Which rooster should be culled?

[Fishychick]

Keep them both! It's not their fault for being roosters. I have 5 roosters in 3 areas. One is super nasty. One is nice. The other three tolerate me. One rooster is disabled and with 4 hens. The hens prefer your nasty rooster but he will mellow with age. Also, if he's gone, the nice one might change.

 

[MamaWolf7]

I would keep the Maran and eat the younger one for 2 reasons.

1. At 9 months old the Maran will be too tough for roasting and only good for stew. At 5 months old they are still good for roasting.

2. The Maran is clearly protective. When I first started with chickens I loved my rooster. He is great with the hens and people. He has such a sweet personality. Then the fox got into my chicken run. My rooster hid at the very top of the 8' high coop and left the hens to fend for themselves in the run. Luckily I went outside to lock up the chickens for the night and walked in on the situation before any hens were injured. I am hoping that a couple of my new cockerels turn out to be aggressive as opposed to my useless (but sweet) old cock. I have seen videos on YouTube on how to put a rooster in his place and put an end to the aggressiveness towards humans. I would recommend taking that approach instead.

Do let us know what you decide!

 

[bobbi-j]

I would keep the Maran and eat the younger one for 2 reasons.

1. At 9 months old the Maran will be too tough for roasting and only good for stew. At 5 months old they are still good for roasting.

2. The Maran is clearly protective. When I first started with chickens I loved my rooster. He is great with the hens and people. He has such a sweet personality. Then the fox got into my chicken run. My rooster hid at the very top of the 8' high coop and left the hens to fend for themselves in the run. Luckily I went outside to lock up the chickens for the night and walked in on the situation before any hens were injured. I am hoping that a couple of my new cockerels turn out to be aggressive as opposed to my useless (but sweet) old cock. I have seen videos on YouTube on how to put a rooster in his place and put an end to the aggressiveness towards humans. I would recommend taking that approach instead.

Do let us know what you decide!

Aggressive doesn’t always = protective. As has been stated before, when a rooster is busy attacking the harmless human who brings food every day, he’s not doing his job and looking out for real threats.

A 9 month old cockerel cooks up very nicely in the crockpot or pressure cooker…

 

[Mrs. K]

Keep them both! It's not their fault for being roosters. I have 5 roosters in 3 areas. One is super nasty. One is nice. The other three tolerate me.

It's not their fault for being roosters, but it is not your fault either. This should not be a guilty or blame game, but rather a fact of life. Dangerous animals are that, dangerous. No one deserves to be attacked.

 

[3KillerBs]

Keep them both! It's not their fault for being roosters. I have 5 roosters in 3 areas. One is super nasty. One is nice. The other three tolerate me. One rooster is disabled and with 4 hens. The hens prefer your nasty rooster but he will mellow with age. Also, if he's gone, the nice one might change.

This is not realistic advice.

Aggressive roosters are dangerous animals and no amount of wishful thinking can change that fact.

There are plenty of perfectly nice roosters who are culled each year because they are simply unnecessary. A person who wants a rooster should get one of these and eat the jerks.

 

[samanthaoverton]

Oddly..for me. I'd ditch both and get a straight run next spring. Older hens do help round out cockerels in my opinion..if they're younger (think young enough not to be interested in mating yet) I hate seeing an aggressive roo with my girls. And I hate a roo that's mean to me. A good roo is hard to find in my opinion. I have two right now and the alpha keeps the beta on his toes. I think he and the older hens are going to make a good roo out of him for when the alpha is gone one day. This is just my opinion. When I see a roo getting aggressive with layers I could just about snap their neck right then and there. Dunno why but it makes me supremely angry.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

Unless your breeding id cull both hens dont need a rooster period

 

[DrumstickRanchTex]

Straight forward, I suggest the Maran. He's the smaller rooster, so he'll be softer on the hens, and eat less. The hens' opinion is important. If they're over stressed, they'll lay less. If you choose to keep the Maran, here's a great article to check out on how to deal with him. : https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/dealing-with-and-taming-aggressive-roosters.74600/

Please be ready to remove the spurs from the rooster you keep, that way the hens, and you, and anyone else will not worry about him.

 

[pinewoodacres]

Tough call. I would probably keep the Marans and carry a rake. I will say that the more males I have, the less any of them care about me as they are more worried about who is mating who.

Can’t do much about the overmating issue. I have about two dozen of each right now and some still get overmated by one particular guy (who is just now a year old), but he’s great in every other way so he gets to stick around. I say this only bc I’m sure some responses (didn’t read them yet) will suggest getting more hens but that doesn’t necessarily make a difference. They sometimes have favorites and hen saddles don’t always work or are not a good option for one reason or another. Thus, to me, the aggressiveness toward a single person is less bad than the overmating problem as it’s likely stressing them out.

 

[KBelle22]

I can understand your dilemma. Has your Maran just started becoming aggressive? I had a similar situation with an 18 month old Olive Egger which was a Maran/Americauna cross. He was sweet as pie, until I was putting together an Instagram reel with my other roosters crowing. He came at me with intention, and continued his distrust/attacking over a week. I did have to kick him off of me, and then coerced him with treats and now he is back to my sweet boy. I also have had some younger 6 month roos that took time to get the finesse of mating. It also takes time for the hens to accept the new Roos, they might have a favorite Rooster already. I notice that in my flock as well. Best of luck with your decision. I know it is not an easy one.