Topic of the Week - Adding a Rooster to the Flock

[akroberts1085]

I'm wanting to get more hens but I am not sure if I should get a roo or just let them be. I had a bad experience with my daughters RIR Cockerel. He always tried to attack pretty much everything and everyone.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Has anybody had any experience with a Buff Orpungton rooster? I think mine is part or mostly BO and he is superb both with the girls and with humans. If I ever need to replace him I'm thinking of getting a BO. Anybody, yea or nay on a BO?

 

[CrazyChickLady64]

So I have a a little man (fire cracker) he is 8 weeks old & very sweet. I hatched him so he knows me well. He isn't too clingy only comes and gets in my lap when he is ready to. Should I back away more or no. If what I have been reading is correct at about 12 weeks I should start the introduction to my girls? They are 9 months old. I have 14 hens. Do I start the see no touch now or wait till he is closer to 12 weeks. Also this a batch I hatched for my niece from her fertal eggs 10 total. I am pretty sure she has 5 boys & 5 girls possibly 6 B/4 G please tell me everything about keeping the boys together she plans on finding homes for the boys and keeping the girls. I am keeping them all until she can take the girls. I plan on keeping the boys till homes can be found for them. Do they do well together as they are from the same hatch and at what point should or would they need to be separated? Please I want this to go smoothly for all of them any and all advice is greatly appreciated. Also if anyone in Northeast Texas area wants a roo for sure I have 2 that are a cochin/sexlinks mix and and 2 that are Cochin/Easter egger mix and they are just so so beautiful. The picture is the EE/Cochin

 

[CrazyChickLady64]

I'm wanting to get more hens but I am not sure if I should get a roo or just let them be. I had a bad experience with my daughters RIR Cockerel. He always tried to attack pretty much everything and everyone.

Get a roo if you are wanting to get more hens. I had 11 hens then added 3 more and it has been a nightmare with 2 of my hens going after the new girls. I am now getting a roo because of the brutality of two of my girls. Get a young one that you can raise. Look into which breeds are more docile/human friendly? Please others more experienced and knowledgeable then me chime in on best choices for roos. If you happen to be in the East Texas area, or close enough for a meet up, my niece has some beautiful cockerels she needs to find homes for.

 

[CrazyChickLady64]

I'm not very scientific about it. Our first rooster came with the dozen or so hens a friend gave us to get us started. She had several, and she pointed to a big black cockerel and said he was getting beat up by some of the other roosters and asked if we wanted him. He was one of the best roosters we've ever had and I was devastated a couple years later when I found him dead in the run. We've had good 'uns and not so good 'uns in the years since. Some were chicks we raised, one was hatched here, who was a good rooster ... until he wasn't. We lost a good one to a hawk, and got a replacement from a neighbor. She suggested we go pick one out from among 15 she had, before they butchered them for the freezer. Instead I asked her to pick one out for me. I didn't care what he looked like, I said, I just wanted one that wouldn't attack me. And that's how I ended up with Rojo Magnifico. He's exactly what's needed and the girls love him.

What a great story! Thanks for sharing

 

[scyllarus]

Do quail roos count?

- How do you pick a good rooster for the flock? I.e. What do you look for when selecting a mature rooster?
Well...quail never pose a risk to humans, so avoiding a human-aggressive rooster is pretty simple. The biggest thing is whether he's good with the hens - is he aggressive towards hens? Is he a good breeder? Does he help manage the flock at all, or is he basically just there to create fertile eggs? After that, I pick based on my breeding goals, such as size, morphology, or color.

- What is the best way to go about adding a rooster to an existing flock of hens (with no rooster)
I just toss him in, not going to lie. Most of the time it's fine, the hens are fairly tolerant and, unlike in chickens, larger than the roo. If they don't like him, it's probably because he's aggressive.

I'm in between roos right now. My first roo, Sugar, was (and is) rather aggressive. We swapped him for one of our celadon (blue egg gene) birds, Jason, who was probably not aggressive enough and didn't really breed the hens, so most of our planned hatches with his chicks have been...ugh. They've also been rather delicate chicks, and I'm not sure if this is due to the celadon gene (known to contribute to less robust birds) or because of Jason himself, but it is what it is.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

So I have a a little man (fire cracker) he is 8 weeks old & very sweet. I hatched him so he knows me well. He isn't too clingy only comes and gets in my lap when he is ready to. Should I back away more or no. If what I have been reading is correct at about 12 weeks I should start the introduction to my girls? They are 9 months old. I have 14 hens. Do I start the see no touch now or wait till he is closer to 12 weeks. Also this a batch I hatched for my niece from her fertal eggs 10 total. I am pretty sure she has 5 boys & 5 girls possibly 6 B/4 G please tell me everything about keeping the boys together she plans on finding homes for the boys and keeping the girls. I am keeping them all until she can take the girls. I plan on keeping the boys till homes can be found for them. Do they do well together as they are from the same hatch and at what point should or would they need to be separated? Please I want this to go smoothly for all of them any and all advice is greatly appreciated. Also if anyone in Northeast Texas area wants a roo for sure I have 2 that are a cochin/sexlinks mix and and 2 that are Cochin/Easter egger mix and they are just so so beautiful. The picture is the EE/Cochin

Hello!! Boy oh boy, you’ve got your hands full, but what a great opportunity to train your lil guy right. Those hens will teach him manners, but he needs to be watched as he gains confidence so he doesn’t become a rude hormonal teen male, if you get what I mean.
First, I recommend putting the 8 week old cockerel in with the 9 month old ladies, but integrate using see-no touch for a couple of weeks. Allow some supervised mingling after a week or so and watch for behavior issues from all involved.
For the male chicks you can keep them all together in a bachelor pad and they will be ok. The females can be separated out, if you have the means, when the males start sparing or acting like little brats. 5 male/5 female at 8-10+ weeks may (or may not) get rough on the girls, but once the boys hit puberty that ratio simply will not work out for the poor girls. Good luck to you.

 

[CrazyChickLady64]

Hello!! Boy oh boy, you’ve got your hands full, but what a great opportunity to train your lil guy right. Those hens will teach him manners, but he needs to be watched as he gains confidence so he doesn’t become a rude hormonal teen male, if you get what I mean.
First, I recommend putting the 8 week old cockerel in with the 9 month old ladies, but integrate using see-no touch for a couple of weeks. Allow some supervised mingling after a week or so and watch for behavior issues from all involved.
For the male chicks you can keep them all together in a bachelor pad and they will be ok. The females can be separated out, if you have the means, when the males start sparing or acting like little brats. 5 male/5 female at 8-10+ weeks may (or may not) get rough on the girls, but once the boys hit puberty that ratio simply will not work out for the poor girls. Good luck to you.

Thank you so much! The girls will be going home with their momma soon. I will keep the boys till we can find homes for them. Know anyone in North East Texas looking for a cockerel?

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Thank you so much! The girls will be going home with their momma soon. I will keep the boys till we can find homes for them. Know anyone in North East Texas looking for a cockerel?View attachment 3722402

No, sorry. I’m a bit too far north