Roosters Prefer Each Other Over Hens

[danielchelsea]

Alright, so we brought little Anderson the silkie rooster home last week, he's around 6 months old. Then after posting pictures of our frizzled Polish, Latrice Royal, discovered that she is in fact a he and now we have two beautiful roosters. Latrice is between 6 and 8 months old and has never crowed or shown any rooster behavior at all. He walks around like a hen and the bantam hens cuddle up in his feathers and sleep like he is their mommy.
Anyways, so I was concerned that Latrice and Anderson wouldn't get along, but instead, the two of them hang out near the coop all day, sharing food and laying next to each other, meanwhile, the hens are out free ranging doing who knows what! Do they simply not care about the hens because they aren't laying yet? How in the world did we end up with a rooster that hasn't crowed and two roosters that snuggle and let their hens wander off?

 

[I Love Layers]

Some roosters do not crow for a long time. As for the cuddling that is a bit weird. As for the not caring about the hens it is not because they are not laying, I think they are lazy. Personally I would not keep roosters that do not watch the hens..

My biggest concern is that you left the Silkie in quarantine for less then a week.

 

[danielchelsea]

We understand your concern about quarantine, we've read plenty on the matter. What you don't know is how particular we are as to where we look for new babies and that we don't have the facilities to quarantine a chicken for weeks. We have a 650 sq ft. ranch in the middle of the woods.

Secondly based on your comment about not keeping roosters that do not watch the hens, your whole post seemed rather negative. Unlike yourself, we would keep roosters that don't watch hens, yes it would be nice, but in all honesty, the reason we wanted a roo to join them in the first place was more due to their personality, despite their laziness.

 

[Chickassan]

One might "man up" soon, they are still pretty young. At least they aren't fighting or giving your girls a hard time. You got pretty lucky as I see it....btw im jealous of your snuggle roosters.

 

[danielchelsea]

One might "man up" soon, they are still pretty young. At least they aren't fighting or giving your girls a hard time. You got pretty lucky as I see it....btw im jealous of your snuggle roosters.

We definitely have it lucky. It seems as though our Polish Frizzle doesn't seem to have any roo tendencies which really helps. We're pretty smitten on the Silkie. My wife heard a pathetic little crow this morning while I was at work, pretty adorable I have been told. I have a feeling we'll be OK but as you said, if one "Mans up" we might have to see what happens.

 

[Chickassan]

You may very well just have two dudes that totally get along even if one does take the big boy position and that's great. Not all roosters are blood thirsty rump humpers, some are just really nice guys. I hope that's your case having two roosters that are kosher with each other is really cool.

 

[danielchelsea]

You may very well just have two dudes that totally get along even if one does take the big boy position and that's great. Not all roosters are blood thirsty rump humpers, some are just really nice guys. I hope that's your case having two roosters that are kosher with each other is really cool.

Us too! We've actually entertained the idea of building another coop if necessary. We just love them both so much and they are so beautiful. Anderson comes running when we come outside now, convinced we have treats. Latrice will come say hello too, but if you sneak up on him with his big hairdo, he can't see and sqwaks like an old lady who is highly offended and runs away! They are so much fun, so hopefully they stay this chilled out!

 

[centrarchid]

At six months the roosters are immature. They likely do not even recognize the females as flockmates at this time.

 

[lazy gardener]

I took 2 BE boys out of the grow out pen, and added them to the same age pullet, and old biddy + Jack flock. These 2 BE juvies are hanging out together. They do harass the pullets, but not enough that they need to be removed at this time. I am hoping that one will be a keeper to be second in command to Jack, as well as producing some nice BE babies, as well as some BSL babies.

 

[danielchelsea]

See picture for rooster love fest happening outside the coop...Now that the ladies are in bed, they don't have to pretend anymore...