Roosters: who should stay, who should go?

[LeslieDJoyce]

It's that time again when the hens are looking so rough I'm re-homing some of my roosters and thought I'd ask for opinions about which roosters other people would keep and which they would send away.

I have: an older 1) Brown Leghorn; and 2) a younger Brown Leghorn (hatched here, but very true to form) just coming into mating age; 3) a Black Australorp; 4) a Buff Orpington; 5) a bantam Buff Cochin; 6) a full-sized Silver Laced Wyandotte; and, 7) one that seems to be about 3/4 or 1/2 sized (and free-ranges with his own harem so isn't really part of the problem); 8) an Easter Egger; 9) a Barred Rock; 10) a Cuckoo Marans; 11) a Jersey Giant; 12) a Golden Laced Wyandotte; 13) a Speckled Sussex; 14, 15, 16) and three or more younger mutts. Most of those are hatchery stock, with a few home-hatched mutts in the mix.

We have nearly 100 hens in the flock, so I think I'd like to keep 5 or 6 full sized roosters maximum, and the bantam Buff Cochin who is just so cute and really doesn't cause any trouble.

I would love to select for as wide a variety of egg color as possible, but the Easter Egger is a total jerk and the Cuckoo Marans is so low on the pecking order I haven't been able to integrate him. The Buff Orpington and the Black Australorp are older and more established and pretty sweet, but the Buff Orpingtons aren't my favorite breed and he is not behaving very well with all the current competition. The Golden Laced Wyandotte and the Speckled Sussex seem to be the best "dual purpose" breeds as the males and the females of these two breeds have nice heavy bodies and sweet, friendly personalities, lay cool eggs, and tend to go broody often enough to keep us supplied with a steady stream of chicks -- though these two roos have not gathered secure harems, so have been poaching when the flock returns to the coop at night, and that is NOT fun to watch as it upsets the other roosters and then the hens get re-mated (or just held down and stood upon). The Jersey Giant just isn't doing well and is a very clumsy mater, though I'd LOVE to see how this breed would do under the right circumstances (at least one of the females is a real favorite of mine and super forager). The prettiest bird is the Silver Laced Wyandotte, but the females in this breed seem to have small bodies and fragile feathers so have looked very rough for way too long -- it breaks my heart -- he is another poacher and almost as big a jerk as the Easter Egger. The Brown Leghorn is our only white egg roo, and he used to be the top cock before all the competition arrived but he can't keep the peace any more. The Black Australorp is the secret agent of the flock ... he sometimes is able to end disputes between others simply by appearing in the right place at the right time, and rarely has to get physical.

I think that's everyone.

I have my own opinions, but am super curious what other people might do in the same situation and have time to change my mind. Thoughts?

 

[donrae]

What are your goals, besides a colorful egg basket? Is carcass size any consideration? Do you hatch out purebred chicks, or mixed breed?

With that many hens, I'm thinking you have an egg business, so production is a consideration. I'd keep the younger leghorn for that. I've had some leghorn/ee crosses that are fantastic layers of huge pale green eggs that customers just love. I'm not a huge fan of leghorns themselves, but I love having some leghorn blood in my mixed laying flock.

I'd keep the marans, for the darker color and cause I like partially barred offspring. He'll come into his own with less competition.

The Australorp sounds like a keeper.

I'd keep the Sussex, and the gold laced Wyandotte, just cause they're so pretty.

Your ee is not good, do any of the mixed breed boys have ee ancestry? Could you get green eggs from any of them?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

What are your goals, besides a colorful egg basket? Is carcass size any consideration? Do you hatch out purebred chicks, or mixed breed?

With that many hens, I'm thinking you have an egg business, so production is a consideration. I'd keep the younger leghorn for that. I've had some leghorn/ee crosses that are fantastic layers of huge pale green eggs that customers just love. I'm not a huge fan of leghorns themselves, but I love having some leghorn blood in my mixed laying flock.

I'd keep the marans, for the darker color and cause I like partially barred offspring. He'll come into his own with less competition.

The Australorp sounds like a keeper.

I'd keep the Sussex, and the gold laced Wyandotte, just cause they're so pretty.

Your ee is not good, do any of the mixed breed boys have ee ancestry? Could you get green eggs from any of them?

Yes, that's right. My goals are: #1, lots of pretty eggs in as many colors as possible; #2 edible birds when culling occurs. My biggest priority is having a healthy, happy flock because I get so stressy if I think they aren't the happiest birds on the planet. And the hens are very unhappy now, so I am very stressy.

I'm really torn about the EE roo. I'd love to set him up with his own colony, but I've got ducklings to home a bit more comfortably before I put any focus into that. And I feel getting rid of the extra roosters is become an emergency.

I wish EE roos were a bet less jerky. He was probably the nicest of the EE males we got, was the one we integrated after we ported over the "fresh" laying hens, and he was an instant trouble maker with the flock. The others caused so much trouble in the cockerel cage I practically offered to pay people to take them away.

I'm sure we can make another EE roo ... it seems to be as easy as popping green/blue eggs under a broody and waiting 3 weeks.

It's funny, but we tend to hatch out a majority of males here, and I've re-homed two male EE mixes with friends to be the roosters in their flocks. I have exactly one laying hen mutt I hatched here (Buff Orpington/Silver Laced Wyandotte cross) ... might be a couple more in the last hatch, but a few of those are for sure male.

Of course if I WANT a male I'll get only females.