Rooster Conundrum

[Ruthster55]

I do have one other rooster that I could substitute with. However, he is a part of the egg flock which is right next to the meat flock pen. I thought about using him, but am afraid that it won't work because he'll be focused on getting back the egg flock instead of settling in with the meat hens. Is it possible to switch roosters that easily?

Yes - a rooster will run to a pen or yard of new hens! He sees the ladies and wants to cover them!

You could cull the Ranger screamer, but then you would have Marans-Ranger crosses from the Marans rooster.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

There are a few farms in the Pacific Northwest US and also in Canada who have produced what they call Le Grand, which is a super-souped-up Marans that breeds true but also has great meat qualities. They are as expensive as Lamborghinis right now, but with a base of Marans, you could be a few generations away.

https://www.springcreekheritagefarms.com/le-grand.html

 

[Torinik]

I started out with a rooster I wanted to keep for a few years and breed back to his daughters. But boy, did that guy make me reconsider. He made an especially satisfying pot of chicken soup.
Now, I keep 2 roosters from the last two batches (one each) and breed those to their (great)aunts and (grand)mother, the sisters usually haven't started laying yet by then. As soon as they start mounting I collect eggs and put them in the incubator. When I've hatched the first batch, the roosters are promoted to useful protein delivery, because I know the second batch should be fertile as well.
Not ideal, but at least it keeps the noise pollution down.

Usually, there's more roosters than pullets, unless you're unlucky enough like me and end up with an exceptional ratio of pullets. I lost 2 chicks to a rat (he got send to eternal chicken hunting fields), so maybe those were boys, but the situation now is that I'm left with one cockerel out of the last 2 batches, all the others are girls. This boy is going to be a mean and loud one, I can already tell. Hopefully that nastyness makes him an exceptional good breeder so I can get rid of him quickly.
This is how I solved my crowing problem, not really the perfect solution but it works for me. Maybe someone else might find it useful to do it this way.

 

[CaroleW]

I started out with a rooster I wanted to keep for a few years and breed back to his daughters. But boy, did that guy make me reconsider. He made an especially satisfying pot of chicken soup.
Now, I keep 2 roosters from the last two batches (one each) and breed those to their (great)aunts and (grand)mother, the sisters usually haven't started laying yet by then. As soon as they start mounting I collect eggs and put them in the incubator. When I've hatched the first batch, the roosters are promoted to useful protein delivery, because I know the second batch should be fertile as well.
Not ideal, but at least it keeps the noise pollution down.

Usually, there's more roosters than pullets, unless you're unlucky enough like me and end up with an exceptional ratio of pullets. I lost 2 chicks to a rat (he got send to eternal chicken hunting fields), so maybe those were boys, but the situation now is that I'm left with one cockerel out of the last 2 batches, all the others are girls. This boy is going to be a mean and loud one, I can already tell. Hopefully that nastyness makes him an exceptional good breeder so I can get rid of him quickly.
This is how I solved my crowing problem, not really the perfect solution but it works for me. Maybe someone else might find it useful to do it this way.

I'm not breeding my dual-purpose birds yet so I'm happy to hear all the different reasons behind managing flocks on this thread. I have egg laying flock and a dual purpose heritage breed flock (new this year to me). I've been learning sooo much from BYC threads since I only came from a egg layer/pet chicken thought process before.

 

[Folly's place]

I'll add that temperament matters in making breeding decisions, so pick cockerels that you like, and who behave well. Reproducing jerks isn't good...
Mary

 

[CaroleW]

I'll add that temperament matters in making breeding decisions, so pick cockerels that you like, and who behave well. Reproducing jerks isn't good...
Mary

Well said... I just sent one jerk to the crockpot and got a new 1 year old nice guy from a breeder with a small flock who takes temperament into consideration. Life's too short to put up with meanie roosters who want to kill you.

 

[Torinik]

I'll add that temperament matters in making breeding decisions, so pick cockerels that you like, and who behave well. Reproducing jerks isn't good...
Mary

I agree. Unfortunately, he's the only one I've got. Not much of a choice left if I want to continue on this path. I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope the hens will pass down some of their well-behaved-ness to their sons.