Rooster Chat

[ES4me]

I'm only at page 11 in this thread but wanted to go ahead and ask-will a rooster help keep the peace when new pullets are being integrated to the established flock? I have 6 17 week old pullets that my 7 older hens are terrorizing. Right now I'm relying on a surrogate roo (my english shepherd boy-ha ha) to let me know when one of the teenagers is in trouble. I'm willing to add a roo to the flock if he will be a good long term solution. I have 2 younger pullets in a smaller pen waiting to be added and 5 in the brooder so I'm going to be having this extra fun of establishing the pecking order for quite a while. Poor things

 

[TheTwoRoos]

I'm only at page 11 in this thread but wanted to go ahead and ask-will a rooster help keep the peace when new pullets are being integrated to the established flock? I have 6 17 week old pullets that my 7 older hens are terrorizing. Right now I'm relying on a surrogate roo (my english shepherd boy-ha ha) to let me know when one of the teenagers is in trouble. I'm willing to add a roo to the flock if he will be a good long term solution. I have 2 younger pullets in a smaller pen waiting to be added and 5 in the brooder so I'm going to be having this extra fun of establishing the pecking order for quite a while. Poor things

If he's a good rooster he will,some could careless about the fighting.

Something I have noticed is if the hens who are already there are not starting the fights,the roosters will beat the pullets or new hens up.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Introducing roosters are hard.Some just won't let it happen,some will fight figure things out,some will give them a chance.If their young its very easy to get them to not get ran off.

I had a rooster get hatched and he challenged his father one day and got one eye spurred out the first day,and got his neck and other eye spurred,he was muddy,bloody,and wet.He could only stay in "ONE" part of the yard,and he wouldn't,so his Dad had to murder him.but,we had to shoot the poor guy because of his dad.

 

[Amelia Egghart]

Just to clarify, you currently do NOT have a rooster?

In which case, adopting a rooster might be a good option. It'll give those bully hens something to worry about! And rescuing a bird that might not have a great future otherwise is always a plus.

If you already have a rooster, then you'll be bringing in trouble. But I suspect you meant you're using a dog to try to keep order presently, correct?

I'm not a professional, but I don't think dogs and chickens speak the same language

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Not sure if I have shared my rooster Zeus on here yet.Here is one picture.

 

[cowboysgirlfrnd]

This year I got my first ever batch of chicks and I have ended up with 2 roos (an Iowa Blue and a Welsummer) and 9 pullets. I have 6 old hens who have been teaching the youngsters some manners. They have all been free ranging together and last night I integrated everybody into the same coop for the night. The adult hens can let themselves in and out whenever they want, but the youngsters haven't figured out the pop door yet.

The Iowa Blue roo crows a lot and I've seen him picking on a couple of the pullets. He's confident but not aggressive and my husband likes him. The Welsummer is much quieter, crows now and again, but seems to spend more time watching for hawks. He seems to be the second-in-command. I don't know that I have enough females to keep two boys happy, and I've seen them fighting each other a few times - nothing drastic, but it is happening. The original idea was the keep them both until they are a bit bigger (they are about 10 weeks old) and then eat whoever was the more obnoxious to have around, but I'm concerned that tensions will run high before they reach good eating weight.

If you only had to keep one, would you choose one breed over the other? Would it be better to just get rid of one now while they're still small enough to become tame? (I didn't tame the chicks, I didn't want pets. They know I feed them but other than that I ignore them and they stay out from under my feet)

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I don't tame mine either, I prefer a healthy wariness of me. I do pull obnoxious young roosters out and pen them separately if they are becoming a pain. I don't think you can judge a roosters final personality until he matures some, mine I give until 8-12 months before I feel I can judge their final personality. When teenagers the hormones are running high and they are just following the urges. I've had horrible little roosters grow up and become wonderful flock additions.

Both of your roosters have potential but it will be a while before you know which is better. Keeping two often ends up in constant fighting, it's best to keep one or more than two. You can also rotate who's out with the hens if keeping both is important.

I've never had those breeds of roosters. The Iowa blue certainly sounds full of himself and the welsummer sounds more level headed. Sometimes you remove the top rooster and the bottom one becomes a pain in it's place.

I personally would pick the one you like better, if possible give them more time to mature before deciding, and I wouldn't worry about taming them. I will often chase them off at that age if they are making the hens scream, which is exactly what a dominant rooster does.

 

[cowboysgirlfrnd]

I don't tame mine either, I prefer a healthy wariness of me. I do pull obnoxious young roosters out and pen them separately if they are becoming a pain. I don't think you can judge a roosters final personality until he matures some, mine I give until 8-12 months before I feel I can judge their final personality. When teenagers the hormones are running high and they are just following the urges. I've had horrible little roosters grow up and become wonderful flock additions.

Both of your roosters have potential but it will be a while before you know which is better. Keeping two often ends up in constant fighting, it's best to keep one or more than two. You can also rotate who's out with the hens if keeping both is important.

I've never had those breeds of roosters. The Iowa blue certainly sounds full of himself and the welsummer sounds more level headed. Sometimes you remove the top rooster and the bottom one becomes a pain in it's place.

I personally would pick the one you like better, if possible give them more time to mature before deciding, and I wouldn't worry about taming them. I will often chase them off at that age if they are making the hens scream, which is exactly what a dominant rooster does.

Thanks for the input! I've never had a rooster before so I'm not too sure what to expect. So far they haven't been much trouble to anybody. I don't have anywhere separate to keep one of them if they do become aggressive to each other. I raised the chicks in a horse stall but my husband wants to reclaim that for one of the horses now. I will have to see how they go and maybe get a smaller coop if they need to be split up. I'm wondering if the current bickering is just an establishment of the pecking order for now. I guess time will tell!

 

[ES4me]

Just to clarify, you currently do NOT have a rooster?

In which case, adopting a rooster might be a good option. It'll give those bully hens something to worry about! And rescuing a bird that might not have a great future otherwise is always a plus.

If you already have a rooster, then you'll be bringing in trouble. But I suspect you meant you're using a dog to try to keep order presently, correct?

I'm not a professional, but I don't think dogs and chickens speak the same language

That's funny! Nah-he doesn't REALLY keep order-I just meant he alerts us to when they are misbehaving so we can make sure no one is truly pinned in a corner.
No-no rooster right now. I'm checking around with some local folks to see what they have.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Thanks for the input! I've never had a rooster before so I'm not too sure what to expect. So far they haven't been much trouble to anybody. I don't have anywhere separate to keep one of them if they do become aggressive to each other. I raised the chicks in a horse stall but my husband wants to reclaim that for one of the horses now. I will have to see how they go and maybe get a smaller coop if they need to be split up. I'm wondering if the current bickering is just an establishment of the pecking order for now. I guess time will tell!

Are the roosters bickering