Unsure about roosters. Looking for advice!

[Mrs. K]

@Paul Richardson - I am glad that is the response you have had with your roosters, but believe me there have been roosters that were the darling and pet, that turn into complete jerks. Roosters are really a crapshoot, and you got a lucky roll of the dice.

Mrs K

 

[munchkinlover]

I think people severely discount the benefits of a Roo in the flock. My Roo hands-down saves my free-ranging hens daily. No question. He is always watching for hawks, dogs, people- whatever and wrangling the ladies so they don't get too far out. Roosters will also save your hens or at least give them a fighting chance as they will charge into danger (and die) to save their hens. They also act completely different than hens and are fun to watch.

Roosters also find food for the hens and call them over to have a snack. It's super nice of them because hens will just scarf up anything- but the Roos let the hens eat first.

Fertilized eggs look just like any other egg up to about 3 days IF they were under a hen. If you leave a fertilized egg in the coop for 10 days and no hen sat on it, it looks exactly like any other egg. MANY organic free-range market eggs are actually fertilized because they keep Roos in the flock.

So the downsides... Do they get unruly? Yep. Some you can tame easily- some you can't tame at all. They also crow... all... day... long. Which once you are used to it, you simply don't hear- but everyone else does lol. They also will of course jump on your hens and if you don't have many hens they will ultimately pull most of the feathers out of their backs from jumping on them. But that's just if you only have a few hens. If you have 3-6 per Roo you will likely be fine.

Anyway- they are worth the hassle in my opinion and add wonderful variety (and natural order) to your flock.

I agree with you 100%! I have 1 roo and 9 hens. I love to watch him with the girls. Only 3 problems I have with him is the LOUD crowing, (I've had him a year and still wish he would shut up sometimes) he has torn up some of the girls backs, and he flogs me when he can. He has 1" spurs now & they hurt. I have to carry a stick when I go out and he knows when it's in my hand. He'll wait until I turn my back and jumps me. Think about this possibility. Otherwise, I love having a rooster.

 

[Ggg]

Not trying to judge but does it really matter if they're fertilized? If you collect and refrigerate every day, you won't be able to tell the difference between fertilized eggs and store eggs

It’s almost always psychological.

 

[Paul Richardson]

@Paul Richardson - I am glad that is the response you have had with your roosters, but believe me there have been roosters that were the darling and pet, that turn into complete jerks. Roosters are really a crapshoot, and you got a lucky roll of the dice.

Mrs K

No luck about it i pick them while there young as this is when they start showing there traits and i have had the very odd rooster turn rough on the hens but they tend to visit God as i will not put up with this but have never had a rooster turn on me generally most i have had i can pick up and cuddle and this trait comes through with the hens you must breed for the traits you want and one of these traits for me is calmness then egg production but this always come second it takes years of dedication to get what you want believe me

 

[Paul Richardson]

I agree with you 100%! I have 1 roo and 9 hens. I love to watch him with the girls. Only 3 problems I have with him is the LOUD crowing, (I've had him a year and still wish he would shut up sometimes) he has torn up some of the girls backs, and he flogs me when he can. He has 1" spurs now & they hurt. I have to carry a stick when I go out and he knows when it's in my hand. He'll wait until I turn my back and jumps me. Think about this possibility. Otherwise, I love having a rooster.

Get rid of him they should not dominate the hand that feeds them there are good bred roos out there and get one of these if you want to keep him pick him up and get someone to hold him then with a pair of pliers gently grip the spur and twist back and forth until the spur pops off sounds gruesome but will not hurt him there will be blood but it will stop and i bet you after this treatment he will treat you totally differently makes him more aware of you because you subdued him and proved YOUR boss not him. Now crowing i can handle it but i have had to give away constant crowing roosters because my wife cannot sleep with the noise she hates it ah well each to there own and after 50 years of marriage i have learnt not to argue with the boss ha ha

 

[paloozaparty]

I’m not sure if this is the right place to post this, and if I’m wrong just point me in the right direction.

I have one adult hen and four baby chicks. My hen did have a friend who passed and I couldn’t get 6 week olds anywhere, so she’s been VERY spoiled with human attention until her sisters grow up!

But I’m wondering for the future if roosters are a good idea for my family. I live in the suburbs for now, so this is only when I move out and get some land.

I’m a vegetarian and I’m kinda weird about eating fertilized eggs, so I don’t know how I want to go about this. It’s kind of unavoidable, right? Roos are studmuffins after all!

I’m wondering if I could have a roo be with certain girls who I don’t collect from and have my “laying” hens be away from him? I mean all my chickens are purely pets with egg benefits, so it doesn’t REALLY matter if I get less eggs.

Does this sound good? Bad? Absurd? Amazing? Lol, let me know seasoned chicken keepers!!

