- Apr 24, 2011
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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.
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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!
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.
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.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.
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.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?
Agree totally. I have seen it twice with my own birds.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.
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.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?