What jobs do roosters do?

[FriendlyFlyer]

Hello I have a small flock of 9 chickens and I AM going to keep one of the roos. They are around 10 weeks old now and I let them free range the last couple hours of daylight. Right now they stay about 100 feet or so away from the road but they like to spread out, which makes it hard to make head counts every once in while. My question is: when my rooster becomes fully mature, will he keep the hens rounded up? Now I don't mean like a collie and it's sheep, but will the roo keep them in the same general area instead of spread out all over the yard?

Also, what else will the roo help with? What are your experiences? Does he find them good food? Deter predators? Take them to safety? Keep them calm? Etc...? And I AM talking about good things a roo will do, I'm very aware of what I'm getting myself into as far as negatives go. And right now, he seems like a very nice rooster, although he doesn't like to be touched!

 

[JodyJo]

they do all you said....I have a couple, its funny, each one has its own girls, he stays with them when they free range...warns of danger, usually hawks, and one last night, actually picked up a grape and gave it to one of the girls...so cute!

So far no negatives at all to having the boys...they post themselves high on the hay stacks and keep watch! Love them!

Here is one of my roos...and you are doing it right, one roo to 9 girls, perfect number, the girls won't get over used, so to say...

 

[Beekissed]

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That's good....that means he has a healthy respect and fear of you, which is important in the long run. Don't make a pet of your roo, just your hens. Roos need to be a tough guy if they are going to be a good flockmaster.

Your roo will work to keep hens near but inevitably there will be that hen or few that just lose track of the others and wanders off to forage...a good roo will occasionally try to lure those roamer back with a "look what I found, lotsa food, right here, come and look, it's right here!!!" clucking and chortling sound. Sometimes it works and sometimes not. Then, if he gets really nervous about their distance from the flock, he will do an alarm call to get their attention and try to get them to run back. If he still has persistant roamers, he may just give up at that point and tend to the gals close at hand.

A roo helps with warning the hens of danger, he will give them the choice bits of food he finds and will even do the same for any chicks. Sometimes he only pretends to have some good tidbit to lure hens in for easy mating without the chasing.

He won't "take" them to safety but they will run to safety depending on the type of alarm call he gives...sometimes it's just a head's up! call, sometimes it's a run for your life you leadbottom ladies! call. You'll be surprised at how quickly little chicks learn these calls and respond.

His presence and his calmness can affect your flock in the same way...a confident, happy, calm roo will keep your gals the same. Nervous roo that is constantly crying wolf and running around? Your hens will be the same.

A roo will be the head of the roost and will then be the standard for where the hens will want to be in the pecking order...this will fluctuate often, depending on many things in the chickeny world.

 

[NonnasBabies]

Beekissed put it perfectly. Another thing I noticed with having a roo, there's not so much chaos in the flock. Maybe my issue was because I had 2 roosters and then got rid of them so the girls just kinda went crazy on each other. They picked on each other, fought each other all the time. Now that they have a roo again things are so much calmer!!

 

[gritsar]

Roosters are good for procreation, protection and providing. A good roo will protect his hens to the best of his abilities, but don't expect him to be able to do much against a much larger predator.

I once had two dogs show up and start chasing my chickens. My roo ran back in forth right in front of the dogs, distracting them; giving my hens time to seek shelter.

 

[LizaBlue]

I gave one of my roos to a friend who had a flock of about 20 hens of mixed ages that were picking on each other. She told me that from the first night with them, he started keeping them in line! Later, she brought home some broiler chicks, and he wouldn't let them out of his sight and kept talking to her. She said she just knew he was telling her she better get those babies back to their mama! My roos tell everyone when it's time to go to bed, and don't enter the coop until everyone is home and they've made one last perimeter check. One of them likes to stay with the egglayers, watching the coop while they're in there and escorting them to the water in the barn when they're done so the guineas don't bother them, while the other roo (we just ate) liked to keep them all together so he could keep an eye on them. We have one more roo, he used to be the bully before we gave away one, but when that one went away it changed the pecking order. Now that the newest bully is gone, we're waiting to see if he's going to go back to his bad ways or if he is going to stay sweet. He may just fulfill his name: Dinner

 

[theoldchick]

A good rooster will keep a look out for predators......

Find food for his hens .....

Have deep converstation about chicken affairs.....

Woo his hens with his voice......

Keeps the quarrels to a minimum by displaying his presence to the ladies.....

Most importantly, he knows I'm the boss...

 

[NonnasBabies]

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Your so right!! This is the most improtant thing. I've never had an aggresive one ever!!

 

[Honeysucklefeathers]

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HE IS GORGEOUS!!!

 

[crazy4spurs]

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HE IS GORGEOUS!!!

X2 Gorgeous Rooster!!!!