had birds on the bottom turn out to be weirdos when those above them were removed from the equation and they were put on top.

Agree totally. I have seen it twice with my own birds.

 

[Mimi13]

I am in a dilemma with my rooster situation. I have had one rooster "big man" for two years and he is the best rooster. He has watched and protected 16 hens very nicely. Six months ago I decided to expand my flock and bought 6 Black copper marans, 10 olive eggers from a breeder. Out of the sixteen, I have 7 roos! It is now bedlam in the barnyard. I also bought 6 hens (buff orpingtons and wyandottes) 1 month after getting the chicks from the breeder. So I now have 12 pullets and 7 cockerels and the original flock and Big Man completely ignore the newbies. My problem is that the 7 new roos are competing for the pullets attention and I am afraid that 1)roos my kill each other, 2) hens will be so traumatized that they won't lay. I have put 6 of the new roos in a separate coop run and left one roo with the pullets.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can permanently resolve this problem?

Exactly by doing what you’ve done, separately penning the six roos. You will not need all of those roosters and they will wreak havoc on the girls, as you’ve already seen. You can either rehome, sell or process them. My last batch had 7 out of 8 males. I kept one and butchered the others.