Topic of the Week - Roosters, Yes or No?

[AmieD]

I am a new chicken owner and never planned to have rooster. I bought 3 RIRs that were supposed to be female. 2/3 are male. I was worried because I had read so many posts about roosters being aggressive, especially RIR roosters. We decided to keep them and give it a try. Rusty and Roo had been hand-fed right along with the girls and we loved them. The worst patch we had was when they started mating. We just didn't have enough sexually mature females. They over-mated our 2 White Leghorns and tore their combs; one was almost scalped. We brought her inside and she has healed. We've been adding chickens and now have we have a better balance, but we ended up with a male Olive Egger and a male Salmon Faverolle. Left Eye (OE) has to sneak around to mate or he gets chased off. Han Solo (SF) hasn't tried to mate yet, but has done some shaking of his tail feathers for the ladies. We haven't had any fights and the roosters have never been aggressive to people; my kids play in the yard all the time. I really hope that the peace continues. At this point, we have 11 females who are being mated and we're not seeing any damage to the girls' combs, but one has treading damage. We have 10 girls who should be laying within the month and 13 baby-girls. I think we should have enough females to keep everyone happy.

Our roosters do try to protect the girls. Han ran out and drew the attention of a dog so all the girls could get to safety. He lost some feathers, but was otherwise fine. He also has been protective of the young girls. When they've been separated and peep for each other, he leads them back to their family groups. Left Eye always has his eye on the sky and crows whenever hawks fly by. As for Rusty and Roo, they don't do much other than call the girls back after the danger has passed.

I live in a neighborhood that is in the country, so I can have chickens, but I don't want to bother neighbors. My boys wear no-crow collars.

For fun, I built an incubator and we are incubating eggs. The boys are definitely good for that.

Would I recommend getting roosters? Probably not, at least not yet. I've had a great experience so far, but I'm new and I'm not sure if I should expect my boys to change. My oldest are 7 months old and the youngest are 5-6 months old. I still have that anxiety that they may "turn mean." I just hope that they stay sweet because nobody is going to be dinner and I really don't want to have to build bachelor coops.

 

[grnidone]

I guess I did it the wrong way, but I have 3 chickens total: two hens and a Roo. My roo takes care of my hens, doesn't overbreed them and keeps them together while they free range in the backyard. Everyone here tells me that I need more hens or to get rid of my Roo, but the group is very happy.

My hens were once attacked by a chicken hawk, and my Roo threw a fit. Ever since, he won't let them out of his sight. If he calls and he can't find them, he looks for them and when he finds the "wanderer" he chases her back to the coop.

Through terrible choosing skills, my first 7 chickens (before these 3) were all Roos (and all pulled from the bin marked "pullets" -- my friends told me I should have played the lottery instead of buying chickens...)

All my Roos were friendly, and terribly funny to watch. The first four I raised from chicks and they would let me hold them. The last 3 were "pullets" from someone else's flock that were not yet mature.

I've never had any issues with any of them attacking me. I had one Roo try to bite me when I put on his "no crow" collar, but when he did that, I kept touching him over and over to show that biting me wouldn't make me quit what I was doing.

I'm pro Roo. But, my experience, I've been told, isn't normal.

 

[chixmaidservice]

Funny this topic should come up as Sunday morning I finally saw some use for the 2 roos i have. My flock is cooped at night and the coop is within an old chain link dog enclosure that is 30' x40'. I am a school bus driver and throughout most of the school year I have to leave home before sunrise so the chickens get released from the coop into the chain link area which is also netted above and has V'd hardware cloth below ground. As you may gather I have been down predator alley a time or two. This spring I accidentally got two roos w/ my chicks and since one was a Welsummer and the other is a gorgeous speckled sussex, I thought I would give them a chance to prove their worth to me. When I get home from work around 9am, i let the girls out to free range the backyard- about an acre and a half- fenced. I have around 40 hens and sell eggs. My roos are young, but they never threaten me and are easy on the hens and since the boys are hatch mates they get along, mostly. Anyhow to shorten this up, Sunday morning I had let everyone out to free range and only moments later i heard the roos making a god awful noise. Not a hen to be seen, ( really unusual as they run like fools when they first get out) and both roos were out in the yard looking at some trees that separate my property. I immediately thought hawk but could not see anything in the trees. I walked out toward the trees, and got pretty close before the hawk took flight. He had been perched pretty low in the underbrush. So my boys will stay and this spring hopefully I will hatch chicks instead of buying them. I think roos are best in free range situations as close confinement probably leads to overbreeding and damage to the hens backs etc. Glad that my flock now has a hawk attack plan, and that my roos not only warn, but place themselves between the hens and the threat. Can't ask for much more than that.

