Rooster Right?

[3dognite]

How many hens do you have?

Looks like I only have 2 hens out of the my 8 starter chicks. Bummer, I was really hoping for more hens...but at least they're not all roosters. I think I will keep just one of the roosters and try to get some more hens.

 

[3dognite]

I think you will find that the cockerels will not lay eggs

so that leaves you with the pet option. Choosing a cockerel as a pet is difficult because it is a bit of a lottery and looking at them, they are on the point of suffering from raging hormones which will drastically affect their temperament and behaviour..... I hate adolescent roosters!

Keeping them through that phase is usually harassing for you and the hens, unless you isolate them into a bachelor pad, particularly if your hens are also juvenile and few in number, as it appears. I would recommend that you don't keep more than one unless you have lots of hens and free range. After that it is going to come down to which one you like the best but base it on personality/temperament more than looks.

Good luck!

Thank you for the advice. How long do you think I have to make a decision? I have been watching them carefully the last few days to see if I favor one over another or if any of them have an outstanding quality. In your opinion what would be a good quality to watch for?
One of them watches me all the time in coop, a couple of them don't even bother to get up unless I have something for them, one of them is still not crowing (my husband likes that one!), one of them has always been standoffish since he was a little guy. Lots of factors, plus it sounds like they're behaviour is going to change anyways, right?

 

[rebrascora]

Yes their behaviour will almost certainly change, not only with age but also as you eliminate other roosters..... for example, the one that is not crowing will almost certainly start crowing once you remove the others.... he's just most likely bottom of the pecking order and not confident enough to crow at the moment. I was given a pair of legbars and the male immediately established himself as top rooster but the other cockerel I had kept challenging and I had to separate them. The legbar was very polite with people until I removed his opponent and then he felt like, since he had no other competitor, it was time to challenge me..... We had a few "disagreements" on this before he learned his place. Interestingly the other one also turned human aggressive once he had his own little flock and I was unable to retrain him. He gave his life in a dog attack before I psyched myself up to make soup with him!.

I would probably be wary of the one that watches you, but I wouldn't condemn him solely on that. I'm afraid it really is a bit of a lottery at this stage. The only thing I would say is that cockerels/roosters are cheap and easy to come by(often free to a good home) and older mature ones are much easier on the girls and less of a lottery. If you aren't too attached to those you have, get rid of them all. Let your pullets mature and develop and settle into a laying routine and then if you would still like a rooster, rehome a mature one that has perhaps been replaced in someone's breeding program.

Good luck