Topic of the Week - Roosters, Yes or No?

[MountainManFowl]

- Is a rooster beneficial to the flock?

I think so, especially with flocks in a free range environment. We keep several roosters free ranging with a couple dozen hens and pullets, and a handful of cockerels. There isn't nearly as much tension as you might expect. They tend form little families on their own. The cockerels who grow up to be good roos, ones who are watchful, intelligent, and not overly aggressive, seem to naturally acquire more hens than the ones who just bully everybody and over breed the girls. The mature roosters, along with the more dominant hens, are usually able to keep the bad apples in line until they're big enough for freezer camp. I love watching 4 or 5 hens follow a big proud rooster around, they seem so un-concerned and content to just do their thing. I've watched roosters call their ladies over to good food, and away from trouble, enough times to be a believer.


- How big should the flock be if you consider keeping one? (I.e. how many hens minimum)

I think the ratio can honestly be whatever works for you, as long as you don't have more boys than girls. If trouble makers arise, pen them up, or cull them. If you are actively trying for chicks from particular birds, things change. I think if you only have one rooster, he needs a good sized harem of hens to keep him busy enough, as not to constantly harass them, like 8 or more. However, I've noticed that smaller groups of hens are less likely to be over stressed if there are two males, oddly enough. I'll put 2 roosters (who already know each other) with 4 hens in a brood pen, and they seem to get along just fine. If they don't, or if I really only want babies out of one rooster, and only have a small number of hens to work with... I pen the rooster by himself, and introduce hens one at a time, and single mate the pair, 1:1, for 2 days at a time, once a week or so, until I've collected the number of eggs i want to set. He seems to have less to prove in a 1 on 1 situation, and doesn't get too carried away.


- 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)

a. NEVER stand for aggression towards any human, especially kids.
b. Don't introduce young cockerels, hatched outside the flock, into a group of hens without mature roosters already present.
c. Don't be afraid to cut a stinker loose! There is no shortage of really good looking roosters in the world. If he's mean to you, or too rough with his hens, eat him.


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

The biggest downside, IMO, is that your hens are far less likely to be extremely friendly with you, if they have a rooster present. That's not always the case, but its mostly true. We're pretty hands off with our birds, but if what you want are chickens who come right up to you for attention, stick with the girls.

 

[AustralorpsAU]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/do-you-really-need-a-rooster-in-your-flock

 

[DancingWthDucks]

- Is a rooster beneficial to the flock?
I would say yes, if you have a good one. A good cockerel will alert his girls if there are predators about and will break up any squabbles/ fights in the flock.
- How big should the flock be if you consider keeping one? (I.e. how many hens minimum)
It depends on how much 'drive' your cockerel has to mate with be 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)
Look for a boy that treats you with respect, but isn't overly confident around you- as this can lead to dominance problems later on. If a cockerel shows ANY sign of aggresion DON'T keep it- either give it away or cull it.

I have a 8 month old Partridge Wyandotte Bantam cockerel called Pip, who lives with my small bantam flock of 6 pullets.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Yesyesyes, I love having a rooster for one simple word. Hawks.

Now, I got a rooster so I could breed my birds, and he's a heckin good gentlemen and does his "duties". But after I got a rooster I noticed two things.

One: My hens got quieter. They used to chatter all day long, sing extra loud egg songs and generally cause a ruckus all day long. Now the only chicken sound from my lawn is my rooster, which is occasional and brief. Crowing is louder but less frequent. In general, the flock seems more settles and happier with a rooster. Fewer fights break out as well. It's easier to introduce new hens without worrying about them getting attacked. It just seems to have improved the general social state of my flock.

Two: Hawks. I have tried everything in my power to deter hawks. My city will not allow a top on my pen without shrinking it to an inhospitable size, so I had to get creative over the years with predators, especially hawks. Can't shoot fireworks or non-lethal bullets to try to chase them off (city). Fake owls, CDs, lots of hiding spaces, nothing worked. To heck with all the people who say "it's your own fault, just build a more secure pen". That's expensive and violates my city ordinances. You gonna come pay for it and fight my legal battles over it? Well heck to you, because for YEARS that was half of the people who responded to my questions about a good hawk deterrent.