If you have a rooster, you'll have fertilized eggs--most certainly. Though you could also end up with chicks, if any of your hens go "broody"--I think the chances are pretty slim. It was our experience--when we ended up with a roo from a feed store purchase of 5 chicks--that those of us who are backyard / chickens as pets owners--are more excited to collect and eat every egg--vs. let any sit and hope that a hen goes broody. Also, in our very chicken-spoiled environment--our hens are all entirely focused on being fed treats and ranging in our backyard--the LAST thing on their minds EVER, is to try and hatch--but, of course that's a possibility. Regarding having an aversion to eating fertilized eggs--I have to say, that even as a meat-eater--I actually questioned that myself--but, likely not for the same reasons as yours--I have found that the more I learn, the more I understand, and do not have any aversion to eating fertilized eggs--in fact, think about all the ones you ate without knowing how to even determine that an egg HAS been fertilized And, one additional thought--I know first hand, that successfully incubating eggs is NOT easy, and that like with human reproduction stats--not all chicks make it through the entire cycle for lots of reasons. My new, more informed opinion is: to not ever eat an incubated egg Otherwise, most certainly eat the fertilized egg! Incubation requires VERY precise management of incubator symbiosis of: temperature (99.5 - 101 degrees), humidity (50%-75% till day 18, then 75% days 18-21), min. 3x gentle rotations every single day of each egg, static or moving air within the incubator. Again, from first-hand experience, by DAY 4 of incubation there's a visible fetus within the egg (seen by candling). So, for fresh/daily eggs, that aren't stored in "incubation" conditions--the zygote won't develop and therefore, there shouldn't be any conflicting worries about what you may actually be violating or that there's any "meat" involved in eating a fertilized egg. Plus, regardless, the hens take 24+ hours to produce an egg, and up to 3 hours to actually lay an egg--I want to honor them with eating their hard work. Or, you could feed them scrambled egg as it's one of their favorite treats. Here's a video about the science of a hen's egg production, that I'm so greatful to have found by accident:

 

[paloozaparty]

My additional response, is DON'T GET A ROOSTER if you're a residential home owner, on less than one full acre. I researched all about being a backyard chicken owner, and that I was wanting them as PETS / treat them like family vs. merely livestock or mere egg producers / that have to earn their keep. So, we ended up with rooster.

NO ONE TELLS YOU SOME VERY IMPORTANT ASPECTS ABOUT OWNING A ROOSTER: they rooster all damned day--they're smart as hell--ours would rooster to tell us there's a full moon--at 2 am. Then, at 6 am, he'd rooster so we'd come let them out (we keep ours in a VERY secure, predator-proof enclosure), then, EVERY SINGLE TIME one of our hens was ABOUT to lay an egg--he'd let us know--by roostering at the beginning (I read this is to keep predators away--which we don't have any), then, WHILE THEY WERE LAYING AN EGG he'd rooster to tell us, then, AS SOON AS THEY EACH LAID AN EGG, he'd rooster again, and the hens make all the noise in the world as they all also chicken dance in celebration, to let us know that they each laid an egg. He'd rooster to tell us when someone was walking down the alley / or he'd hear noises he didn't recognize--to tell us/his ladies that danger may be near. He'd rooster when their water got low to tell us to refill, he'd rooster to tell us they wanted treats, he'd rooster to tell us when they needed more food. Okay, so he roostered all day long--NO way to get him to stop or re-train him. I work from home, and, already run high on anxiety, and the constant roostering was giving me angina--let alone when I had to be on conference calls, LOL. Thanks Roo, for all the clear and concise communication all day--why can't my husband be as good as you at communicating with me??? Neighbors could hear his roostering up to 4 blocks away--of course they all said they loved to hear him (not me, nope). Our county doesn't allow for owning roosters, but they don't ticket unless there's several noise complaints and after notifying you 3x. Knowing that I was breaking the rules also gave me anxiety EVERY SINGLE time he roostered!

Onto the MORE important issue about owning roosters that I haven't read anyone else describe in detail... (I'm pretty sure that this is standard behavior and that we're not one percenters or whatnot) Roosters have ONE JOB AND ONE JOB ONLY--to protect their flock. This means that THEY WILL FIGHT TO THE DEATH TO PROTECT. In addition to their being SO smart and great communicators (as I previously described), they're VERY protective. Over time--their aggressiveness increases substantially and doesn't stop (starting at 6 months, in our case)--by way of the level in which they show their protective nature. I was fully prepared for and waiting to be attacked / have to deal with aggressiveness/attacks of others--as I'd experienced our rooster starting off with very obvious provocative stance and actions at around 6 months old--if we walked off our porch (we gave them FULL reign of the backyard--but we ended up fencing off our porch because no one also tells you either how they poop 24/7 on everything--your patio, your stairs, tables or shelving--especially outdoors--let alone in the rocks, on pea gravel (no way to clean up that mess), all over manicured lawns (their poop attracts thousands of flies--which they don't eat, and I thought that chickens love to eat flies--I was wrong--can't run around picking up poop all day long or eliminate outdoor flies)--seems like never in the gardens where their poop would matter... Anyway, so we fenced off our porch, and, when we opened the gate into the backyard, where all the kids' play area and toys, trampoline, etc are--our rooster never EVER was okay with any human being in their space, so he'd flap his wings at you at the beginning, THEN, OUT OF NOWHERE--literally if you turned your back to walk the trash to the alley--HE'D FULL ON ATTACK YOU (and the kids--each of them--every single time you were near him). It hurts more than I can describe, and he'd draw blood. The first time it happened to me--it was a nanosecond of me turning my head to pick up a piece of trash and then I couldn't get him off of me--he kept coming at me--like a full-on cockfight. Though he didn't have his back claw developed yet--he'd lift himself into the air with his wing flapping to keep him up off the ground--at my chest level!!!, then he'd lunge at me in FULL FORCE with his talons and basically kick me, claw me and peck at me. I can't believe how much power roosters have--if I was an elderly person--I'd seriously NOT have been able to protect myself. I grabbed a skateboard and had to (very gently, but show him my intentions) push him away from me with it. I was so shocked and upset that I chased him around the yard with it and screamed and cussed at him--till he thought that I was the perp.

