What rooster breeds do best at watching over a flock?

[CHICKENX2005]

What rooster breeds do you all think do best at watching over a flock? And what rooster breeds are worst at watching over a flock? I know individuals are all different but in general what have you observed and what have other chicken owners said?

 

[BantyChooks]

Honestly, I haven’t noticed a pattern. The best rooster I ever had was a silkie and he watched over the flock very well, alerting for hawks and keeping an eye on the skies. Other silkie roosters that I’ve had were completely useless.
Other good roosters I’ve had include Plymouth Rocks and Chanteclers.

 

[rural mouse]

This is smart. I like this idea.

They babies demonstrated this morning that the adults had taught them how to drink out of the nipple waterer. The white thing is a 2nd heating pad I hung so the babies had a warming spot outside the tote. In the past, as they start trying to sleep on nest boxes and/or on the roost, i move the heating pad to join them.
Pics from last year's babies. In June, so warmer temps

Heating pad became a perch

Exploring while adults are outside/coming in to lay eggs

Including the roosts....4 feet up. They use the pallet ladder to get up.

And exploring outside. The adults keep them close to the coop/ push them back inside

 

[rural mouse]

I have a gold penciled hamburg. He's a little guy (4.5 pounds sopping wet), but is very alert and the first to sound alerts over aerial threats. He's also incredibly quick (he's faster than my leghorn based hens).

I've had a jersey giant as well. Incredibly protective. He paced circles around the coop while a hen was broody in the coop, telling her about everything going on outside. I've heard stories about them (working together) killing hawks.

Both had older experienced birds teaching the younger ones about life. Notice I didn't say were broody raised. I got the hamburg (and other babies) into thee coop at an earlier age than the giant was, but still much later than I do now. Broodies talk to babies while still in eggs. When using incubators or farm store/shipped babies, I put them in a modified tote in the coop with the mama hen heating pad (found info on byc) from the beginning. The adults do the raising and its almost as good as broody raised.

 

[rural mouse]

These babies came from feed store.

 

[fluffycrow]

So roosters that are raised by a hen are better at watching over the flock then those raised by humans? If so is there a way to help teach a cockerel that a buy/hatch as a day old chick to be a better sentinel. And what age range do you think that a rooster is best at watching the flock. I would imagine that not just young but also very old roosters won't do as good. But I'm not sure.

A cockerel raised by a hen is better equipped to watch over the flock, but what really matters is his individual temperament. A broody raised bird will be more accustomed to predators of the area they were raised in, but it does not make them inherently superior. A brooder raised bird will take more time to familiarise with the environment and its predators, but it'll get there eventually. What matters most is that your male is naturally aware and observant. I would agree with the age range you have provided.

Although I will say that older roosters only have problems with watching over their groups when they are experiencing health problems, or when they have really slowed down from age. A healthy 8, 9 year old rooster has no problem watching out for the flock

 

[rural mouse]

So do you mean that you had the chicks in their own cage but where the older chickens can see them. Or where they in the same run as the older chickens?

Tote with windows and baby hatches inside the coop.

Whole thing tucked under the nest boxes. Adults won't let babies outside until they deem them big enough/temp warm enough/babies know alert sounds? for them to venture outside.

 

[nuthatched]

Depends upon the predator. They have a call for bird in the air, a different call (quieter) for dangerous bird in the air. When they use it EVERYONE freezes. There's yet another call for animal on the ground. And they use some of the noisy ones for "HUMAN, COME HEEEEELLLLLPPPPPP!" The crowing call is "All is well"

All the roosters have is a (usually) deeper voice to sound the alarm. Though the aerial predator *squark* is humorous.

 

[fluffycrow]

I've kept roosterless free range groups for a few years, as well as years with roosters in the free range groups. I've yet to find a hen that will do everything a rooster does to keep his group safe

 

[No Coop No Problem]

Best flock protectors I've had so far have been Sumatra, Cubalaya and Fayoumi. My Sumatra fought a hawk a few days ago and he's always watching for predators