Turns out, my rooster (having grown up in a hawk filled neighborhood) is the BEST hawk prevention in the world. Not so much that he chases off haws, but he warns the hens and gets them to safety before the hawks can touch them. They spend a lot more time under cover now, and I haven't lost a hen to a hawk since my rooster hit adulthood. He sees the hawks long before I even do. And we have a lot of them. About three species of birds of prey regularly frequent my back yard including massive red tails and some big rough legged hawks. They would even try to attack meat birds in tractors. We used to loose up to half of the flock in a year to them, now we loose none.

He does nothing for the other predators. But those are easier to avoid as they're mostly night time animals. It's drastically reduced premature mortality in my flock. He also respects me and has NEVER tried to attack me. I love my rooster.

Cons? The neighbors don't like the sound and he eats my food. But that's not such a big deal. He's worth every second of it.
Also, a bad rooster is gonna be bad. A polite, hawk-savvy rooster is a blessing in hawk country (or city in my case). A mean rooster is a meal (but may also protect better against non-hawk predators, Who knows? Not me).

But I think roosters are seriously worth considering if you have more than one reason to get one. Especially if you want chicks or fertile eggs.



Edited by Staff

 

[rachelsflock]

This week I'd like to hear you all thoughts on keeping roosters. Many new chicken owners, if they are allowed to keep roosters where they live, debate the pros and cons of having a male member or two in their flocks and wonder what the pros and cons of having them are. I would like to hear your thoughts on keeping roosters, specifically:

- Is a rooster beneficial to the flock?

YES! My hens are big bullies to eachother if I don't have a rooster, but bad roosters that are annoying or aggressive or unpleasing in any way should be eaten and not tolerated. There are plenty of fantastic roosters out there looking for a home that your aggressive one is taking up undeserving.


- How big should the flock be if you consider keeping one? (I.e. how many hens minimum)

Depends on the libido of the rooster. Between 3 and 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)

Temperament!!! But beyond that, whatever you might be breeding for. A good rooster is worth A LOT!


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

When you go on vacation, you miss your rooster.
There's always a chance your guy will turn mean and you'll have to eat him.
Handling birds in the flock can stress him out. Processing even competing young cockerels is hard on him too, so be sensitive and keep him out of the picture.
You need to treat roosters with respect. They are not hens. They think in context of protection, even if yours is not violently protective.
My roosters have never attacked people randomly. When they start disliking you they will tell you. They'll stare you down, give stink eye, make dinosaur noises, start posturing LONG before they start going after people, but once they start, I've never had one turn around and behave for more than a week unless he was in the freezer after he went nasty. You need to spend time watching and interacting with your flock so everyone gets used to you and you learn how to read your birds. It's vital, especially if you have kids under 5 like I do (1 and 3 yrs).
Young children should never be left around birds of any gender without supervision, but with roosters it is especially vital.

On a side note, I've never had a good hatchery rooster-even silkies that turn into angry, sharp, crowing feather dusters. Look in show lines for handleable, docile breeds, docile lines, then docile individuals.
If it crows too much and wakes me or infringes on my or my family's sleep, follows me around the yard bellowing (whether from various hiding places or not), or tries to spur me I eat it. I'm a mean lady. And I process the various Captain Bad Attitudes myself. I actually don't go through very many roosters-which is too bade because they completely ruin you to grocery store chicken-but if I had kept the bad ones, I'd be miserable and probably not think roosters are worth it.

But I really, really love my roosters. They become some of my flock favorites.

Here's a picture from a few months ago of my young red cuckoo english orpington (blinking, and surrounded by ducks because at the time none of the hens liked him). He's developed a lot more both in plumage and temperament and I really should get a more recent picture, but it's been miserable (er, I mean winter) for the last few weeks and he's been keeping the girls in the coop so they can sulk around and complain properly, as good chickens should in the winter. They've also been missing the migrating hawks that way. He's very sweet and respectful to people and extremely calm and almost sedate to boot. I don't think I've heard him crow once this week since the weather went cold, but he does crow if we get cats in the yard or hawk overhead. It's been a quiet few weeks, thank goodness.

 

[rachelsflock]

I do process extra cockerels though.

 

[carternm31]

- Is a rooster beneficial to the flock? Yes, I love to watch our rooster parade around and alert the hens to any potential predators, he is on the ball and I see him always watching! Although he's not very good at keeping them all together or close to the coop! I can't quite work out if he is the one leading them astray (down the road) or whether he cant stop it so just follows them to keep an eye on them!!

