Which cockerel should I keep?

[OzarkChooks]

I have (potentially) 7 cockerels. We plan on eating the excess once they get to a certain size. I have an alpha cockerel who I will keep....but I kind of want to keep another cockerel around so I have two. I have a 5 month old brahma cockerel (from a hatchery) who isn't allowed to mate and gets bullied by the older pullets and he doesn't challenge the alpha cockerel. The brahma does, however, drop his shoulder a lot and circle me....doesn't seem promising. Then I have a 15 week old cockerel (from a hatchery) who is a big scaredy cat and rarely leaves the coop. Then there are lots of little 9 week old cockerels that were hatched and raised by a broody in the flock. I'm not sure which one I should keep. Which one do you think would be my best bet for a good rooster?

 

[swamphiker]

I would keep the one with the best temperment as long as it is healthy and looks the way you want. All of your cockerels are still young, so I wouldn't judge them too harshly for getting pushed around by alpha cockerel.

 

[Mrs. K]

How many hens do you have? How much space? IMO when you double your roosters, you double your chance for trouble. I myself would not keep a second rooster unless I had over 20 hens, but to each his own way of doing things.

As which to keep I don't hear any magic in the first two that you described - I would cull them. I am partial to roosters raised up in a flock. Those decisions are down the road a bit. However, a good piece of advice, is not to pick the best and cull the rest all at once.

Divide the flock into the not keeping, and might keeping groups. Cull the first group and wait 2-3 weeks. Then divide them again and cull. Wait 2-3 weeks, and generally speaking by then it is pretty obvious which one you should keep.

Mrs K

 

[NatJ]

I have an alpha cockerel who I will keep....but I kind of want to keep another cockerel around so I have two.

Is this just so you have a spare, in case something happens to the main one?

If so, keep one of the youngest cockerels as your spare, and when you have an even younger batch of chicks, let one of those males become your spare instead.

But if you want to keep a second male that would be good for breeding, think about what traits are important to you, and start culling any that are not right. It sounds like you don't really like the Brahma or the 15-week one, so you should probably cull them and evaluate the younger ones as they grow. Cull any that you know are wrong, and keep watching the maybes, culling more of them as you rule some out.

 

[OzarkChooks]

I kind of wanted a second one for a back up. Just in case. I have 18 pullets right now and they free range on over an acre. Is that enough for two roosters?

I really like the brahma, I'm just suspicious of his recent behavior. He is constantly following me and doing his little dropped shoulder dance around me. Isn't that aggressive?

This is my first flock and all I know is I definitely can't have 7 roosters!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I have 3 males and 11 females in my mixed flock and they do okay. However both bottom males were hatched in the flock and grew up with the main male as their leader. When he goes, they might fight and make me chose, or they might work it out okay.

They free range technically over 20 acres (no property fences), but tend to stay in a .5-1 acre area 99.5% of the time. Occasionally a pulley will wander down to my other free range flock but it doesn't really cause problems so long as my males don't do the same thing.

2 of my males are mixed and 1 is not. One of the subs is related to the flock master, one just thinks he is.

However, it's still possible that at any time something could snap in any of the three and make me chose even though the youngest is almost a year and the oldest is almost 8

 

[NatJ]

I have 18 pullets right now and they free range on over an acre. Is that enough for two roosters?

It depends on who you ask, but I think it will probably be fine.

I really like the brahma, I'm just suspicious of his recent behavior. He is constantly following me and doing his little dropped shoulder dance around me. Isn't that aggressive?

I don't know for sure if it is aggressive, but if you really like him otherwise, you could keep him for now and just be aware of what he's doing. If he causes a problem, make him into soup, but if he does not cause a problem he can keep staying.

This is my first flock and all I know is I definitely can't have 7 roosters!

I kind of wanted a second one for a back up. Just in case.

For now, maybe keep the best one, the Brahma, and the most promising of the young ones. (Or continue to keep all the young ones until you are ready to butcher them.) Then decide further as you see how they do.

Some people like to make a final decision and know which ones they're keeping. I tend to revise my decisions several times-- any "keeper" might become dinner if they start doing something I don't like. (That could include aggressive males, but I've also applied it to an escape artist, a pullet that wasn't laying by a reasonable age, a bully or the bully's victim, and so on.)

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have a 5 month old brahma cockerel, a 15 week old cockerel, and lots of little 9 week old cockerels

They are all too immature to challenge the rooster. Until they mature enough to stand up to him they are going to run from him. Even if the dominant rooster were not around they are too immature to know how they will eventually act with the hens when they grow up. When the hormones hit behaviors can get pretty wild but when they mature enough to get those hormones under control they can really mellow out. And the girls are much more likely to accept them.

The brahma does, however, drop his shoulder a lot and circle me....doesn't seem promising.

This sounds like the hormones have hit him and he thinks you may be subordinate to him. This doesn't mean he is going to become human aggressive but when he does this I'd calmly walk toward him and cause him to walk away. Let him know you are not intimidated or afraid of him. He may consider this a challenge and attack which I'd consider a sign it was headed somewhere not good or he may understand you re not to be messed with.

Which one do you think would be my best bet for a good rooster?

What are your goals? What do you want him for? If you just want a spare that could be any of them. If you want him for breeding what traits do you want him to pass down to his children? Something to do with his appearance like colors, patterns, comb type, size? It could be the color of eggs his daughters might lay. Is he of a breed that the hens typically lay a lot of eggs? If it is behaviors, that can be hard as long as there is a dominant chicken around. Even a dominant hen can suppress the good or bad behaviors of an immature cockerel until he matures enough to take over. This tendency of immature cockerels to have their behaviors suppressed by more mature chickens makes it hard. The changes that the hormones make can also make it hard to g by behaviors.

The way I approach it is to know my goals and what I'm looking for and start removing any that don't match up. This narrows the numbers down. By the time I get to the last two or three they are all usually a pretty good choice, that's when it gets hard.

I have 18 pullets right now and they free range on over an acre. Is that enough for two roosters?

Some people really truly believe that the ratio of girls to buys matter. They may have personal experience to believe that way. I don't. One of my most peaceful multiple rooster flocks was 15 hens and 3 roosters. They free ranged and got along great. I once had a peaceful flock of 1 boy and 8 girls. Two of the girls became barebacked so I ate the two girls. That left me with 1 boy and 6 girls. The were still peaceful and the barebacked issue went away. Dad's typical flock was one rooster and 25 to 30 hens. I personally don't consider the boy to girl ratio to be that important.

I don't think you'll get much argument that 18 girls is plenty for two boys.