Roosters

[Whattheflock15]

So, I currently have 4 Australorp roosters (13 weeks) and I want to learn more about them.
Open to keeping one (or none) for our backyard flock of (going to be) 16 hens.
But I know nothing about them.
How do you vet who to keep and who to give away (or freezer camp)? When will I know they’ll be fit for my family of young children? They currently run as far from them as they can. but I don’t want them attacking me or my family if I decide to keep one.

We have 4 hens that are over a year old, who couldn’t CARE LESS that there are roosters about. And they attack a couple of the younger roosters and hens… when/will the roosters correct this behavior because there are currently 6 hens and 4 roosters that are in the coop, but will be adding 10 more he s when they are the same size-ish/ of age.

 

[CascadiaRiver]

Imo, the BEST rooster is one who is fairly indifferent to it's people, not aggressive but may eat treats, and one who the hens like. My taste in roosters is irrelevant to the ladies who spend 24/7 with him! Unfortunately, I wouldn't judge roosters this young, they've barely started puberty and their colors really shine post-maturity. I would let them age up, or pick two and let them grow out and wittle it down to a single one later (and if both are not great- you lost nothing, you didn't need a rooster to start with)

 

[Folly's place]

These cockerels should be with your hens, I think I'm reading that all your 13 week old chicks are with your adults, as they should be, with plenty of space, multiple feeders and waterers, and places to be out of sight if each other, and no injuries.
Watch your four boys as they grow, both for traits that you like, size, good structure, and behaviors. Anyone who has poor structure, goes. Any behavior issues, gone. Then see who the hens and pullets get along with, who starts offering treats to them, who's watching out for possible dangers, and who isn't spending time following humans rather than paying attention to flockmates.
There might be more than one good boy in this group, or none. It takes time to sort them out.
Mary

 

[Ridgerunner]

Why do you want one? What are your goals toward keeping a male? Your goals are what is important to you, not my goals. If you know what you want you have a better chance of getting what you want in the end. This is probably not easy for you to answer yet.

You do not have roosters yet, you have immature cockerels whose behaviors toward the hens and pullets will change as they mature. Their behaviors toward you and your kids will probably change also as they go through puberty and mature. It is really hard to pick a good one until they mature and most of us can't wait that long. Do the best you can with the knowledge you have at the time. You can't do any better.

My goals are different from yours but one thing that I strongly recommend. Do not keep a human aggressive bird. If one of them attacks you or your children immediately get rid of him. Some people may tell you that you can train him. You might be able to if you know what are doing and he is trainable, but the health and wellbeing of my kids (or other people) is much more valuable to me than taking a chance on any chicken. To me that has nothing to do with goals, it is pure values.

Are you planning on breeding them and hatching chicks? If so, what traits do you want in the chicks. They are all Black Australorps so feather color should be the same but you may see differences in size or behaviors. If you are planning on breeding them and eating the offspring then size might be one of your criteria. I'd eliminate any with physical deformities like crooked toes or weird feathers or body parts.

My method to decide which to keep is to eliminate any that show flaws, whether behavioral or physical. Some of my criteria include size, early maturity, feather color/patterns, and behaviors. I can usually get from 20 cockerels to two or three pretty easily. By the time I get down to the last two or three, any of them would be a good choice.

We have 4 hens that are over a year old, who couldn’t CARE LESS that there are roosters about. And they attack a couple of the younger roosters and hens… when/will the roosters correct this behavior because there are currently 6 hens and 4 roosters that are in the coop, but will be adding 10 more he s when they are the same size-ish/ of age.

Until the cockerels reach a certain maturity the older hens will dominate them. As those immature cockerels go through puberty different things can happen.

It is unlikely but things may remain pretty peaceful. The boys will decide between themselves which is dominant. When he reaches the right stage of maturity the dominant boy may take over as flock master.

As they mature the boys may fight among themselves pretty viciously to determine who is boss. The older hens may ignore this for a while. Or the older hens (especially the dominant hen) may beat up on the boys.

The boys may chase and force mate the pullets and leave the older hens alone. This happens a lot.

Or they may try force mating the older hens. The older hens may try running away or they may fight back.

Whether you keep all four or just one, eventually one will mature to the point he takes over as flock master. Often with my flock this is fairly peaceful but occasionally the dominant hen is not ready to give up being flock master and they can fight pretty viciously. Any time through this process any fight can result in death or serious injury but most of the time with my flock one decides it is better to run away than fight to the death. Most of the time, not always. I think it helps me a lot that I have a lot of room. If space is tight so they don't have a lot of room to run away and stay away it can get much more intense.

People do this all of the time, usually successfully. Sometimes it is pretty peaceful, sometimes there is a lot of drama involved. With mine, even with the same circumstances, it can vary a lot from year to year. When you deal with living animals you do not know what will happen. Good luck!

