wanting to add a rooster

acsteele

Chirping
10 Years
Aug 12, 2013
54
7
91
South Central Kansas
we are pretty new to chicken, we started with 10 BO hens (haven't gotten our first egg yet, but soon, I hope) already the "chicken math" is taking hold! I'm thinking of adding a few more hens, speckled sussex comes to mind, and a rooster in the spring, from a different hatchery, so we'll have good separation on bloodlines. Do I gamble that I'll get a "good" rooster, and just order one, or do I get a couple, and select the best?
 
I would probably get two or three that way you have the option to replace one if you don't like another. I have four right now with my hens that have been raised together since they were babies (they're brothers).
 
That really depends. Will you have a way to get rid of the roosters you don't want to keep? Such as killing them for food or giving them to someone who will? If not then you may want to go with only 1 rooster. You have to be sure you will be able to get rid of the extra roosters or it will cause issues. Hen's being constantly chased and over mated, roosters fighting etc.
 
Mahlzeit has a good point. You need to have a plan for extra roosters. Not only if you get two or three to choose from, but if you hatch out your own chicks. You will get roosters when you hatch. I think you have a good handle on this, but so many people don't. They buy or hatch out these cute little chicks and then have no idea what to do with the extras because "I've had them since they were a day old and I can't possibly kill them." The reality is, unless you have bloodlines to a really good show-quality flock, extra roosters are hard to get rid of. Around here, you can't hardly give them away.
 

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