Which ones should I Elimanate

Date sort Score sort
We actually had 26 roosters and I only wanted to keep two. I chose two separate breeds, two that I liked and wanted to introduce into my flock, and then chose the second in command or highest in command. These are the strongest, bravest, fastest maturing, and healthiest.

However, if you top-bird is aggressive, you may want to go with the one under it, the second-in-command. Submissive roosters can still mature to be aggressive, so don't chose the lowest just because you don't want an aggressive bird. Roosters can protect lots of hens, but they can only really breed with 6-12 hens (depending on the roosters size and breed) so you could keep two or even three of the boys if you plan on hatching fertile eggs at all.

I hope this helps. Best of luck!
 
I would first eliminate roosters that are abusive to their hens, and most certainly any that are human aggressive. There is never a good reason to keep a bad rooster.
Then I would consider if I wanted to raise some purebred chicks. For instance if you had a Buff orp rooster and some very pretty buff orp hens. By penning them together with NO other roosters(or hens) the eggs would be pure for the breed. In that case you would want the best behaved and nicest conformation rooster to keep.

If you have no intention of hatching fertile eggs or selling any, you don't need any roosters. The hens will continue to lay just as many eggs without him and have less stress in their lives.

There are times a good rooster is very worthwhile. They give warning to the flock of danger - so the hens can scatter and hide. But to think any rooster is capable of taking down your basic predator is somewhat of a fantasy. He may be severely wounded or die, and the predators will still take your hens.

I hope this is of some help to you.
 
Hi :welcome

Glad you could join the flock! You have got some great advice from the above posters so I will just say "Welcome"

Wishing you the very best of luck and enjoy BYC :frow
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. If you have 26 chickens and 5 of them are roosters, that means you have 21 hens. Given those numbers, you need to eliminate 3 of the 5 hens as the recommended ratio of roosters to hens is 1 rooster for every 10 hens. As they mature and their hormones kick in, too many roosters will become very hard physically on your hens; over-breeding them, biting and plucking the feathers from their necks and backs, battering them, and potentially seriously injuring them. The only reason you really need any rooster is to fertilize eggs for hatching and 1 rooster can easily handle 10-15 hens in this regard. I agree with drumstick diva; I would eliminate the 3 most aggressive roosters. There is never a good reason to keep an aggressive rooster and you don't want to risk him seriously injuring someone, nor do you want to breed that kind of aggression into your flock. If all 5 roosters are docile and egg production is a priority with your flock, I would keep the 2 roosters that are of the breeds that are the best layers among your roosters. If egg production is not a major priority, I would keep the 2 roosters that I personally liked the best. Please feel free to ask any other questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck in choosing which roosters to keep.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the advice. My most dominant roster is very aggressive to his hens. Bad part is he is the prettiest but he is even mean to my dogs and I can see him attacking my children in the near future he will be the first to go. If I eliminate him will one of the other become aggressive ? They show no signs of aggression now
 
I have 5 roosters. Three were 'oops' birds and 13 hens so I was facing the same problem/decision. 3 are Buff Os and 2 are Welsummer. I originally only wanted 2 roos and when the hormones hit, I knew I had to do something especially since 2 of the Buff boys were terrorizing the gentler Welsummer males to the point that they were spending much of their time cowering in a nesting box with their heads crammed in a corner.

My solution was to build a bachelor pen and pull the most aggressive roos before somebody got killed. They have not been aggressive towards me or my husband thankfully since that is about the only offense that will send a roo to freezer camp for us, only to other roos to the point where there was the threat of injury/death. In fact, alone, they are sweet, funny boys that don't act as though they have a mean bone in their bodies but wirh their presence in the flock eliminated, things are peaceful. The 3 remaining roos are getting along and the stress is down considerably.

Do I think that the problem is solved? Not permanently since these are young birds and I'm sure the flock dynamics will change in time and I will be juggling roosters till 2 or 3 can live together peacefully.

In the mean time, the Wellie boys are getting their self confidence back, the hens adore the Alpha Buff and the two bachelors have the job of keeping grasshoppers under control.

And I'm enjoying the peace and quiet.
 
babybenschicks said:
Thanks for the advice. My most dominant roster is very aggressive to his hens. Bad part is he is the prettiest but he is even mean to my dogs and I can see him attacking my children in the near future he will be the first to go. If I eliminate him will one of the other become aggressive ? They show no signs of aggression now
Click to expand...

Getting rid of him is a good move as there is no good reason to keep a bad rooster. There's no way at this point to know for sure whether one of the others will become aggressive or not, but if they do you can eliminate them as well. With 5 roosters, one or two of them will likely be docile. At worst case scenario, there are loads of unwanted roosters out there on the market that people are trying to get rid of, and you can always find one that has been around long enough to have established a docile reputation.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom