Temporarily Rooster-less. Some questions.

[Ravie]

Hi everyone,

I am tired of not being able to walk fearlessly through my yard and have decided to give my rooster to someone else. He should be leaving tonight. I am looking high-and-low for a replacement, but haven't been able to find a mature bird within reasonable driving distance. I anticipate my flock being without a rooster for several days or even a few weeks if I have to take on an immature cockerel.

My question is this: What will my free-ranging hens do without a rooster? Will they wander off? Will they fight? I've heard that without a rooster, the hens might fight some as one of them tries to become the leader. Do you think this is true?

I'm nervous for the safety of my ladies.

 

[hannakat]

Hi Ravie. We gave our aggressive roo away a few weeks ago and aside from the girls being confused that day and maybe a little lost the next, it was back to business as usual. They still stay together when foraging (more or less) and do announce when there is danger (Just not as loud or long as the roo did).

They don't really go any further than they did when the roo was here.
They do not fight. The pecking order remained the same.

I had a young roo, beautiful guy, that I was hoping would be nice... he seemed more mellow so it was possible, but he disappeared a few days ago

The price of free ranging.

Bottom line, they will do fine. I think having a roo is good, but not absolutely necessary.

 

[Ravie]

Thank-you for your input. I am so sad to be roosterless and I thought it'd be easy to replace the big guy, but no luck so far. A bit nerve-wracking. I love my ladies!

 

[hencam]

I've had all-girl flocks for 15 years. I don't free-range because even a rooster couldn't protect the girls from the hawks nesting in the backyard, and the coyotes, and the fisher cat.... (they do get out under my watchful eye.)

Rarely have I had bullying. Once it was easily stopped by giving away the one dominant hen. Another time I mixed up the two flocks. 99% of the time my hens are peaceable. There is a hierarchy, but I never see the fighting to establish it. It's more subtle pecking and running off. They all get along. Nice chortling, clucking. Nothing loud. They're always in gorgeous feather because there's no rooster mounting. They lay just fine without a boy around.

At 10 weeks, one of my new chicks was obviously a roo and I just gave him away. The girls breathed a sigh of relief. You can see my all-hen flocks on my HenCam. It's very pleasant.