Which rooster should be culled?

[SBlanton]

Advice please- I currently have 2 roosters. A black copper Maran about 9 mo old and a buff Orpington about 5 mo old.

I currently have 6 maran hens and 2 buff hens- I am trying to see which you think would be better to keep for my flock?

The Maran roo is great with the hens- keeps them in line, makes them get in the coop at night, finds them food etc. - the downside is he tries to attack me daily. He is fine with my husband and daughter- just not me.
The Buff roo is sweet as pie with people- but right now aggressively mates with the hens. The hens Do Not want to mate with him- which I don’t know if that will fix itself if the other rooster is removed from the flock.

This is my first flock and am back and forth on who I should keep. Thanks! Sorry for the long read.

 

[Coops Dad]

I have no room in my heart for a human-aggressive rooster, no matter how good with the hens he is (or how gorgeous. Such a shame). I'd put him in the stew pot without hesitation and let the Buff Orp work it out with the hens; he eventually will especially if the dominant rooster is gone.

 

[bobbi-j]

What you have are two immature cockerels. Neither is a mature rooster, although the older one is close. The younger one is still awkward and needs to develop some finesse. It will happen with time. The hens are not letting him mate because he’s immature. If they’re pullets and not laying, they’re not letting him mate because they may not be ready yet. Personally, I wouldn’t keep a rooster that’s not smart enough to realize that I’m not a threat to my flock. But if you don’t have small children living or visiting you, at least that threat isn’t too great. You’ll have to decide how much nonsense you want to put up with out of him, and if you’re prepared for potential injury. He may leave your daughter and husband alone for now, but that could change quickly.

 

[Floof]

Never keep an aggressive rooster. He's fine with your children for now. Never risk your children with an aggressive animal. Kids eyes are at spur height.

 

[miles2go480]

I had a beautiful Speckled Sussex we called Gregor who was very dominant and aggressive about mating but very protective of his girls, called them to eat, and attacked everyone but me in the yard whe they were let out to free range in the evening. I have a wonderfully sweet brown leghorn named Hank who is and has been the main man of the yard. I was torn about culling Gregor until at 16 months old he started attacking me. I was able to show him I wouldn't back down and catch and hold him until he calmed down but he continued to try to get me when my back was turned. One morning I went to clean the roost poop board and found Hank bloody and injured shaking and trembling. Gregor had tore him up. I was able to separate Gregor from the flock and tend Hank bringing him back to full cock daddy. He still has an occasional tremor but has fully healed. Gregor became chicken stew and my aggressive females are chilling out too. No regrets on keeping Hank over Gregor just wished I had done it earlier.

 

[3KillerBs]

When I free range them- I need one that is able to protect his flock. The Maran does that now. I was also wanting to hatch out Marans next year.

As a respected senior member here has often said,

A rooster who is attacking the harmless human who is bringing food to the flock isn't paying attention to his duty to guard them from real hazards.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

The buff orpington could get better with the hens with time, but the marans probably won’t get less human aggressive.

 

[NatJ]

The Maran roo... tries to attack me daily. He is fine with my husband and daughter- just not me.

The Buff roo is sweet as pie with people- but right now aggressively mates with the hens. The hens Do Not want to mate with him- which I don’t know if that will fix itself if the other rooster is removed from the flock.

Personally, I would cull the Maran, and then watch how the Buff acts.

If you want a preview of how the Buff will act after the Maran is removed, before you do anything permanent, you could put the Maran in a separate pen (something like a dog crate in the garage).

This is my first flock and am back and forth on who I should keep.

You don't really have to keep either one.

You could cull them both and buy a different rooster from someone else (it's common to see people on this site list nice roosters for sale, when they just have too many).

Or you could cull them both and raise another from a chick next year. You could raise several from chicks next year, and butcher all but one of them, if you want a choice.

Or you could cull them both and just keep hens, which works well for many people. With no rooster, all the eggs will be infertile, but that only matters if you want to hatch chicks.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

or do the "neighbor gifting" method (where you find a person around that has chickens and drop off the chicken when they are not home).

You should never dump one of your chickens on your neighbor’s property. That is animal dumping and it is illegal and also highly irresponsible.

If your chickens have a disease you weren’t aware of you could be compromising their whole flock. Also, an aggressive rooster which they don’t know about is dangerous to them, especially if they have small children. What happens when one of their kids walks outside and suddenly gets attacked by a rooster that they didn’t know was there?

Your unwanted birds are not your neighbor’s responsibility.

 

[Isadora]

Personally I would get rid of the aggressive one. The hens may come around to like the other if there are no other boys to choose from.