Rooster Rental - does this work?

[WoodenCoyote]

Our girls aren't arriving for a few months still, but in the meantime we're trying to prepare as much in advance as possible.

We're not planning to keep a rooster - noise, young children, our yard is not so large that we'd want unrestricted multiplying - but we would like to breed a generation of future stock eventually. My neighbor across the street has a rooster we could borrow, and there are plenty of other farms besides.

My questions:
- would introducing a rooster temporarily would cause stress or behavior problems in the flock?
- how long would we need to rent the rooster for, to be sure of a result?
- what's the best way to introduce a rooster to the flock?
- are there any hybrids that one should avoid creating when breeding? (ie. breeds that don't cross well. The neighbor has a silkie roo)

 

[cafarmgirl]

Well there are always integration issues when bringing in new birds. It takes a while for the pecking order to be re-established when birds come in or go out.

I think the bigger concern in doing something like this, at least to me, would be the potential for the spread of disease as well as outside birds bringing along different strains of coccidia that your birds may not have in their environment and therefore are not immune to. As for the disease factor...birds can appear perfectly healthy while being a carrier of some of these respiratory diseases. If your birds have never had anything and are exposed to a carrier bird or other sick bird, then you have it in your flock. Once you have some of these things in your flock it is there as long as you have birds on your property. Do a search on poultry respiratory diseases to get an idea of what's out there, how it's spread and how it remains on your property. There is a lot of nasty stuff out there!

Personally I think it would be a whole lot easier and safer to buy fertile hatching eggs or day old chicks for future stock. You can incubate and hatch your own eggs or if you end up with any hens in your current flock who prove themselves to be persistently broody you could give her some fertile eggs to hatch.

 

[Mrs. K]

I agree with the above poster. Don't mess with the dynamics of your flock or possible health issues. Chickens are a flock animal, and take the whole pecking order quite seriously. When you add or remove birds from the flock it does create a disturbance.

If you get a broody hen, you can either slip fertilized eggs under her, (ask the neighbor) or someone from the local poultry club. Once, I literally called a stranger, and said, I heard you are a chicken lady too, and might have fertilized eggs, and she gave them to me! The problem with eggs is that at least 50% will be roo chicks, and you need to have a plan to deal with them. You don't want any in your set up is something you stated.

A better bet, if you get a broody hen, is to wait a couple of weeks, and then slip new baby chicks under her. There are many chicks that come sexed, so that you only put the pullet chicks under her. It is fun to raise chicks, your kids will love it, and you won't have any problem roos.

Mrs K