What to do with these three roosters

[Mrs. K]

Do know that none of these roosters may work out for you in the long run. Rooster behavior is a crap shoot. The longer I am in this game, the less I think peoples behavior has much to do with it. A lot of it is the luck of the draw.

I am would only want two roosters if my laying hen flock was around 25 head. The more roosters you have, the greater the chance they are not going to work out.

However, no one, online can say "Ah, the 2nd or the 1st or the third rooster is going to work out." Does not work that way.

My advice - is cull the one of the three you like the least - you need no reason, you are just thinning the trees. Wait a week or two, as you have noticed, pulling out a rooster changes the behavior of the ones left behind. Then cull again.

Now, you may get a great rooster, but know that there is a good chance that that one will not work out either. Just because you hatched this bird is no obligation to keep him. If you wind up like this, contact the state thread on here, or your local feed store, or poultry club. More than likely someone out there has a really good rooster. Don't keep a rotten rooster just because that is what you ended up with.

Mrs K

 

[Mikeslikes]

Thank you for all your advice. If all three roosters are a menace, my wife and I will cull all three for the freezer or soup.

 

[Chicken poppy]

When it comes to the protection that roosters deliver - I'm not sure that they will solve your issues. Roosters mainly just do a call warning and - if pressed - will sacrifice themselves. So, they will only be a protector from your type of predators one time. And even then, a mammal will likely go and kill the hens after they have killed the rooster.

I think that you should be concentrating more on how you're keeping them safe. Have you considered an electric mesh wire boundary? A large enclosed run? We want to make sure that your predation loss is at an ethical ratio and right now it doesn't seem to be.

Rooster 3 sounds like the best bet to me.

A hawk came and killed my chicken and my rooster was the first one to run. He probably peed his pants to.

 

[Mrs. K]

I will say that I do have better protection with a good rooster from day time predators...but not all roosters are good roosters. You need one that is very alert. He should be the first rooster to see you when you are approaching. He should keep his girls together, not let them off by themselves, an easy target.

But even a good rooster cannot protect from a real determined attack.

 

[Chicken poppy]

But even a good rooster cannot protect from a real determined attack.

Unless you have an army..

 

[Mikeslikes]

I just wanted to update what we did with the three roosters.

Rooster one, we named Fred, we couldn't get him back with the flock. We had him separated for a while in the same run with the chickens. When we wanted to see how Fred would do after being in chicken jail for a few weeks, he immediately attacked the other two roosters, which we named Bob and Tom. Now, Fred used to get along with Bob and Tom, but being separated from the flock for two weeks, he wanted to reestablish his place as top chicken. The battle did not go well for Fred, both Roosters took turns fighting him and Fred was getting beat up. At first I thought they were play fighting but realized it was for real when I saw blood on Fred. So I got Fred separated again. The hens don't like Fred either. They would want to fight him too.

Anyways, the story about Fred had a better ending. I was going to cull him, but my wife saw on Facebook that someone was looking for both roosters and hens. So we were able to rehome him with a good farm family. They wanted more roosters to protect their ducks and geese.

So far, Bob and Tom, are both crowing and get along with the flock well. They share food with the hens. I have two roosters and 17 hens. Seems to work out good. I don't want any more chickens though. Spring is nearly here and I got more eggs than my family can eat. So going to water glass many or sell eggs locally.

 

[kbroom]

Hello there fellow chicken farmers,

The backstory first,

I started with my first three chicks back in April of 2021. I loved taking care of them and watching them grow up into nice laying hens. In september 2021, I had a racoon get into the run and kill one of the chickens. I was very upset and sad. First chicken lost. I trapped all the local raccoons and took them out the forest. So i got more chicks. Springtime of 2022 I have 8 hens and getting good amount eggs. I didn't get many eggs during the winter so I decided to add some barred rocks to the flock. I lost 3 more chickens to buffalo gnats, two to two foxes, and one to a hawk. I decided to get more chickens and some roosters for protection. My wife's cousin has red island reds with roosters. So i got some fertilzed eggs and incubated them. I got 4 hens and three roosters. My total flock count is now 20 chickens total. 17 hens and 3 roosters (cockerels).

So the 7 had hatched out of 8 eggs in the middle of september. The three roosters are now about 20 weeks old. The four hens and 3 roosters are integrated with my flock. I figure the older hens would keep the young roosters in line. Around week 16, the roosters started changing their behavior towards all the hens.

Rooster number 1,

He is the most dominate rooster, he began going on a mating spree and was getting rough with the hens. One hen he really likes, he even chicken dances with her before mounting, she got her wing damaged and have to separate her from the flock because they are cannibalizing her exposed wound. What is interesting is that she wasn't laying any eggs for about 4 weeks, now she is laying again. I guess she was being stressed by the rooster. So i also decided to put him in the dog cage to keep him away from the Hens. I am getting more eggs now with the other hens. He just was an oversexed young rooster. The hens were not agreeable to that. The one thing that is strange before I locked him up, the younger hens would like to be around him, when he would get on a rooster bar, he would have two to four his RIR sister hens hang out with him. So he may not be all bad.

