Rooster personality change

[my sunwolf]

My solution: I have my rooster penned up separate from the hens. If I need fertile eggs, I pop them in with him for a few days. This is a temporary solution until my boys grow up, since hopefully there will be one in the mix who will be a gentleman. Then I can cull Blueberry the rude rooster and breed in some nice rooster temperament.

 

[bethk]

I had 2 roosters in a pen. They were seemingly docile until the big one went into the gen house. He turned on me in less than a week. We did get him out of the hen house but then he stood outside trying to get back in. A few nights ago I heard a terrible commotion outside and he is gone. A predator took him away. That fox or coyote earned his dinner, I'm sure he wasn't easy to take down.
So now I have 21 eggs in an incubator. I'm not sure I will keep the sons of this rooster. I will probably try to find them homes. No sense in keeping them around to fertilize next spring since that would be inbreeding.
I have another rooster now living in my barn which is next to the hen house. He had not retreated to the smaller coop he was kept in for most of his life. I planned on using that for my chicks anyway. I'm not sure what to do with him. I am reluctant to let him with my hens because I don't want tge temperament change. I also hate feeding him in the barn because I know that can draw in raccoons.

 

[bj taylor]

i've got a really big black australorp. i'm sure hoping to get some babies. i don't have an incubator, but i have breeds known to go broody. they haven't yet & i don't know if i'm making a mistake by taking their eggs every day (they're not sitting on them, so i figure they aren't interested yet).
i've found this rooster to be so great. he's very protective, he's not mean, and gosh he's beautiful. i don't know chickens enough to know if he's typical of his breed or not. from what i've read they tend to be fairly mellow. i can tell though that if i acted incorrectly with the flock - he and i might not have such an understanding.
i don't treat him like a pet. i show him i'm the boss & i set him up for failure sometimes to see what he'll do. i'll turn my back on him & bend over to do something near the ground - i figure if he ever thinks this is an opportunity, i'll make it a very unpleasant experience for him.
i can't imagine ever being without a rooster and i used to fear having one.

 

[Mrs. K]

If you don't add artificial light, it will be later in the spring before the broodiness kicks in. I have been working with broody hens for the last 7 years, and mine tend to go broody the first weeks in June, end of May, and one year not until July, but it was wet and cloudy that spring.

MrsK

 

[bethk]

I just candled and gave chicks in most of my 21 eggs! The mean rooster will live on! I have heard conflicting advice about how to handle roosters: from kill them with kindness to show the
Who's boss. Both make sense really. The mean rooster came after me the first time when I was bent over touching the hens with my back to him. Boy he let me gave it and I was surprised!

 

[bethk]

Did I mention I have 21 eggs in the incubator? SO excited!