Rooster temperaments and choosing between Brown Leghorn and Welsummer?

havery

Songster
6 Years
Feb 27, 2015
93
11
111
East Texas
So, two of my "pullets" from this year's batch ended up being roos. Oh well, it happens. Anyway, my flock is only really large enough for one rooster (I'll have 12 hens now, 6 of which have been raised with the roos and 6 that are my older girls from a couple years ago). One is a Welsummer, the other is a single comb Brown Leghorn. Right now, they're only 9 weeks old and neither are aggressive at all, but I noticed the leghorn is much flightier and pushy around the food trough. I kinda would like to keep one of them, but I do need to choose. So....does anyone have experience with the temperament of either of these breeds? Anything I should look out for? I'm not going to tolerate a rooster terrorizing my hens, though I'd like to have one around if he's going to be even-tempered.


Pics of the boys:

The Welsummer


The Brown Leghorn
 
I raise welsummers so I would go that way. I have had docile and aggressive so it could go either way. Good luck which ever you choose.
 
So, two of my "pullets" from this year's batch ended up being roos. Oh well, it happens. Anyway, my flock is only really large enough for one rooster (I'll have 12 hens now, 6 of which have been raised with the roos and 6 that are my older girls from a couple years ago). One is a Welsummer, the other is a single comb Brown Leghorn. Right now, they're only 9 weeks old and neither are aggressive at all, but I noticed the leghorn is much flightier and pushy around the food trough. I kinda would like to keep one of them, but I do need to choose. So....does anyone have experience with the temperament of either of these breeds? Anything I should look out for? I'm not going to tolerate a rooster terrorizing my hens, though I'd like to have one around if he's going to be even-tempered.



The Brown Leghorn
The cockerel above would be my choice, he looks more vigorous, alert, and healthy.
 
Keep them both for a while; see how their attitudes develop. They will probably get along with each other, at least this year. By five or six months of age, you might have a better feeling for which one to keep. Mary
 
It has been my experience that roosters that grew up together can get along if there are enough hens (it can also depend on breed of the roosters, too, as some are less tolerant of other males being around). My biggest issues with roosters and fighting have been between older and younger roosters. A young group of roosters will eventually be likely to gang up on an older head rooster, and a son is likely eventually going to want to dethrone his daddy rooster to be top bird, but you don't have either of those situations, so they might get along. The general wisdom seems to be 10 hens per rooster. With 12, you may have enough girls to keep them from getting overbred and to keep the guys content.
 

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