Rooster number 2,

He didnt bother the hens at all while rooster number 1 was ruling the run. Now that rooster number one is locked up, he wants to mate. He also is crowing which he didnt when rooster one was with the flock. Both roosters are crowing in the morning. Rooster one is still the loudest. None of the hens are interested in him either, he doesnt dance for them yet. He doesnt mate as frequent as rooster number one, but he does. Many of the hens fight him off, sometimes he wins and gets to do his thing.

Rooster number three,

He is very tame, doesnt mate at all with the hens. The hens sorta of shew him way when he walks by. He is the only rooster the hens let roost on the top bar, rooster one and two were always with the few hens on the lower bar. His comb and waddles are large but not as large has rooster one and two's waddles and comb.


Also, none of the roosters attack me, nor do they attack each other. They do ruffle up their feathers and do staring contests, but that is the extent of their violence at this point.


Which one should I keep? I like to keep two, but one would be fine as well. I think rooster three would be a good rooster, but not sure if he would be a good protector. Rooster one and two, might be good protectors because they are aggressive but that could get worse. Also, none of the roosters share food with hens yet. They race for it at this point.


Any help on this matter is appreciated and will answer any questions,

Thanks,

A word about the buffalo gnats. Now, I don't know if they're anything alike? But down here is south Texas, near the Brazos River, we have what cattlemen affectionately call, "cattle gnats," also called "river gnats." Apparently, I am HIGHLY allergic to these little buggers, as if I get stung by one on my face, my eyes swell up, and it looks like someone has beaten me up, and I LOST! I tried everything, including using a netted veiled hat. But when gardening in the sun that can be really cumbersome. Finally, I read about VANILLA. These insects CAN'T stand it. I now buy 2 qts. for $20 on Amazon. I put the vanilla in a spray bottle, and I can spray all over, including my face with the liquid. It smells great, and is non poisonous. It may help your birds. I plan to use it with my little hens if or when needed. These gnats here are only seasonal (thank God), but my face has a way of finding them, when they appear. Hope that helps.

 

[kbroom]

Unless you have an army..

Oh, my goodness! How sweet! I could never get tired of watching THAT!

 

[kbroom]

Your cockerels are showing normal behaviour for immature boys. This is really, really common in immature cockerels. Their hormones are surging and they are rude, pushy and rough and will overmate your hens. All hormones, no brains. As they mature they will calm down some. When they grow up in a flock that already has a dominant rooster (mature male over 1 year old) they often learn manners quicker. Some roosters will just not tolerate another male, some will. But always one will be dominant, the alpha, the others in the flock will be lower in the pecking order and will stay out of his way (or else), some can be very docile and act more like hens, trying to not get his attention. Some cockerels will challenge the alpha, and you will have fights and injuries. In those cases you should separate them unless you like dealing with, sometimes serious, injuries. And hens can get caught in the cross fire. How many boys you can have in a flock depends on the number of hens you have and the personalities of the boys. I currently have 3 mature roosters who don't fight, are very respectful of each other, and there is no problem. But they were choosen for their temperaments so that it's possible. They roost in the same coop, but each has their own spot, their own roost bar. I have 3 immature cockerels, a little younger than yours. If I keep one of them, one of the others will go. Too many roosters means beat up hens. Usually about 10 hens to one rooster is a good starting point, numbers can vary up or down depending on the birds themselves. If you have not decided who to keep, I would recommend separating the boys, give the girls a break from the stress, and as the boys mature you can decide which one is the true keeper. I don't keep nasty boys or boys who hurt the girls. Sometimes with observation you can tell which one the girls favor, and if he's not nasty to you then that might be the one to keep.

Sounds like my husband!

 

[Mikeslikes]

Another update. We just gave Bob away. Chicken number 2. His behavior started to change and get violent with one of my barred rock hens. At first, she would fight him off and it would get bloody for Bob. Bob would lose and would leave her alone for a while. Days later, Bob would resume his attacks on her. She completely rejects Bob. Bob, now is beating her up and she got it pretty bad, All of her feathers are missing from the back of her neck and her skin is torn and bloody raw. She is terrified of Bob. We finally isolated the barred rock into the chicken hospital coop by herself. We, being my wife and I, noticed that when ever Bob got near her in the chicken hospital, she would suddenly flee in terror back into the small coop. I am hoping she will be able to heal up from this. We have a local chicken farmer who needed a rooster. So we offered Bob to him. He gets along fine with Tom and the rest of the Hens, it's just that Hen that Bob loves to hate. So Tom is the lucky lone rooster with all the girls.