Rooster Flock Thread

[MROO]

Oooh... I lost touch with this thread for a bit! I broke up my Rooster flock/bachelor pen and gave them all ladies, not because of behavioral issues, just that the girls were finally old enough to integrate and separate different breeding groups. I actually was going to trade a Barnvelder rooster for an injured production red hen I rehabilitated, but the other farmer changed their mind on having a Rooster. Poor boys get such a bad rap!

So, here I was with a single extra Roo and nowhere to put him. Well I have 19 11 week old Littles (the boys are mostly going to freezer camp in about a month, the girls are more layers) so I figured “why not see if this works?” He’s doing just fine so far, it’s been about two weeks now. They little guys are starting to Crow, and they are due to move up to larger accommodations ASAP, but I have to say I’m quite impressed at how well things are going. Knock on wood, no dominance issues, pecking problems or fighting so far... though the little cockerels will try each other my big boy Barney hasn’t had or caused any problems.

Way to go, Barney!
DD's Herman (blue splash hatchery Silkie) did the same thing. Despite being a House Rooster at the time, Herman adopted a handful of babies that were being bullied. Every morning, he trotted out with me to feed the rest of the flock. He would roll (how else would you describe a running Silkie?) out the door of their pen and stand quietly until someone let him in. He spent the whole day out there, minding his charges, leading them to the feeder and watching over them while they scritched and scratched their day away. Once they were safely tucked away in their little box coop, he would (not so quietly) wait on the other side of the door for someone to let him out. He was, after all, a HOUSE chicken. We didn't REALLY expect him to actually STAY out there, did we?

 

[Kris5902]

Way to go, Barney!
DD's Herman (blue splash hatchery Silkie) did the same thing. Despite being a House Rooster at the time, Herman adopted a handful of babies that were being bullied. Every morning, he trotted out with me to feed the rest of the flock. He would roll (how else would you describe a running Silkie?) out the door of their pen and stand quietly until someone let him in. He spent the whole day out there, minding his charges, leading them to the feeder and watching over them while they scritched and scratched their day away. Once they were safely tucked away in their little box coop, he would (not so quietly) wait on the other side of the door for someone to let him out. He was, after all, a HOUSE chicken. We didn't REALLY expect him to actually STAY out there, did we?

Awesome! I can totally picture that. He was a good dad! These chicks actual fathers aren’t so great at the parenting thing...

I do have to say I am sadly down to 6 Roosters now, I lost Mr Eyebrows a few days ago, he appeared to have just fallen off the roost, having never fully gotten back to his old self after the tail plucking incident. (This was perpetrated by his new lady friends, for completely unknown reasons). I’m now considering two of the Cockerels in with Barney as a replacement for Breeding purposes towards hopefully more blue layers. Maybe breaking up my Rooster flock and putting them in with hens wasn’t the best idea after all?

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Hi! I’m new to this site, found your article on Rooster Flocks, so thank you.!
I have one Orpington who’s just come through his first moult , and I’m looking at adding two Jersey Giant cockerels from a local friend... do I need a separate coop? I have one that’s about 3’x3’ above a run that doubles that size, but I let them out every day to range in my old garden which has deer fencing and is about 30’x60’ (the run is securely wired and screwed down on a solid wooden deck).

Sounds like you might need a separate coop. 3x3 would probably cause some problems with three roosters crowded together.

Definitely post some pictures of your roos when you can. Do you have any hens or all roos?

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

My two boys who aren't in roo flocks. They're with my four hens. Has anyone else noticed that bantam roos tend to not need as many hens as standards? Or that they do better in flocks with multiple roosters and hens?

 

[MickWithChicks]

Has anyone else noticed that bantam roos tend to not need as many hens as standards? Or that they do better in flocks with multiple roosters and hens?

My bantam rooster is the only roo for 23 standard hens (though my 2 silkies and a yokohama hen are all pretty small). I'm sure he'd be much less stressed if he had fewer ladies to "protect" and had someone to share rooster duties with! It is hilarious watching him chase different sub-flocks all over the property, though.

 

[CamTheChknKeeper]

Sounds like you might need a separate coop. 3x3 would probably cause some problems with three roosters crowded together.
Definitely post some pictures of your roos when you can. Do you have any hens or all roos?

Hi!
Thank you for the advice! Only roosters.
We just got our new guy today; I suggested to the previous owner getting one at a time or only one since she has 10 hens and I would prefer only two big boys due to the coop size.
She liked the idea of keeping one, plus they turned out to be Astras not JerseyGs, so he’ll stay a little smaller than my Orpington.
Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of resources, as we humanoids here are both disabled, but we put them together for a few hours today and neither one even lost any feathers!
My Orp has taken the top spot, and I was easily able to carry the new guy out of the high weeds he’d taken shelter in, and provide him a big sturdy box with bedding in the run under the coop for the night.
Each have food and water of their own, and the coop door is closed.
They mostly jumped over each other!
I’ll figure out how to post pictures soon.

 

[CamTheChknKeeper]

Here’s the bigger pic of my Orpington Lance! Those are standard size hen boxes, but I’ve taken the separators out so the coop is a open plan with one side solid floor and the rest roosting bars over a large removable drawer.
I think the coop might be larger than 3’x3’, I need to measure it again!

 

[Chickassan]

He is lovely.

Here’s the bigger pic of my Orpington Lance! Those are standard size hen boxes, but I’ve taken the separators out so the coop is a open plan with one side solid floor and the rest roosting bars over a large removable drawer.
I think the coop might be larger than 3’x3’, I need to measure it again!

 

[CamTheChknKeeper]

Here’s my boys!
Lance (Lavender Orpington) is larger than Andy (Astralorp), just a tad farther away in the pics

 

[CamTheChknKeeper]

Hey, I have a question for everyone! (Might’ve been asked before, of course!)

How did you choose the names for your roosters ?

We adore a British tv series called The Detectorists, and the two main characters are Lance and Andy!