Thinking about adding a cockerel

[DonyaQuick]

I got my first chickens in May last year, 6 buff orpington pullets from TSC. My original plan was to wait until spring this year to get a cockerel, but I wasn't expecting my chickens to turn out like they did and I don't want to destroy a good thing. On another site, I keep seeing pictures of lovely-looking cockerels that people are trying to rehome within driving distance of me, so roosters have been on my mind a lot lately.

My girls are so friendly that I get mobbed and have to pay the "hug toll" whenever I go into the run. They love being carried around with me when I do chicken chores and enjoy brief trips into the house. I don't have to chase any of them to grab them; they come to me and I can call some of them by name. One of them, Dimple, is tiny - half the weight of my others currently. Dimple lays eggs every now and then but does interesting mixes of the squat and rooster dance when she's happy to see me. Very rarely, she will also do a little wing-drop dance for a couple of my other girls when she thinks I'm not watching. Because Dimple is showing zero signs of growing more, I'm only considering bantam breeds for a roo.

These things have really been bugging me though:

• Are my girls going to ditch me and no longer want their hugs if I get them a man?
• If they don't dump me, how much do I risk having a rooster that wants to fight me when I go to pick up one of his ladies?
• Would Dimple risk getting beaten up for doing her Dimple-dance?
• With a lengthy quarantine, would I still be running any major disease risks?

I'm not expecting a rooster to be huggy at all. However, if a rooster would risk thrashing Dimple or causing my hens suddenly decide they want nothing to do with me, then I will just keep my flock as-is and try to quit looking at rooster ads.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

The girls likely will become leas affectionate with a male present. Sone might atay the same, but the malewill be fulfilling the role instead if you.

The male may or may not take issue with you picking up the ladies. Personally, I cull any that do, since I'm constantly handling my birds and dont have the patience to fend off an agressive male all the time.

Dimple may be knocked around a bit and made to know that the male is taking leadership, but if she's really a she and she doesn't fight back, odds are she'll be fine

Unfortunately yes, there are quite a few diseases that birds can get, and a lot will suddenly show up after quarantine when theyre passed to birds that arent as tolerant of it.

 

[Tonyroo]

If you have a good thing going with your flock don't ruin it by adding a rooster.

Some rooster can be a handful, you just never know till it's there.

Also the main reason for having one is to expand your own flock. Some people rather go the easier route by buying chicks.

 

[Mrs. K]

Roosters do change the dynamics of a flock, and I really think you would be happier with just a hen flock. They will fall in love with him, and he will kind of stand in between you and the hens. Roosters are tricky, and some are darlings, and some are nightmares.

Personally, I think Roosters are more for flocks, and not so much for pets. I think you would be happier with the status crow, so to speak.

Mrs K

 

[DonyaQuick]

Bummer. Well, I'm glad I asked first! Thanks everyone.

Dimple may be knocked around a bit and made to know that the male is taking leadership, but if she's really a she and she doesn't fight back, odds are she'll be fine

Dimple has got to be a she from the eggs, but she definitely has her moments of being a fighter - like randomly going full hackles out jumpy jump kick with my dog a few times even though it's more than 10 times her size. It sounds like unless I really want to try making a line of Dimples (for which there's a twinge of temptation) then she will be much better off roo-less assuming her weirdness continues.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It sounds like you are still on the fence and leaning toward getting a rooster. If you do get one, get one that is at least a full year old. Don't get an immature cockerel, integration is likely to go much better.

These things have really been bugging me though:

• Are my girls going to ditch me and no longer want their hugs if I get them a man?

Flock dynamics will change. Exactly how you don't know. This is a risk.

• If they don't dump me, how much do I risk having a rooster that wants to fight me when I go to pick up one of his ladies?

Again you just don't know. Some roosters are fine with you handling the girls, some see you as a threat. Occasionally a rooster might punish the hen for going to you, think jealousy. You just don't know how they will behave.

• Would Dimple risk getting beaten up for doing her Dimple-dance?

It sounds like Dimple may be the dominant hen. Size doesn't matter in that, it purely depends on personality. If she accepts his dominance they may have no problems. Usually they will accept a mature rooster, that's why you avoid an immature cockerel. But usually doesn't mean always. Sometimes the dominant hen just won't accept a new male's dominance and they have some real knockdown drag out fights. Sometimes these end OK, sometimes they end in injury or even death.

With a lengthy quarantine, would I still be running any major disease risks?

Yes, for different reasons. Diseases can spread by them sharing food or water dishes, pecking where the other has pooped, by insect vectors like mosquitoes, grubs, grasshoppers or many others, or just floating in the air. You can spread diseases on your clothes, especially your shoes, or by storing feed for both in the same container. Very few of us have the facilities to house them where diseases or parasites can't spread between them. Very few of us are willing to change clothes between visiting or caring for each group.

It's not unusual for a flock to have "flock immunities". That's where a flock is exposed to a disease or in some cases a parasite and they all develop an immunity to it. No matter how long and how well you quarantine them they are just not going to show symptoms. It's very possible your flock has a flock immunity and could get him sick. Quarantine is a very powerful tool when done right and I do recommend it in many circumstances, even a poor quarantine provides some protection. But quarantine does not give you a guarantee even if done right. Many people don't quarantine and don't have problems, I'd think most people that don't quarantine don't have issues or it's something like mites or worms that can be treated. But there is a risk.

