We have an aggressive Ameraucana rooster who, despite making our lives difficult as chicken caretakers, nevertheless does a really good job with his flock. He's fertile, protective and nice to his hens. We've never had trouble with predators taking our hens even though we have many hawks.
However we've come to the point where his behaviour towards us and our son is very hard to live with, and we'd like to swap him out for a Buff Orpington or Barred Rock. My son does 4H with chickens and we'd like him to be able to show a rooster, or at least breed BOs or BRs and rear and show the babies.
We've had an offer from someone who'd like to exchange our Ameraucana for their four young Barred Rock roosters. I thought we'd take them and see which one would suit us best, and then rehome the other three.
What can I expect to see happen when we take him out of the flock? Will the hens pine for him? Lay fewer eggs? Panic? Fight?
What will the hens do when (after quarantining them) we introduce four young (3 and a half month old) roosters to the flock? We'd do it gradually, as per BYC member suggestions. Will they flip out? Can I expect one rooster to rise to the top as alpha? I was thinking that if I brought all four of them in together, they could protect each other from the hens, until they grew into their places, and then we could see which rooster was doing best with the flock, and keep him. The roosters have been reared together, so they shouldn't fight... right?
I don't know if getting rid of the aggressive rooster will prove to be a mistake. What if his aggression is a small price to pay for how well he manages his flock in other respects... I'd hate to get rid of him only to find he'd been really exceptionally good at his job. IF ONLY HE WEREN'T SUCH A MEAN YOU KNOW WHAT!!!!!!! Arrrrgh.
He's really beautiful too.
What do you all think?
However we've come to the point where his behaviour towards us and our son is very hard to live with, and we'd like to swap him out for a Buff Orpington or Barred Rock. My son does 4H with chickens and we'd like him to be able to show a rooster, or at least breed BOs or BRs and rear and show the babies.
We've had an offer from someone who'd like to exchange our Ameraucana for their four young Barred Rock roosters. I thought we'd take them and see which one would suit us best, and then rehome the other three.
What can I expect to see happen when we take him out of the flock? Will the hens pine for him? Lay fewer eggs? Panic? Fight?
What will the hens do when (after quarantining them) we introduce four young (3 and a half month old) roosters to the flock? We'd do it gradually, as per BYC member suggestions. Will they flip out? Can I expect one rooster to rise to the top as alpha? I was thinking that if I brought all four of them in together, they could protect each other from the hens, until they grew into their places, and then we could see which rooster was doing best with the flock, and keep him. The roosters have been reared together, so they shouldn't fight... right?
I don't know if getting rid of the aggressive rooster will prove to be a mistake. What if his aggression is a small price to pay for how well he manages his flock in other respects... I'd hate to get rid of him only to find he'd been really exceptionally good at his job. IF ONLY HE WEREN'T SUCH A MEAN YOU KNOW WHAT!!!!!!! Arrrrgh.
He's really beautiful too.
What do you all think?