Rooster Flock Thread

[RCinNM]

I have several roosters, but only one is nice to the hens. The others are mean to the hens and stress them out. Now I have the mean ones all together and the nice Roo has all the hen (around 60) to himself.

 

[RCinNM]

I have several roosters, but only one is nice to the hens. The others are mean to the hens and stress them out. Now I have the mean ones all together and the nice Roo has all the hen (around 60) to himself.

This is one of the few times I was actually hoping for a Roo. I bought these two Ayam Cemani chicks in hopes of getting one male and one female.

 

[MickWithChicks]

I must say, rooster flocks are by far the best predator alarm systems!

It's spring time here and I've had a fox frequenting my property almost daily the last few days. I know as soon it turns up as my 3 rooster flocks are all on the outer perimeter of my main coops and go off their heads. If I only had 1 rooster I'd be thinking he was just joining the hens for an egg song. It's a bit annoying at night though!

 

[T-R-O-U-B-L-E]

So, I have a few questions.

Is it okay if the roos are in sight of the hens?

Is it okay if the roos can hear the hens?

Can I have one flock with a rooster and hens and another bachelor coop?

Will it be difficult to integrate roosters into a bach coop?

I can post pictures of my setup later when I am home and on my phone. Feel free to ask questions!

 

[Liz Birdlover]

When I raised chicks, the Roos that grew up together were fine in the bachelor coop together with no hens in sight, but they could all hear eachother for a year.

Once I let the hens & Roos out to free range together, attitudes changed. I've had Roos separated now & with spring hormones I doubt this would be a good time to try a Roo gathering.

I'd be curious to hear from others experiences with trying to gather adult Roos together. I wouldn't consider trying it until days get shorter and Roos have already been separated from hens.

 

[MickWithChicks]

I'd be curious to hear from others experiences with trying to gather adult Roos together. I wouldn't consider trying it until days get shorter and Roos have already been separated from hens.

It depends on the breed(s).

I hatch quite a few eggs each year. I sell most, but like to grow out a couple dozen to see how they're going and what they will look like as they grow. They're kept in their different flocks to prevent brother x sister inbreeding, but can hear / see eachother in their growout pens.

I always end up putting reject roosters in together from different flocks they grew up in before selling the good looking ones with the hens in trios. The rejects either stay, or are donated to the local zoo.

At the moment, I have Duccle's, Leghorns, and Silkies. Haven't had any issues with them yet. I added a wyandotte with them for a while as well, and he was fine. He was louder than any rooster I'd ever heard and was waking my kids (who sleep through all my other roosters) so had to go.

However, when I put Araucana (AU standard) together with the Leghorns, there was fighting.

My original rooster flock (pictured somewhere in the earlier pages of this thread and the previous one that @RoostersAreAwesome created) have always been separate from the rest of my chickens though. I have 2 left of the 4, they're 5 years old now and doing well. The 2 that died died through predation, not disease, so who knows how long the other 2 have left.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

It depends on the breed(s).

I hatch quite a few eggs each year. I sell most, but like to grow out a couple dozen to see how they're going and what they will look like as they grow. They're kept in their different flocks to prevent brother x sister inbreeding, but can hear / see eachother in their growout pens.

I always end up putting reject roosters in together from different flocks they grew up in before selling the good looking ones with the hens in trios. The rejects either stay, or are donated to the local zoo.

At the moment, I have Duccle's, Leghorns, and Silkies. Haven't had any issues with them yet. I added a wyandotte with them for a while as well, and he was fine. He was louder than any rooster I'd ever heard and was waking my kids (who sleep through all my other roosters) so had to go.

However, when I put Araucana (AU standard) together with the Leghorns, there was fighting.

My original rooster flock (pictured somewhere in the earlier pages of this thread and the previous one that @RoostersAreAwesome created) have always been separate from the rest of my chickens though. I have 2 left of the 4, they're 5 years old now and doing well. The 2 that died died through predation, not disease, so who knows how long the other 2 have left.

That's interesting...my loudest big mouth is a Barred Rock named Rocky...that boy can really project! I was worried when I got him, my very 1st Roo, I thought neighbors might show up to tar & feather me & run me outta town when they heard his big mouth!

My Wyandotte boys have quite the deep mellow crow, it is cool, only hear it when near them & it is a pleasing sound, not high pitch.

My EE boy is truly a lovebug sweetheart. His crow may be high pitch but in an adorable "young boy" way, not really loud. Just love him!

I can tell who is crowing by the sound of the voice! Too funny!
My Buff Orpingtons try to crow loud but they don't. The RIR boy only crows if he sees me or a fox, also a loverboy.

Aren't they cool?

 

[MROO]

Due to a nasty bout of coccidiosis, natural aging and passing along an extra pair of Nankins, I'm down to three roosters from my original seven. My remaining three boys (ages 2, 3 and 5) are now absorbed into the main flock. It's weird, but they each have a very distinctive crow. The Captain, (the flockmaster) does the old "Shave and a Haircut," which we always answer with, "Two Bits!" Colonel Potter does the classic "Cock-a-doodle-doo," I don't know what you would call poor little Pippin's voice. It's somewhere between a half-crow and a fading yodel. Sad!
I'm sure "The Boys" are happy to be in with the Ladies, now ... but I miss the antics of my bachelor flock. They were highly entertaining, and the eye candy was gorgeous. I LOVE my fellas!

 

[NevadaEmma]

Great article.

I had a rooster flock, but rehomed them as the opputuity arose. Originally there were only four. One was rehomed so I added another rooster. After a bit of a tussel, they became great friends. (All these roosters were barnyard mix.)

I had one Salmon Faverolles rooster that I did not want to breed into my flock so I thought I would add introduce him to the others in the Rooster Jail.

I find that the SF roosters are more docile that other rooster types I have had.

Bently tried to hold his ground, but just did not seem to make any headway. I put him in a very large animal crate, but this did not seem to help, the other three were still very aggressive towards him. He would let me pick him up and comfort him looking to see if there are any bad damage to him.

Finally I could not stand the abuse and poor Bentley was terrified. During the day I let him stay in an adjoining area I use for geese and put up a temporary fenced if any of the geese happened to wander home for a snack.

I eventually moved the entire crate into another area of an old chicken shed and worked on finding him a forever home . I found a horse sanctuary nearby. I can only hope he made it on his own.

 

[JKay98]

I am wondering if I could raise both sexes of geese in a bachelor flock? Will the roosters' hormones get triggered by a female goose?