I understand the urge to hatch chicks from your flock, especially a certain special one. Roosters can be downright beautiful. If you decide to try it I wish you luck. Sometimes, probably often, it does work out. But it is not without risk.

 

[DonyaQuick]

If you do get one, get one that is at least a full year old. Don't get an immature cockerel, integration is likely to go much better.

Mature roosters is one thing I haven't seen any of locally - at least not in regularly feathered bantam size. There may have been a few older silkie roos but I'm nervous about that breed's weather hardiness with how wet things get in my yard. Hmm. I'm guessing then that the nasty roos have already been processed by that age and the good ones are keepers that don't need rehoming. The younger, just-crowing ones being unknowns of course.

I was originally planning to get an accidental cockerel from a no-rooster town because of the number of people hoping to rehome those as pets rather than dinner. I was mostly thinking of that because I "can" - as in I have the land and zoning for it. Doesn't seem like it's quite that simple though, not without risking a frustrating mess, which I definitely don't want. I will just keep things as-is for the time being since it sounds like a cockerel is not a good choice and I really doubt I'm going to see a local, mature roo of suitable breed.

I could also just wait until I'm ready to do more of a proper flock expansion way down the line and then get hatching eggs. I'm guessing starting from eggs would probably be safest for my existing birds disease-wise as well, since I would indeed just be quarantining either in the house or in a separate coop across the field, not in something super bio-secure. Maybe I'm being overly paranoid about that though. I don't disinfect head to toe every time I come back from the feed store, which is surely running some of the same risks.

 

[sixlittlechickens]

Silkies are wonderful roosters and way more hardy than they are given credit for. They're much more affectionate (in my experience) and get along well with other chickens and even other roosters.

 

[aart]

I don't disinfect head to toe every time I come back from the feed store, which is surely running some of the same risks.

Not nearly the risk of bringing a live bird into your flock.
Good decision to wait.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Well, after deciding to wait, my brain is back on roosters again. This is going to be a bit of a ramble. I blame the neighbor somewhere who must have a new one - I can just barely hear it but can't see it and it's driving me nuts. You might think it's the crowing driving me nuts but it's actually the daily cock-a-doodle-you-don't-have-a-roo reminder. Another person further down the road also seems to have just gotten a gorgeous Australorp roo. I love my hens to the moon and back...but it just feels like a weird missing piece of my chicken world and I guess that feeling isn't going to go away any time soon.

There are also some resource availability things on my mind with regard to having a rooster. While I don't need a larger flock right this instant, I am using all the eggs I'm getting from my year-old girls. It has been an important resource for me with random empty shelves happening around the grocery store. I know their young hen egg rate won't be a lasting thing. I could of course just go get more pullets when that time comes, but I will admit to also having somewhat increasing paranoia about relying on outside availability of things vs having the ability to make more of something myself where the opportunity exists to be prepared.

I'm actually seeing ads for some year-old roosters popping up that meet the criteria I was looking for (smaller, cold-hardy, & well-behaved). They are not nearby; it's always a decent haul for a good one that's well-behaved pet and not a nasty soup fellow. Not sure if this is the time of year or if I'm suddenly seeing it due to HPAI paranoia and the state shutting down swaps. One roo in particular has been very hard to just scroll past.

Anyway, I'm taking a hard look at my options again. Yes I am fully aware the timing is terrible in some respects but I can still ponder and plan even if I don't succumb to impulse. My lack of optimism about world events isn't helping with that; I'm just not able to assume that things will tidy up in a reasonable amount of time vs dragging on for ages and making it even harder to get either more pullets or a roo down the line.

I guess I have three options to bother over.

Option 1: a year-old rooster that is a drive. I would need to quarantine to at least some degree, which is the hard part where I feel like I can't do it right. I only see two places I could do it: in a spare room (literally in the house) or on the other side of the cleared area of my property where I have concerns about the proximity to the forest and increased predator attention compared to where my regular coop is. The spare room is where I raised my chicks and would actually let me change clothes going in and out but something feels wrong about keeping a healthy adult bird in there for a month.

Option 2: hatching eggs. No signs of any of my girls being broody so far, so likely would mean incubating, which I have never done before. If they all hatch though it could mean the potential of way more chicks than I really want right this instant. I'm aware that it's unwise to incubate too few in case you just get a single hatch. Hatching eggs would of course be safest in terms of disease.

Option 3: chicks. I've been trying to avoid looking in the chick day brooders when I go to the store to avoid temptation but went with my husband today and of course he B-lined it over there as soon as he heard the peeping. He remarked on the straight run options, then mentioned them again in the car on the way back, and again at home. Hmm lol. With straight run chicks it would be a minimum of 6 from a big store. I could also look for someone hatching something sex-linked and just get a smaller number of males with the idea of rehoming later or doing a separate rooster flock. Not sure if the TSC sort of chicks would be safer from a disease standpoint or not; more people traffic nearby of course but they are still inaccessible and there are no adult birds around.

I'm still writing off getting a cockerel. That really did seem like a terrible idea for me. Now I guess it's a matter of how terrible the other options are...