Today I lost my Rooster

[lori_smith99]

If you can get your hands on an incubator, the ladies' eggs will still be fertile for at least a couple weeks.

I did not know that! I re-homed my 2 roosters and still had a few eggs with fertile spots in them, a week later. I am always learning !

 

[lori_smith99]

So sorry for your loss! I lost 2 of my girls to predators and that just broke my heart and they were not with me that long.
I would get a chick like the others said. One because of the disease thing and one to raise it with your expectations and routines. They truly are creatures of habit

 

[Saveria]

We have a barred rock rooster that grew up from a chick with our flock. He is a gentle giant. I actually watched our light Brahma teach him how to do the rooster dance. It amazed me. One of our australorps still claws him if he tries to mate her, and he respects it (although he continues to try ). I think there are definite benefits to having a rooster be small with the girls being bigger than him, and that they will show him the ropes on their terms as he grows.

 

[MityLucky1]

I have a small flock of free rangers. Today I lost my only Rooster. I've had him for 7 years and am heartbroken. Should I buy a full grown Rooster or just wait til chick season?

Personally I would raise one from a baby. You never know what kinda roo he’ll be but at least this way if he grows up with other ones his age chances are he will be better behaved and more accepted by the hens. Some grown Roos never seem to be accepted by the hens and some are just downright mean. Best of luck!

 

[CannedMonster]

Whatever you decide just realize that your mature hens will likely reject any other cockerel/rooster. I have found that if all my hens are over a year old I will usually raise a few pullets with the cockerel or get a mature roo and give him a few POL pullets because I know they’ll accept him.
I think incubating some eggs to get sons from him is a great idea.

 

[Saveria]

You may be right. Our experience was mixed. We had an amerucana rooster that was raised with a round of pullets. The next year we ended up with that barred rock rooster (the one I described above). Most of the original pullets wanted to stay with the amerucana rooster, but a couple started "being" with the younger one. It was like a daily soap opera for a while. I could hardly keep up.

It has been two years, and basically the Barred rock just mates anyone when he can when the amerucana is not around, but some of the original hens still never let him mate with them. I wonder what would have happened if he was the only rooster, but I think this is what Canned Monster is talking about.

 

[canne50]

I have a small flock of free rangers. Today I lost my only Rooster. I've had him for 7 years and am heartbroken. Should I buy a full grown Rooster or just wait til chick season?

So sorry for your loss. A good rooster is priceless while he protects the hens, fertilizes the eggs, and sings for the sun!
There seems to always be extra roosters around, so getting a new one should not be difficult. Surely, you know how to adopt, quarantine, and introduce him at night onto the perch in the henhouse. They definitely know what and how to do all without needing a higher education!
Best to you!

 

[MityLucky1]

You may be right. Our experience was mixed. We had an amerucana rooster that was raised with a round of pullets. The next year we ended up with that barred rock rooster (the one I described above). Most of the original pullets wanted to stay with the amerucana rooster, but a couple started "being" with the younger one. It was like a daily soap opera for a while. I could hardly keep up.

It has been two years, and basically the Barred rock just mates anyone when he can when the amerucana is not around, but some of the original hens still never let him mate with them. I wonder what would have happened if he was the only rooster, but I think this is what Canned Monster is talking about.

Okay TRUE story here.

Same here. Had the roo that I raised from an egg that was banished by the main roo from mating with the hens except if he could grab one on the side, which was extremely rare.

The Poor guy was so sexily frustrated that first thing he started doing every morning when we would let them out to roam, he would run straight down to the house, go to the drain pipe that extended from the gutter, literally get on top of it, grab the opening to hold on to it and relieve himself !

I wish now I had captured it on video! Probably would have won the funniest home videos award for it!
You can’t make this kinda stuff up!