 

[theoldchick]

You really don't need a rooster to keep hens happy. Although roosters are beautiful to look at one must be aware of the aggression issues common among the male chickens. If a backyard chicken owner has small children there is no reason to house a rooster. For the backyard chicken owner who wants to breed be sure to pick out a rooster who is a good representative of the breed and has a good temperament.

 

[shortgrass]

The only thing I don't like about having a rooster is uncontrollable chicken multiplication since chicks are so cute and irresistible to brood, netting a 50% cockerel rate and possibly overrunning yourself with little annoying teenager cockerels.

Yes, I learned my lesson lol

 

[ChickenGrass]

I personally do not think that roosters are beneficial to the flock
Unless you want to breed the hens.

I think the size of the flock per rooster depends on breed and size etc.
Most of my breeding sets are around 4-5 hens per rooster, and they work well.
Even though it's recommended that you need 10 hens per rooster.

If you are looking to keep a rooster as a pet and not breeding purposes
I would look for a calm and friendly rooster.
Most importantly it's attitude towards you and other people
You don't want an aggressive rooster!

I can't really think of any cons other than
A rooster being aggressive towards you or the hens.

 

[exoticpoultry]

Many people just throw a rooster in to the mix but they don't realize that roosters pass on egg laying qualities to their daughters. Even if they are really dominate I don't care I like them in spite of it.

 

[SD Bird Lady]

I kept a rooster for a few years actually had 3 or 4 different roosters. When our last one was too aggressive we processed him and I had plans to get another but the flock is so much calmer without a man so I have yet to replace him. I will probably try again some day but for now I'm enjoying the peace and quiet. For what it is worth, my favorite roosters are EE. I've also seen many people who've had the same experience.

 

[BantyChooks]

- Is a rooster beneficial to the flock?
Yes. I have four boys in my flock of about 35, and it wouldn't be the same without them. They all warn hens of hawks, and enable me to hatch some pretty adorable babies.

- How big should the flock be if you consider keeping one? (I.e. how many hens minimum)
I can't really say on this one, as I've never had a small flock, but I don't think I'd keep one if you didn't have at least 6-7 hens.

- What should a flock keeper look for when adding, or keeping a rooster? (For example, when choosing which rooster to keep from a hatch, if not for breeding purposes, but as a pet)
I had a pretty strict criteria for my rooster, and I went through 10 before I found a keeper. My requirements are:
1. NOT human aggressive.
2. They must warn the hens of danger—no wussies around here.
3. They must not be hard on hens. Me, I got lucky and found the perfect rooster, who barely breeds enough to keep eggs fertile, and doesn't play favourites.
One other thing I quite like in a rooster is a tendency to break up fights, as the other three boys that I have are young cockerels who would be a terror if not for my lovely boss rooster.
(Please note: I do not make choices before said males are one year old. You can't judge cockerels accurately)

- Beside noise, what are the possible cons of keeping a rooster and what should be kept in mind. (For new chicken owners)
There is a chance of them turning aggressive. Me, I've only ever had one turn bad, but another friend of mine has nearly 100% turn bad.... it's really a roll of the dice, or, if you will, roll of management. I don't find much cons with my lovely boys, but I suppose you might have overbreeding problems if you had a rooster who played favourites. Overall my experience with roosters has been nearly 100% positive, and my flock would not be complete without them.

 

[I Love Layers]

- Is a rooster beneficial to the flock?

Yes. My roosters protect my hens from attacks, warn them of predators and find them the best spot for looking for bugs. Also they break up any fights the hens have, they help maintain the pecking order also.
My roosters also investigate new areas and things before letting the hens go to assure safety. My roosters are often the last ones on the roost, making sure everyone is inside.

- How big should the flock be if you consider keeping one? (I.e. how many hens minimum)
If free ranging I would say around 6 hens per rooster is the least amount, I like a 1-10 ratio though. And for confined I would say at least 1-10

- What should a flock keeper look for when adding, or keeping a rooster? (For example, when choosing which rooster to keep from a hatch, if not for breeding purposes, but as a pet)
I recently had to get rid of 3 roosters out of the 5 I had this is how I chose.
1. Most human friendly but also able to do his actual job.
2. Must be able to protect the hens no free loaders.
3. Bigger body, mainly because a little bantam isn't going to do much or scare away a hawk.
4. Smarts, I want a rooster that will actually think and pay attention.
5. Puts the hens first, my current 2 roosters don't eat until the hens are done.
6. Being able to break up fights between hens.
7. Good fertility.

- Beside noise, what are the possible cons of keeping a rooster and what should be kept in mind. (For new chicken owners)

Aggression which I've never has a problem with is what I would think the biggest problem would be



Don't get attached to the cockerels, most of the time their real personality won't come out until later.


Also I found that people who baby the roosters as chicks have found that they end up more aggressive when they are older. I rarely if ever touch my roosters and they respect me and do their job, where as my breeding roosters who are handled daily are more aggressive