The Complete Life Cycle of a (Mostly) Happy Rooster

[Daisy8s]

Love your story! We've had the same aggression problems with our rooster, but he protects our hens so well! We'll have to try some of your suggestions! Thanks for sharing!

Great! I wrote this story for others who were looking for ideas. Glad you got some from my post.

 

[Newbee58]

Really enjoyed your story! I don't know if I have a rooster or not as my chicks are about 3 months old, have 24 of them. Can you tell difference at this age? I am totally new at raising chickens and reading everything I can get my hands on, including this great site.

 

[Dancing Badger]

Thanks for sharing your ordeals and successes; the learning curve is often hard for us to admit. We have been raising chickens for 4 years and still learn. We have had (past tense) a few great roosters--lost to protecting the hens in different predator situations. Each one of them was very distinct, but friendly with humans and only cared about the girls. Guess we have been lucky. Last year we got 25 Brahma chicks to add to our flock, and 15 turned out to be roosters! Since they are a dual purpose breed, we had no problem raising them in a separate coop/free-range area until the fateful day came.

One little rooster, a red one, would not compete with the other rooster games. They were busy all day chasing and fluffing and eating and making lots of noise! But the little red and gold rooster should have been named Houdini, because he would somehow escape into the goat pasture, scale another fence, and be back with the hens in their pasture about every 20 minutes after I caught him and put him back in the boy pen. He wasn't hurting anyone, he just wanted to be with the girls. We decided to let him stay on when the other 14 went to the freezer. We have not regretted keeping Rooty for one minute! He is only interested in the hens, protecting them while free ranging, pointing out tidbits of food, and making all of the many vocalizations I have learned to understand as warnings and come hither noises. Rooty comes when called out or to go in at night, but doesn't care about humans at all.

Roosters get a bad name. Some are the best. You don't really need one, but we like them. I hope Rooty stays with us longer than the last ones. We have improved fences around free range areas to do our part. He obviously can't do it all by his little self, even if he is a big Brahma Boy!

 

[lorrainekatena]

Great story....Fortunately, my lesson(s) were learned quickly and without injury...My one-year-old rooster "Rafa ( named after Rafael Nadal...

) tried to attack me twice...and after the second time, I realized he was only protecting his girls (my 5 hens). I just got too close. Now, I keep my distance and respect his space...and since then...my fav "Daphne" has taken to flying up and landing on my shoulder when I come in to give them their mealworm treats! They are one big happy family!!

 

[newhamplover]

Thanks, newhamplover!

I agree with you completely that it's our job to observe and understand the way the animals in our care are communicating with us. One of my favorite sayings that holds true of both humans and animals is: "behavior IS communication."

I totally agree & appreciate your trying to educate. With my lifetime of working & being with animals there is ALWAYS more to learn. In fact after 38 years with horses I still felt at times I was a novice. About the time you "think" you have something figured out, you don't. The main lesson I have learned is..... if you don't want problems or negative behavior don't let it happen to start with. It is much harder to try to "correct" behavior than if it had never happened to begin with. Trying to think ahead & avoid potential problems is the best way I have found with all animals. That is why I thought you post was so informative. It made me "think" about the later on & not my current attachment to the chicks.

 

[lorrainekatena]

I'm glad you found it informative..I am grateful for my lesson...and yes, there are always more lessons to be learned!

 

[dindonuffin]

WOW!!!
What a great story!
I'm a first timer when it comes to raising chickens, I don't have a rooster now but I will keep your lessons in mind for when I do get one.
Thank you for taking the time to share this with us.
Oh, and in the end, you DID do the right thing by him.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Just wanted to add,your never suppose to carry a rooster upside down,probably will make your case a 100 times worse,not better..And just thought to say,I do not think a chick looking in the air is a accurate way to tell whether it's a boy or a girl,all chickens look in the sky if they see something that could potentially harm them,or something they like.Also,roosters take the knocking him off a hen a threat,it's something other roosters do,so this may also cause them to be even more aggressive.I personally think that none of that has a huge effect on them.My rooster crows in front of me,mates etc,and none of them have became aggressive.

But,overall,it's a EXCELLENT story,enjoyed hearing everything you had to say.Also the rooster in your picture is very nice looking.

 

[Daisy8s]

Thanks for sharing your ordeals and successes; the learning curve is often hard for us to admit. We have been raising chickens for 4 years and still learn. We have had (past tense) a few great roosters--lost to protecting the hens in different predator situations. Each one of them was very distinct, but friendly with humans and only cared about the girls. Guess we have been lucky. Last year we got 25 Brahma chicks to add to our flock, and 15 turned out to be roosters! Since they are a dual purpose breed, we had no problem raising them in a separate coop/free-range area until the fateful day came.

One little rooster, a red one, would not compete with the other rooster games. They were busy all day chasing and fluffing and eating and making lots of noise! But the little red and gold rooster should have been named Houdini, because he would somehow escape into the goat pasture, scale another fence, and be back with the hens in their pasture about every 20 minutes after I caught him and put him back in the boy pen. He wasn't hurting anyone, he just wanted to be with the girls. We decided to let him stay on when the other 14 went to the freezer. We have not regretted keeping Rooty for one minute! He is only interested in the hens, protecting them while free ranging, pointing out tidbits of food, and making all of the many vocalizations I have learned to understand as warnings and come hither noises. Rooty comes when called out or to go in at night, but doesn't care about humans at all.

Roosters get a bad name. Some are the best. You don't really need one, but we like them. I hope Rooty stays with us longer than the last ones. We have improved fences around free range areas to do our part. He obviously can't do it all by his little self, even if he is a big Brahma Boy!

What a lovely story! Rooty sounds like he has tons of personality. I'm glad you decided to let him live out a life among the girls doing his rooster thing!

 

[Daisy8s]

Really enjoyed your story! I don't know if I have a rooster or not as my chicks are about 3 months old, have 24 of them. Can you tell difference at this age? I am totally new at raising chickens and reading everything I can get my hands on, including this great site.

How did you get the chicks? Did you order them? If so, did you order a "straight run"? This will be a mix of hens/roosters (and since the hatchery wants to get rid of roosters it'll be a LOT of roosters).

I don't know what breed(s) you have. Different breeds show different characteristics of male/female bodies at different ages. There are forums on here where people post pics of their birds to have experts look at them and weigh in on the breed. Essentially you're looking for comb/wattle development that looks different depending on if it's male/female. You may also see spur buds on roosters, though hens in some breeds also develop small spurs.

You can always google "picture of 3 month old ___" and see what images come up (though google images can be laughably bad because you never know who labeled that pic).