Which cockerel should I keep?

[Altairsky]

I can only keep one roo, I'm looking for a good boy that is friendly to people.
I have 2 legbar cockerels (brothers) with 2 completely different personalities and I have no idea which one will be the good one.

#1 is the biggest one. A lot heavier than #2. He doesn't like to be handled and he doesn't like to roost on people's extremities. He's often on his own away from the group and he appears to be the bravest one with the most situational awareness.

#2 is smaller and lighter, he's social and he likes to stay with people and around the other birds. He likes to be pet and flies in your lap. He doesn't care at all about being handled and doesn't try to escape.

If I had to chose the one that's cuter, I'd say #2 hands down, but I've read that it's the sweetest birds that became the more aggressive. I suspect that his habit of flying to you when called will turn into "aim for the eyes" when hormones hit.
What would you do? Which one would you keep if it were you?
This is a video of #2

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

I would keep #2, but wait until the hormones have fully decided what their behavior and personality is going to make them become. If you let a friendly cockerel know that you are weak (climb up on your shoulder, head) then he does have a good chance of becoming aggressive, as you stated. From my experience, if you have a friendly and affectionate cockerel, allow him to be affectionate, but with exceptions. For example, I have Odie, a cockerel who I hatched myself. He loves humans, and he recently attempted to mate me when I tried picking him up. He pays more attention to me than his pullets. I allow him to climb on my arm, but not my shoulder or my head. No where that he could poke my eye out, or generally see that I am submitting to him. If you treat #2 like that, then he should be fine.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I like roosters that step aside when I walk by (no flying at me even for attention), are always walking the perimeter and have an independent (not aggressively dominant) personality when around other roosters. Not so much for predator protection, but flock awareness. The ones that perform what I call their military watch around the perimeter routinely always seem to know where all of the hens are which is what I prefer. Just this week I had a hen sprint through the door when I turned to pick up a bag of feed, but I didn’t see her go through. My was rooster was what I thought my only chicken outside, but he absolutely refused to go in and I could tell he was calling a hen. I recounted the hens inside and I realized he was right one of the girls were missing. I opened the big door, he followed behind me while maintaining space until we found her. He called her right over and both of them walked right through the big door into the coop side of the barn. This current rooster I pulled from a pen full of roosters after my other one was taken by a predator. He was the one who kept to himself and was independent. Not aggressively dominant, but held his own when another came to challenge. I never saw him start a fight and he kept to himself as long as the others left him alone which is how a true alpha male should act.

 

[GlicksChicks]

I would keep #2. He may not be the biggest YET, but you want a rooster who will stck with his flock. If a rooster wanders off and is not watching or protecting like he should be, he could lose some hens.

The kindness turning to a bad rooster csn go both ways. For example, I had a Barred Rock rooster, Rocky, who used to be the sweetest chick and loved attention. Puberty hit and he attacks people as soon as they are near his flock. One time I was petting one of my hens and he rounded the corner fast, ready to attack me.

As a good example, I currently have a Buckeye rooster. I name him Hops because he used to hop on my arm and my lap for attention. Now that he is an adult, he does not want to be held as much, which is good considering he is 9lbs now. But he is still the sweetest rooster I have ever known. He lets his ladies have first dibs at all the treats and he keeps an eye out for anything nearby. I gave them a fruit salad of canteloupe, butternut squash, etc. and he opted to eat their normal feed and let the ladies have all the fruit.

