Thinking about keeping a cockerel... a few questions, and is it worth it to YOU?

[Kris5902]

I have no experience with silkies, but I love my 8 roosters, even my jerks (I have one).

I just turned my 61 7~8 week old meat birds out for their first free ranging in a semi forested area. I had separated the group into two Salatin Style meat tractors. Cockerels A and cockerels B immediately set to trying to scrap, little did they realize one of my best Roosters is supervising them. (I’m guessing there’s at least 40 cockerels in this batch) he broke up about ten want-to-be cock fights while I was distributing the feed and refilling waterers, I’m also relying on him to put them away at night and keep them safer from predators. Teenagers think they are invincible, but this old man knows what to look out for, and his ladies also put a few of the little peckers to rights.

I free range, and mostly I don’t manage the hens, I just manage the Roosters and let them take care of their girls. I had a friend up with her two small children 6 & 9, and they were feeding the free range flock some scratch (I have a few absolutely vicious hens that bite, so I told them to just put it out on the ground, not wanting anyone to have a bad experience) I was chatting with the parents and when we look back sure enough here’s the little girl (9) knelt down feeding my big leghorn X Rooster with giant spurs out of her hoodie because “The girls weren’t letting him get any food!” Dad has a moment of concern, because you know, vicious Roosters. I reassured him it was fine, Sammy is a sweetheart with kids (and gentle when hand fed, but one of his ladies is my Worst biter).

It all comes down to your flock, situation, and comfort level, but out of all my Roosters I have only had one people aggressive one, and he just gets to Rule his run. Only DH and I go in there, and we use caution, and wear appropriate clothing. If I need to handle him for a health check I wear long sleeves, a fairly heavy jacket, jeans, and wrap him in a towel when needed. Why do I keep him? He produces great Olive Egger offspring with good temperaments, he is awesome with his ladies, and he’s gorgeous. If we ever move and I have to rehome our flocks (100+ birds) he will unfortunately be a cull, because I wouldn’t want to risk him hurting someone.

 

[JKay98]

Learn how roosters show their dominance, and learn how to show yours from the start. Simple things like walking around your roo instead of him going around you can be a sign of submission. And if you are constantly submitting to him, there may eventually be problems. I love having a rooster, I think they have the most personality and have given me the best interactions. I will always have at least one.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I'm jumping in at the end, @Lemon-Drop. None of the choices in your poll were really right for me so I picked "not unless it's super sweet." The other option I considered was "Yes as long as it's not too aggressive," but that wasn't really right either.

My best answer is somewhere between the two. "Yes but it must not be aggressive" would say it best. How aggressive is "too aggressive"? It can't be AT ALL aggressive if it's going to live here. A rooster that's a "little aggressive" is like a cat that's a little pregnant. It's not going to stay "a little aggressive."

And what is meant by "super sweet"? Snuggly, cuddly? No thank you. It just has to do its job without harming the hens.

So to answer the question: it is absolutely worth it for me to have a good rooster. The hens are calmer, happier and form a more cohesive unit when they have one. He watches for danger, keeps them together better, and -this is just my opinion - I think they like being flirted with. Makes them feel girly and contented.

 

[Ryguy3684]

I love my Buff Orpington rooster. He's an amazing protector, not a lap chicken, but not aggressive. His son, on the other hand, is the friendliest lap chicken, I've ever seen. He'd live in the house with us, if we let him. He's not the best leader, but that may be because he's not the alpha, and therefore doesn't have to be. My flock is 14 hens, 1 rooster, and 1 cockeral. It works well, but mainly because the rooster doesn't let the little guy mate any of the hens.

 

[Chickassan]

It is worth it if you have reasonable expectations and a firm grasp on the fact that no matter what breed he's going to have a bad day once in a while.
None of them are 100% perfect.
That being said I keep two roosters, half brothers one is an absolute weirdo and one is a normal rooster.
They have 22 hens between them and honestly the guys look tired so you could probably have up to 2 boys just fine.
You asked about mixed flock bullying, it doesn't matter what breed the boy is that tends to be more of a hen problem.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

Well, Eclipse, the black Silkie, is definitely a cockerel, and so far we are keeping him, as long as he doesn’t get overly aggressive with the hens or us. Currently, however, he is definitely mating the hens, maybe a little aggressively, but not too badly. And he’s so sweet with humans, enough that we were able to give him a bath yesterday, we carry him around, and he only occasionally pecks our fingers if we try to pick him up. Here’s to hoping he stays that way. A couple of pictures from yesterday’s bath time.

 

[nuthatched]

Aggressive cockerels will be corrected through herbal hydrotherapy

Celery, chives, onion, bell pepper, carrots....

 

[gimmie birdies]

I have really sweet roosters, and aloof roosters. Currently I have a rooster who is more aloof, but not aggressive. I am keeping him for his breed. And he is not currently a crazy crower. Bojangles. He has a NN/Friz gene, but doesn't show either trait.

 

[nuthatched]

There's a completely different flock dynamic with a rooster, I'd love to watch them interact. I believe they are worth it if you can have one. A good rooster is priceless, a bad one is worth a good stew. My rooster would ignore me unless I was wearing my pajamas with little red foxes, he'd try to yanking them off. And the one time he did try to take out my shins, he had led his women on a merry parade through the neighborhood and got stuck in someone's yard (he was going to right direction home just there was a 6 foot fence in the way) I had to toss everyone over the fence (him first) and he did not appreciate me manhandling the hens (they were fussing) so he threw himself against the fence a few times until he realized they were fine and led them home.