Thinking of having a rooster, can you give pros and cons?

[turtlebird]

I love my rooster because while all his ladies and scouring the ground looking for morsels, his head is up scanning the skies and land for danger. I have one young roo in a fort knox with some young ladies, and he has also adopted my second group of ladies.....calling to them, warning them of danger (hawks), etc. What a man! Of course, he still is a rooster....

 

[joebryant]

I could take it when the vet had to put a hen down that had a cancer in her eye.
I was really upset though when I had to get my rooster to vet before he died. He was there for a week, and I was on pins and needles.
There's nothing better than having (a) good-guy rooster(s) for your buddy(ies).

 

[BarnGoddess01]

From one that's just gone through it - it isn't fun introducing a young roo to an existing flock of hens. At first, the hens are hard on him and then he starts working on the hens, one at a time. It can be tough to watch as they sort out the pecking order. Chaos as the hens run from him and he chases relentlessly. Watching a rooster learn to mount is painful! But once the flock is established, roos are fabulous at keeping every one organized. When I was roo-less, the girls were EVERYWHERE. Now that we are a flock again, I always know where they are and they are almost always all together. The hens seem happier too with a roo around. My lead hen is MUCH nicer to the other ladies now that she has a roo in her life again - and she is always at his side. (She was the last of the ladies to accept him.) And roos are VERY colourful. Very pretty to watch and to listen to. I had NO ideas roosters had so much to say! Vast repertoire of sounds - way beyond just the standard crowing. It really does just seem wrong now without the sounds of roos.

 

[gryeyes]

I love my dominant rooster, Carl. He's handsome and quite a character. He occasionally tests me, by sneaking up behind me but for some reason I always know he's there, and I just turn around and walk toward him. He gives it up and respects my Head of the Flock status. He doesn't do that again for several weeks.

I think he does it, now and then, because there are four other bantam roosters in the flock now, which he has to remind HE is the Head Rooster. So, why not check it out with me again? I just put him in his place and he accepts it.

Carl eats out of my hands, which he didn't use to do. He checks out the treats first, then steps back to let the hens eat out of my hands. He won't let the bantam roosters argue and will stop them when they fluff up their neck feathers at each other. He doesn't let them tread the hens. He doesn't mind them crowing, or being in the flock, he just treats them like the little underlings they are.

I have grown to like the four bantam very much (although TWO Silver Sebright roos is one too many) and three of them have now passed the obnoxious "teenaged" stage and are being mostly considerate of the hens.

They're just so cute! ALL of them simultaneously alert for aerial dangers, which is pretty funny when it's just a blue jay flying by....

 

[kano]

Quote:
and maybe you haven't had luck with your roos. I have had all kind of roos because their personalities change a lot from one to another. Yes , some of them aren"t very nice, and can be violent , they crow, and eat a lot. But others, almost the majority, are very nice, and a "plus"to the flock.