- How big should the flock be if you consider keeping one? (I.e. how many hens minimum) - I have read it should be 5 hens per rooster but we had 3 hens and a Roo and it was no problem. Now we have 35 hens and initially 4 roosters, but were down to 2 as our main rooster would not tolerate them. I think he tolerates this last one because he doesn't crow and is disabled, so no threat.

- 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 don't think there is any way to know if a rooster will be aggressive or not. Some breeds are meant to be tamer, the cochins, silkies, brahmas. But we have a Silver Laced Wyandotte that I initially handled every day, and they one day he attacked me. I then read something online completely contradictory but it made sense, if they feel you are not a threat they will challenge you, so NOT to handle them. So I stopped handling him and hand feeding him (and he got a boot up the arse) but since then he keep a healthy distance from me and I know he is such a good lookout for the hens that I don't really care that he is not 'friendly' as long as he does his job!

- Beside noise, what are the possible cons of keeping a rooster and what should be kept in mind. (For new chicken owners) -
They can be rough on the hens and have favourites. It always ends up being the hen you love the most too, and seeing her bald on her back or neck isn't nice. Some can be fiercely protective of their hens, so if you need to give one medication or put cream on or something, be prepared for a disgruntled Rooster.

Here's our Norman, far left, looking over his ladies! (and Turkey ladies)

 

[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.

 

[QueenMisha]

- Is a rooster beneficial to the flock?

Absolutely - if it's a good rooster. A good rooster will watch over his hens, call them to food, show them the best places to nest, guide them into the coop at night, and warn them of nearby predators. He will also be respectful of humans. A bad rooster on the other hand, will harass the hens, chase them from the feed, ignore them except when harassing them, and will generally run from predators. Roosters who are temperamental around hens are also often aggressive toward humans.

- How big should the flock be if you consider keeping one? (I.e. how many hens minimum)

I would say a bare minimum of 5 hens, but preferably 8-10. However, it's dependent on the individual rooster. I've seen boys happy with as few as one hen or require as many as ten. Contrary to popular opinion, I've found in many cases standard cocks require more hens than bantam cocks. I've also seen exceptionally "active" bantam cocks and particularly "slow" standards. Really, I would start with a minimum of 5 hens but understand you may need to add to the flock of the rooster requires it. In some cases, saddles can be used to prevent physical wear, but the only solution to mental wear (stressing) of the hens due to overmating is to increase hen populations or decrease rooster populations.

- 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)

Now keeping roosters as pets it an interesting concept. As someone who has many pet roosters, I can vouch that it's quite possible. Some people like to say that roosters should be treated like any male livestock - not made pets of - but I have seen personally that this is a ridiculous concept. One thing that needs to be considered is that roosters take 7-8 months to fully mature, emotionally. You will see many folks who insist their now-aggressive cockerel was the sweetest thing when he was a chick. So, if at all possible, wait as long as you can when making a decision as to whether or not to keep a cockerel and/or which cockerel to keep from a batch; or, when purchasing a new rooster, try to find one which at least six months of age or preferably over eight. It's very rare for a mature rooster to suddenly have aggressive tendencies; they will almost always begin displaying them when they come into their hormones at around five to six months of age.

Beyond that, look for kindness to the hens. While all cockerels will probably be a bit clumsy when they first begin to mate, there is a very obvious distinction between an inexperienced cockerel and an inexperienced, rude, and aggressive one. If you see a cockerel becoming very persistent in harassing the hens, he is not likely to turn out a good rooster. One early sign of a good rooster is frequent tidbitting the hens (showing them food and allowing them to eat it, rather than eating it himself - NOT attempting to grab them or mate them once they come over to him).

And of course, be sure you, personally, like the bird. No sense keeping a bird you don't personally enjoy being around.

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

The main one I've found is the potential of the bird to become aggressive. While it is less common than many folks would have you think - in my experience, anyhow, having had only two aggressive cockerels out of the one hundred plus I've owned - it is still a potential outcome. When getting or keeping a rooster, keep in mind that he may become aggressive, toward either you or the hens. Should this happen, you will need to remove him from the flock. Even if you are very attached to him; bringing him into the flock means taking on the responsibility of also removing him should it be necessary.

 

[AnimalTamer]

As long as its cute, it would be a great member of the flock i might want to start!