Rooster help

[Zebedee1]

we have a total of 12 hens outside however this morning one of the three silkie’s started to crow so it is obviously now a Roo. There is another of the three silkies that looks just like him and might turn out to be a Roo as well. If that’s the case we can only keep one of them so my question is which of the two do you guys think it’s better? One Roo is substantially bigger than the other so should we keep the bigger or smaller Roo?

 

[ChickenChick46]

I'm still very new, so let others weigh in as well. But I would think that size may not matter as much personality. Which of them seems to be better with your hens? And with you and your family? I think unless you're wanting to breed for specific physical traits, temperament would be a better indicator of who to keep.

 

[Zebedee1]

Thank you for the advice! You know honestly they are both very interactive especially with our daughter which is a good thing. What are your thoughts on having 2 Roosters with the 10 hens? From what I have read so far it doesn’t seem like a good idea. But I am very new at this so learning as we go!

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

I'm still very new, so let others weigh in as well. But I would think that size may not matter as much personality. Which of them seems to be better with your hens? And with you and your family? I think unless you're wanting to breed for specific physical traits, temperament would be a better indicator of who to keep.

I agree with what was said here and I have many years of experience with roosters. My thoughts I'd like to add are these:

On current size, how they're both Silkies (if they were bred pure), they most likely will be about the same size once fully mature. The bigger one is the more dominant rooster and is why he's appearing bigger. This is also why he's the first to crow and he'll be the top of the pecking order between the two, having the final say on who gets the ladies. Depending on the hen's themselves, if they had to choose, they most likely will choose him over the other rooster, as they'll pick the more dominant rooster.

On matured size, in my opinion, it does matter, but them both being Silkies, they shouldn't have enough of a size difference to matter. And what I'm meaning here, is if you have smaller hens (according to the rooster's breed), you want a small rooster as a bigger rooster could accidentally hurt your hens. (A quick example of this is, if you had all Silkie hens, you wouldn't want an Orpington rooster because the Orpington rooster would obviously be too much for such a small hen.)

On size to ratio, size will also matter. A smaller rooster needs more hens. A bigger can go with less. These roosters being Silkies, they could possibly go with more than twelve hens each, but how much they can see to catch the ladies will probably make up for that. I had a Silkie rooster in with about twelve Standard hens, and they were plenty enough for him.

In the end, these both being Silkies, I think your best option is to follow what the above poster said. This is going to be the rooster of your flock, so you want the one with the best temperament with both the hens, and you. And I'm saying you because I've seen plenty of aggressive Silkie roosters. You don't want a rooster that is your hens' every dream if its attacking you and any small child that comes around.

 

[ChickenChick46]

I agree with what was said here and I have many years of experience with roosters. My thoughts I'd like to add are these:

On current size, how they're both Silkies (if they were bred pure), they most likely will be about the same size once fully mature. The bigger one is the more dominant rooster and is why he's appearing bigger. This is also why he's the first to crow and he'll be the top of the pecking order between the two, having the final say on who gets the ladies. Depending on the hen's themselves, if they had to choose, they most likely will choose him over the other rooster, as they'll pick the more dominant rooster.

On matured size, in my opinion, it does matter, but them both being Silkies, they shouldn't have enough of a size difference to matter. And what I'm meaning here, is if you have smaller hens (according to the rooster's breed), you want a small rooster as a bigger rooster could accidentally hurt your hens. (A quick example of this is, if you had all Silkie hens, you wouldn't want an Orpington rooster because the Orpington rooster would obviously be too much for such a small hen.)

On size to ratio, size will also matter. A smaller rooster needs more hens. A bigger can go with less. These roosters being Silkies, they could possibly go with more than twelve hens each, but how much they can see to catch the ladies will probably make up for that. I had a Silkie rooster in with about twelve Standard hens, and they were plenty enough for him.

In the end, these both being Silkies, I think your best option is to follow what the above poster said. This is going to be the rooster of your flock, so you want the one with the best temperament with both the hens, and you. And I'm saying you because I've seen plenty of aggressive Silkie roosters. You don't want a rooster that is your hens' every dream if its attacking you and any small child that comes around.

I didn't know this! So my bantam rooster will need more ladies than a standard?