Which rooster to keep?

[Stlzs0813]

I have a hatch that came out rooster heavy this year. I am down to 1 White leghorn, 1 Silver-laced Wyandotte, 1 huge Light Sussex, and 1 Columbian Wyandotte. I have 8 layers, 4 leghorns, 1 SLW, 1 cuckoo maran, 1 black sex-link, and 1 RIR. Any suggestions on which roo I should keep?

Thanks

 

[sourland]

I'm assuming that you want to hatch chicks in the future. What is your goal? Meat, dual purpose, egg laying?

 

[Michael OShay]

If high egg production is your sole purpose, then I would keep the White Leghorn rooster as he will breed high egg production into your flock. Otherwise, I would keep the calmest and most gentle of your roosters as you don't want to breed aggression into your flock. If more than one of them are calm and gentle, then I would choose the one you like best from among those.

 

[donrae]

If high egg production is your sole purpose, then I would keep the White Leghorn rooster as he will breed high egg production into your flock. Otherwise, I would keep the calmest and most gentle of your roosters as you don't want to breed aggression into your flock. If more than one of them are calm and gentle, then I would choose the one you like best from among those.

agree with Michael. I've had great results bringing in Leghorn blood every so often to boost production.

 

[Stlzs0813]

Well. It is down to the columbian wyandotte, silver laced, and leghorn. "Tex" the light sussex and a columbian went into the "cones" today. Hatching chicks would be great a learning experience for my kids and that is why I am keeping one. I get a free mixed-run every spring from a cousin's elementary school class, so hatching isn't necessary. I am mainly interested in egg production, but now that I am getting comfortable with processing for meat, I want to stick to dual purpose breeds. Roosters can reproduce with hens of another breed right? I am pretty sure the columbian and leghorn will be gone tomorrow. The Silver-Laced seems to be the mildest-tempered of the remaining few, plus I have a SLW layer.