I read up on all the ways to "train" a rooster not to attack--none of these things worked for us (like, picking him up RIGHT after he attacks, and walking him around the hens--they say it's actually humiliating as you're taking control of his body and showing the girls that you're in charge vs. him. Another technique, if you learn about "pecking order" behavior and how chickens establish dominance (like, even amongst flocks with more than one rooster)--you'll learn that the roos will mount each other's backs (dig in their talons to hold down the other chicken) and hold down the neck//head to the ground with their beak, as a show of dominance, so you can do this same thing after you've been attacked (maybe, even before?) to show that you're in charge (again, causing no harm to your roo--just showing them in their own language)... Firmly press down his body to the ground, then his head and hold for a few seconds, then release him.

The last, most important consideration... rehoming your rooster... this is a VERY challenging and difficult experience (about as emotional as having to put a parent into a nursing home--no joke). The challenging part is that NO ONE INTENTIONALLY BUYS ROOSTERS except to breed, and there's NOT a large market for rehoming roosters--especially if they're aggressive or haven't been socialized (ours was OVERLY socialized and VERY loved). There's no problem finding people (like, on craigslist) who will gladly take roosters off your hands--especially to eat (which, is fine if that's fine for you)... Sanctuaries, from my experience, are VERY punitive about accepting your rooster (or hens, too)--as in, they're usually vegans and though they feel like it's their job to rescue these unwanted (and, they always assume that they're also: abused / abandoned / unwanted / unappreciated) animals--I couldn't find a sanctuary that even had an educational approach or "no questions asked" policy as part of their community service program/non-profit--so, it took 10 months to find the perfect home to rehome ours. I resolved that our rooster (like most others, I assume) needed WAY more things to do all day to distract him and maybe lessen his overly protective anxieties--than just protect his 3 hens--and, more space to roam than our (actually large) backyard (he's a very large roo). His new home has 5 roaming acres, a dozen hens, other farm animals, and the new owners described him as THE MOST WELL BEHAVED AND TAME ROOSTER THEY'VE EVER KNOW IN 40 YEARS of owning chickens and several other roosters They were also shocked to find and so pleased that he gladly lets them pick him up and carry him around every single day. We picked him up regularly--held him all day, every day till he was 6 months old... I told them to give him a bath some time if they want to see him in ecstacy. Another tip that NO ONE tells you--to give them spa baths--THEY LOVE THEM--I didn't think this was possible--BUT THEY DO--ESPECIALLY HIM!!! (one note--he would NOT attack us when we held him--he immediately changed demeanor into "omg, I love this being held and all this attention"--like Oscar the Grouch, and when we bathed him--even if that took TWO HOURS--he LOVED being washed in a 3-tub cycle, AND loved being hair blown dried, AND loved when we massaged coconut oil into his fleshy parts and onto his shanks, AND when we spritzed his dry wings with a light coat of AfroSheen << more things no one tells you about)

So, just my 2 cents worth. We all really bonded with him and though I rehomed him a few months ago--just last week, is the first time that I actually got tears thinking about how much I miss him--very hard to let go of our rooster.

On a sidebar note, we successfully incubated and hatched 9 of his offspring and I'm committed to rehoming any roos that we get (will know in a couple more weeks, I'm guessing) WAY sooner than we did with him. We wanted his offspring and hope that we have more hens than roos, but only time will tell.

 

[munchkinlover]

Get rid of him they should not dominate the hand that feeds them there are good bred roos out there and get one of these if you want to keep him pick him up and get someone to hold him then with a pair of pliers gently grip the spur and twist back and forth until the spur pops off sounds gruesome but will not hurt him there will be blood but it will stop and i bet you after this treatment he will treat you totally differently makes him more aware of you because you subdued him and proved YOUR boss not him. Now crowing i can handle it but i have had to give away constant crowing roosters because my wife cannot sleep with the noise she hates it ah well each to there own and after 50 years of marriage i have learnt not to argue with the boss ha ha

Thank you for the advise. I think we are planning to replace him, but we really don't know what to replace him with. Any suggestions? We don't mind crowing, but fogging is not acceptable. I have tried to find a rooster, but I am not being successful. Thank you for any suggestions.