 

[SueT]

Definitely #1
IMHO, #2 has the ingredients to become human aggressive, flying into your lap, too friendly twd humans. You see it over and over again here on BYC--what happened they ask, he was so sweet.
Pick the one that is standoffish.
You do not want to encourage a rooster to be in your space.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

It is true that friendliness can turn into aggression, but the majority of those cases are due to the person not knowing how to correctly handle the cockerel that is being affectionate towards them－they let the male on their shoulder, their head, those kind of things that show the human's weakness. If you do not show weakness and you are serious about what the cockerel is allowed and not allowed to do, then likely you will end up with a sweet male that is aware of his boundaries. And that is what you want. I have seen many people talk about how they do not want a friendly rooster. Why, I ask? It is for the better if your male chicken is sweet. If he gets sick or injured, it will be a whole lot easier to treat him and make him less stressed compared to a male that is flighty and wants nothing to do with you. And the ones who have a flighty personality are the likely ones who will attack you. I have seven other cockerels, and they are all the type to hate human attention. And they are the ones who show aggression to me, attacking me and doing a threatening wing-dance toward me. Overall, I would immediately narrow down any choices to the sweetest cockerel there is and seeing how his personality goes. Do not give away anyone yet, just watch.

 

[Altairsky]

I will keep both cockerels as long as I can though as soon as they start fighting for real, one of them has to go (they started playing fight at 4 weeks, they're definitely not harming each other for now but I'm not going to wait until they decide to fight to the death).
I'll keep watching them very closely for now and see how their personality develops.
#2 often wants to climb up to my shoulder but he's not allowed to do so and I put him back to the ground every time he tries.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

they started playing fight at 4 weeks,

Chickens do not play fight. Play fighting is stupid if you are a prey animal, it is a waste of your precious energy that you could use for escaping a predator or another dangerous situation. When you see young chickens fighting, it goes two ways: if they are pullets, they are seeing who is more dominant on the pecking order; if they are cockerels, they are seeing who is more dominant on their own hierarchy separate from females. Either way is not play fighting. It is serious. The only reason that cockerels do not try to actually get serious with their fighting when they are young is because there is not a big reason. When the pullets start laying and therefore need to be mated, then they have a big reason to fight to the death. For now, it will just be small skirmishes that will build up as time goes on.

 

[Altairsky]

I'll explain better the behavior. Every morning, when I open the coop, they fly out to free range. In the first 10 minutes, they will fight. All of them. I've seen pullets challenging the cockerels, rarely cockerels challenging pullets and of course cockerels challenging cockerels. Especially the 2 legbars (the araucana boy is rarely bothered though he might not even be a boy tbh). After 10 minutes all the fighting stops and never happen for the rest of the day. Like when the kids get out of school and they are excited, and they yell and run, then when they're done they calm down, if you know what I mean.

 

[Mrs. K]

Oh if only, if only one could say, do this, don't do that and you will have a perfect rooster. Cockerels are a crapshoot. Some turn out and some do not.

I think you get a slightly better chance of a good one if they are raised up in the flock under older hens. But this is not 100%, I think you have a worse chance of a good one if he is raised with just flock mates, he just outgrows the pullets, never meets anything bigger than him, and they often become a bully. Plus, cockerels tend to be braver, and people think they are friendlier, and they loose their fear and natural respect for people...sometimes.

The thing is, neither of these cockerels might turn out, really no matter what you do or how you act. If you cannot cull a rooster, do try and re-home both of them ASAP. If you can and plan to cull poor ones, well keep them and see what happens.

BE AWARE...they can go from darling to a nightmare in what seems like a moment. But often times new people are just not aware of the signals or make excuses for them.

• Jumping up on you
• jumping up on things to be taller than you
• sneaking behind you
• flapping his wings at you
• stink eye
• excessive crowing when you come around the coop
• and attacking you for any reason

What I want in a good rooster:

• He should be the first to see me when I approach
• When outside the coop/run, he should have his head up, being very aware of his surroundings
• He should tidbit (this should come on with age)
• His hens should adore him
• He breaks up fights within his flocks
• He is good with chicks
• He is good with people, especially children. just casually moving away, usually between his hens and the child, but space of 5-6 feet.

If you have children under the age of 6, and if they share the space, I would not keep a rooster. Kids tend to take the attack in the face, and kids are who cockerels attack first.

Mrs K