rogue rooster trying to kill me.

[ColtHandorf]

Absolutely. My point was simply that perhaps some varieties are better suited to bachelor flocks than others.

 

[Redhead Rae]

Yes I raise gamefowl but I have raised many other kinds of chickens too. Roosters all have the instincts to be aggressive. Sure some have been selectively bred against those traits for better or worse which would be a matter of opinion.

I purposefully breed for docility and human shyness in both hens and roosters. I don't even keep birds that bite when handled by people. I have children and cannot tolerate human aggressive birds. I've had a few and I have heard too many stories of kids getting their faces sliced open by spurs or nearly losing an eye.

I also only keep roosters that tolerate other roosters for my ease of keeping them. If you don't like my methods, you don't have to buy my culls or hatching eggs

 

[roosterhavoc]

Absolutely. My point was simply that perhaps some varieties are better suited to bachelor flocks than others.

I still fail to see the point of keeping a bachelor flock at all. I understand keeping a back up breeder or two but it seems to me these “bachelor flocks” are the product of people unwilling to kill a rooster. Otherwise why not keep them with a few hens? Breed aggressiveness rarely makes a difference however the roosters natural dominance sure will. This is why some people have no problems keeping 1 rooster with 1 hen while the hens feathers remain perfect which is a product of selective breeding.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Some people like roosters. If you can have a flock of roos that don't scuffle amongst each other enough to stress them, then why not have a roo flock? They can make good pets, and at the very least are pretty.

And isn't 1 roo/1 hen a thing mostly done with game fowl? Most chickens are flock animals, not pair animals, and seem to be happiest in larger groups.

 

[Redhead Rae]

I still fail to see the point of keeping a bachelor flock at all. I understand keeping a back up breeder or two but it seems to me these “bachelor flocks” are the product of people unwilling to kill a rooster. Otherwise why not keep them with a few hens? Breed aggressiveness rarely makes a difference however the roosters natural dominance sure will. This is why some people have no problems keeping 1 rooster with 1 hen while the hens feathers remain perfect which is a product of selective breeding.

I cull, and I cull aggressively. But I don't want to set up 3-4 extra pens to keep my extra roosters. I have my main flock which has my egg layers, how ever many breeding pens I need, and a rooster flock.

What probably makes a difference is that my flocks are kept in mobile poultry netting setups.

I will probably be building stationary breeding pens sometime in the near future though.

 

[roosterhavoc]

I purposefully breed for docility and human shyness in both hens and roosters. I don't even keep birds that bite when handled by people. I have children and cannot tolerate human aggressive birds. I've had a few and I have heard too many stories of kids getting their faces sliced open by spurs or nearly losing an eye.

I also only keep roosters that tolerate other roosters for my ease of keeping them. If you don't like my methods, you don't have to buy my culls or hatching eggs

I breed for human friendliness not shyness. Whatever works for you keep doing it. Looking back I quoted another individual that doesn’t even have chickens and you quoted me and now seem annoyed. I also have kids and won’t tolerate aggressive birds to people. The fact is most are human caused.
What you just said about “ease of keeping them” was my whole point. I don’t blame anyone for doing that as long as they recognize it’s mot the roosters fault and don’t spread a bunch of nonsense about mean aggressive roosters when the keeper put them in the situation.

 

[Redhead Rae]

I breed for human friendliness not shyness. Whatever works for you keep doing it. Looking back I quoted another individual that doesn’t even have chickens and you quoted me and now seem annoyed. I also have kids and won’t tolerate aggressive birds to people. The fact is most are human caused.
What you just said about “ease of keeping them” was my whole point. I don’t blame anyone for doing that as long as they recognize it’s mot the roosters fault and don’t spread a bunch of nonsense about mean aggressive roosters when the keeper put them in the situation.
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I've never had a chicken that liked being held, but once caught, all my chickens will hold still and allow me to do what I need. They will flock around people for treats but if you show signs of wanting to pet them or hold them, they scamper off lickity split.

 

[roosterhavoc]

Some people like roosters. If you can have a flock of roos that don't scuffle amongst each other enough to stress them, then why not have a roo flock? They can make good pets, and at the very least are pretty.

And isn't 1 roo/1 hen a thing mostly done with game fowl? Most chickens are flock animals, not pair animals, and seem to be happiest in larger groups.

1-1 ratio has nothing to do with gamefowl. It’s just single mating instead of flock breeding so you can easily single out issues and exceptional offspring. Flock breeding is usually done after birds have proven to produce good offspring. Mainly to sell though just like a hatchery so quality suffers.

 

[roosterhavoc]

I've never had a chicken that liked being held, but once caught, all my chickens will hold still and allow me to do what I need. They will flock around people for treats but if you show signs of wanting to pet them or hold them, they scamper off lickity split.

A lot of that is just the differences in selective breeding.

 

[Redhead Rae]

A lot of that is just the differences in selective breeding.

Might be something I add to my list of things to select for.