Rotating Roos?

[GraceAndPickles]

Oh that certainly helps, thanks! I think I underestimate the affect that separation will have on their "horniness"! I love that you support "love connections"!

Perhaps I will start another thread, but I'll also ask this here: I am switching up my small flock operation a bit and am going to raise some dual-purpose girls (Delawares, because we have a good breeder close by). I want to keep the best fella to improve the flock over time, and have him breed with the best girls. But, I would ALSO like to have a RIR roo to be able to hatch out some sex-linked babies in order to provide some laying girls and some obvious boys to grow out for the freezer. (Hope all that makes sense!)

So, I'm struggling with how to maintain a relatively small flock of Delaware layers (8-9) with two roos, and be able to separate them at breeding time for enough time to ensure I know who the "daddy" is to any hatched chicks.

The conundrum is that I know it's probably too few girls to maintain two boys together, but I also don't want to just thrust some girls onto a rooster they've never met when I want babies (not only because it just feels seedy, but I suspect their time together won't be as productive).

Oh, and if I can be REALLY greedy - I'd like to be able to do all this without pens sitting unused for most of the year. I don't have a bunch of space...

Any and all suggestions on how to accomplish that lofty goal would be appreciated!

 

[Sara Ranch]

My suggestion - two separate flocks. It's the only way to know who "daddy" is after the 4 week wait period. (Someone had previously stated the roo's magic sauce remains in effect up to 4 weeks after injection.)

I have one roo who has just one girlfriend. That's it. He doesn't mate with any other girls. He's fine with that. They both free range and sleep on the deck at night.

I have another roo that has two girlfriends. He and them are in with flock. Occasionally he gets randy and will try to do another girl. His girls don't like that and will immediately put out, even if they had just rejected him. (*insert eye roll*)

The third roo is in the same flock. He has two girlfriends. He won't let ANYONE (any roo) touch his girls.

The other roos in the same flock are fine with the rest of the girls. I realize these are exceptions to the "rules" but wanted to point out - many roosters do fine with a small flock of girls.

If you can, rotate pastures.

Divide up the coop house into two spaces for nesting boxes and sleeping, with separate entrances, so you can control the "daddy" aspect.

 

[GraceAndPickles]

Many thanks! I'm putting plans in place for spring (have to save the pennies!), and am getting sold on the idea of two separate little flocks. I think I can pull off building another small coop with its own little run, and then I'll rotate which whole flock gets to go out onto the whole pasture by keeping the other flock on their small run for a day, then switching the next day. And if a fella isn't treating his ladies nice, he'll just be replaced by a gentleman who will!

Sincerely enjoy your rooster stories!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree two flocks is the way to go. People see the roosters mating the hens and think they are horny, that it's all about the sex. It's not all about sex though that obviously plays a part. Part of a rooster's job is to see that the eggs are fertile. But a lot of that behavior is dominance. The way a rooster asserts his dominance is to mate with the hens, whether they want to mate or not. When I separate a rooster from his flock even for a few minutes the first thing he does when I put him back is to mate with a hen to show he is still the boss. That's a big reason there was so much mating in the post above where the person was changing the roosters out pretty often. As soon as the flock had settled down they'd change out the roosters and start the whole mess again.

The hens have a bit to say about it too. Some hens will squat for anything in spurs but many mature hens don't. The rooster has to earn their respect. He has to prove to them that he is a suitable father for their children. That's pretty common in the animal world. Again, swapping the roosters out on a fairly regular basis doesn't give them time to work all that out. You are not doing your hens or roosters any favors by swapping them out every few days. If you give hem time to settle down you can put different roosters with the flock but don't overdo the swapping.

You mentioned a fella treating his ladies nice. I'll copy part of something I wrote for another post a long time ago. Sometimes what we see as "not treating nice" doesn't tie in with typical normal standard flock behavior. Some chickens are just brutes, male or female, and don't deserve to be in a flock situation. Sometimes it can be a little hard to tell when a chicken is being a brute or when they are just behaving naturally. Often if you are a little patient things will work out.


Typical mating behavior between mature consenting adults.

The rooster dances for a specific hen. He lowers one wing and sort of circles her. This signals his intent.

The hen squats. This gets her body onto the ground so the rooster’s weight goes into the ground through her entire body and not just her legs. That way she can support a much heavier rooster without hurting her legs.

The rooster hops on and grabs the back of her head. The head grab helps him get in the right position to hit the target and helps him to keep his balance, but its major purpose is to tell the hen to raise her tail out of the way to expose the target. A mating will not be successful if she does not raise her tail and expose the target. The head grab is necessary.

The rooster touches vents and hops off. This may be over in the blink of an eye or it may take a few seconds. But when this is over the rooster’s part is done.

The hen then stands up, fluffs up, and shakes. This fluffy shake gets the sperm into a special container inside the hen near where the egg starts its internal journey through her internal egg making factory.

To do his job as flock master, the rooster has to be the dominant chicken. How can he keep peace in his flock if he can’t break up a fight without the others beating the crap out of him? What good does it do to warn of danger if no one listens? How can he fertilize the eggs if they don’t cooperate? A rooster is usually bigger and stronger than the hens. If they don’t cooperate willingly he is going to force them. That’s part of his job, to be the dominant chicken. The one on bottom is accepting the dominance of the one on top either willingly or by force.

Part of being the dominant chicken is that he has to act like a mature adult. He needs to dance for the ladies, find them food, watch for danger, keep peace on his flock, and do all the things a mature rooster does to take care of his flock. He also has to have enough self-confidence to win the hens over by his personality.

 

[GraceAndPickles]

I appreciate your thoughts! Now, I get to design another coop! I will also point out that I appreciate that your commentary included the "dance" of the rooster. My first fella never danced (even at maturity) and I didn't know enough to realize that was one reason the ladies were not paying him any respect. His son was the same way - it wasn't until I got to hang out with someone else's roo for a bit that I saw the ritual the way it's supposed to be, and no longer wondered why those ladies seemed much more accepting then mine.

Two roosters, each with their own little flock of 2-4 girls and their own run, with rotating availability of open pasture. Final question to my helpful peeps - once a rooster and hens have established themselves in a clan, do they usually do all right free ranging with another clan? One boy has his ladies, the other has his ladies, they all agree to just leave on another alone? Or do I just settle myself for only rotating the flocks into the pasture?

 

[Sara Ranch]

I'd recommend rotating pastures for a bit. Let the changes cement into place before offering up another option.