 

[Whattheflock15]

These cockerels should be with your hens, I think I'm reading that all your 13 week old chicks are with your adults, as they should be, with plenty of space, multiple feeders and waterers, and places to be out of sight if each other, and no injuries.
Watch your four boys as they grow, both for traits that you like, size, good structure, and behaviors. Anyone who has poor structure, goes. Any behavior issues, gone. Then see who the hens and pullets get along with, who starts offering treats to them, who's watching out for possible dangers, and who isn't spending time following humans rather than paying attention to flockmates.
There might be more than one good boy in this group, or none. It takes time to sort them out.
Mary

Yes, they are all currently together. We’ve introduced them slowly because they weren’t quite the same size yet and I have one mean older hen who loved to terrorize them.

So far things have been pretty good. The 6 younger (4 roos, 2 pullets) tend to stick together during the day, and though the older girls aren’t huge fans, everyone goes into the coop peacefully at night and wait nicely to be let out in the morning.

Thank you for your response!

 

[Whattheflock15]

Imo, the BEST rooster is one who is fairly indifferent to its people, not aggressive but may eat treats, and one who the hens like. My taste in roosters is irrelevant to the ladies who spend 24/7 with him! Unfortunately, I wouldn't judge roosters this young, they've barely started puberty and their colors really shine post-maturity. I would let them age up, or pick two and let them grow out and wittle it down to a single one later (and if both are not great- you lost nothing, you didn't need a rooster to start with)

Thank you!

 

[Whattheflock15]

Why do you want one? What are your goals toward keeping a male? Your goals are what is important to you, not my goals. If you know what you want you have a better chance of getting what you want in the end. This is probably not easy for you to answer yet.

You do not have roosters yet, you have immature cockerels whose behaviors toward the hens and pullets will change as they mature. Their behaviors toward you and your kids will probably change also as they go through puberty and mature. It is really hard to pick a good one until they mature and most of us can't wait that long. Do the best you can with the knowledge you have at the time. You can't do any better.

My goals are different from yours but one thing that I strongly recommend. Do not keep a human aggressive bird. If one of them attacks you or your children immediately get rid of him. Some people may tell you that you can train him. You might be able to if you know what are doing and he is trainable, but the health and wellbeing of my kids (or other people) is much more valuable to me than taking a chance on any chicken. To me that has nothing to do with goals, it is pure values.

Are you planning on breeding them and hatching chicks? If so, what traits do you want in the chicks. They are all Black Australorps so feather color should be the same but you may see differences in size or behaviors. If you are planning on breeding them and eating the offspring then size might be one of your criteria. I'd eliminate any with physical deformities like crooked toes or weird feathers or body parts.

My method to decide which to keep is to eliminate any that show flaws, whether behavioral or physical. Some of my criteria include size, early maturity, feather color/patterns, and behaviors. I can usually get from 20 cockerels to two or three pretty easily. By the time I get down to the last two or three, any of them would be a good choice.


Until the cockerels reach a certain maturity the older hens will dominate them. As those immature cockerels go through puberty different things can happen.

It is unlikely but things may remain pretty peaceful. The boys will decide between themselves which is dominant. When he reaches the right stage of maturity the dominant boy may take over as flock master.

As they mature the boys may fight among themselves pretty viciously to determine who is boss. The older hens may ignore this for a while. Or the older hens (especially the dominant hen) may beat up on the boys.

The boys may chase and force mate the pullets and leave the older hens alone. This happens a lot.

Or they may try force mating the older hens. The older hens may try running away or they may fight back.

Whether you keep all four or just one, eventually one will mature to the point he takes over as flock master. Often with my flock this is fairly peaceful but occasionally the dominant hen is not ready to give up being flock master and they can fight pretty viciously. Any time through this process any fight can result in death or serious injury but most of the time with my flock one decides it is better to run away than fight to the death. Most of the time, not always. I think it helps me a lot that I have a lot of room. If space is tight so they don't have a lot of room to run away and stay away it can get much more intense.

People do this all of the time, usually successfully. Sometimes it is pretty peaceful, sometimes there is a lot of drama involved. With mine, even with the same circumstances, it can vary a lot from year to year. When you deal with living animals you do not know what will happen. Good luck!

Thank you so much for this response!

We’re not looking to breed them at this point, but more so looking for a protector for the flock and someone who can help keep the peace between the new additions and the older girls.

Definitely giving me a lot of food for thought, will definitely be keeping tabs on who has good manners with people and the ladies.
They have gotten into quite a bit of squabbles with each other and the older hens lately, even with all the space they have to roam.
And though I know it’s nature and bound to happen, I just would feel terrible if something were to happen to any of them.