Who to keep

[DobieLover]

I have a salmon Faverolles cockerel. He just turned 17 weeks old yesterday. He, Fabio, is starting to challenge me. I also have an unexpected Delaware cockerel (Dexter). Because Dexter currently out weighs and is taller than Fabio, he is winning all their sparring matches and is much friendlier towards me. BUT, Fabio is outperforming Dexter at his intended job: calling the girls when he finds something good to eat, watching out for hawks and generally looking after the flock. The other day I saw he walking up the side of the road very intently looking at something in the corner of the yard out of my line of sight and I thought, "Uh oh! Predator!" I walked out to him and saw he was in hot pursuit of a... bunny rabbit! But his heart was in the right place.

I know I have to rehome one of these boys as I only have 9 pullets. But my DH had bad experiences with chickens in the past and it took a bit to convince him we needed chickens. Thus far he is very much enjoying the flock. He is mild to moderate Alzheimer's and I don't want him to get attacked or have to deal with an overly aggressive cockerel/rooster.

I've just started working with Fabio in hopes of keeping him in check. So far Fabio's challenges to me are nothing more than fluffing up his feathers, dropping a wing towards me and slowing making his way towards me while I am tending to or hand feeding the girls. The first time he did this I pinned him the ground then scooped him up and held him to my side with his wings pinned. Just prior to scooping him up, Dexter gave him a good whack to the back of the head. I gave Dexter a quick poke to the breast to back him off. While I held Fabio he kicked his feet and carried on like a little baby. Once he settled down I pet him for a while. When I released him he shook his feathers and started to preen.

I'm really at a loss as to which of these boys to keep. I was set to rehome Dex but now that Fabio is coming into the "raging hormone" stage, I don't know if he is going to work out or not. I read that Faverolles had a pretty good reputation for producing friendlier roosters but I'm think Fabio is not going to be on the friendly side of the spectrum. I don't care if he doesn't like me and DH, I just don't want any outright aggression.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

 

[Jessica Thompson]

Could you post I picture I really want to see them faveroles and Delaware’s are some of my favorites I think you should keep the nicer one but it’s all your choice

 

[DobieLover]

Could you post I picture I really want to see them faveroles and Delaware’s are some of my favorites I think you should keep the nicer one but it’s all your choice

I will take recent pictures when I get home. The ones I currently have are several weeks old.

I really don't know what to do. I wanted a rooster for flock protection. We are stupid with predators where we live. Dex actually comes running for the goodies that Fabio is calling the girls to. That's pathetic!

 

[WVduckchick]

Cage one alone for a day or so. Then do the other. See how each one works with the flock on their own. Roosters attitudes change greatly around other roosters, so even a nice one can get mean, and vice versa.

 

[New2Chicks97]

Personality wise is sounds like Dexter is the clear choice as he sounds far more willing to be amenable to humans. Maybe given the lack of another rooster he would step up and start being more of a protector & provider. Given that Fabio currently fills that role Dexter might not feel the need to?

I had a Buff Orpington that turned out to be a boy. And even though BO are supposed to be gentle & docile birds he was aggressive both with any human walking around and the girls. So they don’t always follow what the breed guides suggest they will be like.

 

[Shadrach]

Keep Fabio.
When you feed your chickens, give Fabio food out of your hand and let him drop it for the hens. Keep doing this. As far as Fabio is concerned the hens are his hens and not yours.
Let him feed his hens.
Stop picking him up. They don't like it.
You want the rooster that looks after your hens and if that means you have to step around him for a while then do it. Give him some confidence.

 

[CannedMonster]

He doesn’t sound too bad yet.
My cockerel, Angus, would showboat a bit like that.
He rushed DH a couple of times from behind but didn’t actually attack.
My biggest problem with Angus was when I still had his brother, Loki.
They were actually competing with each other.
Crowing competitions and they’d both breed the same hens all the time.
Like, literally one after the other.
The poor hens!
I knew I had to choose one of them because the flock was getting very stressed.
Loki was the more dominant one.
But he also would invade my space and seemed less respectful of me than Angus.
I chose Angus and he is turning out very well.
When he would drop a wing and side step towards me I’d chase him away.
It didn’t take but a couple of times of doing that and he stopped completely.
He’s been very good for several weeks now.
Yesterday I had to treat a wounded pullet and he was extremely concerned and came over but didn’t attack at all.
I thought that was a good test.
As a chick he was lowest on the cockerel pecking order out of four males.
He was also pretty skittish of me.

I don’t know if my experience helps you choose but I do know it can be hard.

I do agree that you should probably stop picking him up.
I don’t handle cockerels anymore as soon as I realize they’re cockerels. Except for health checks.

 

[DobieLover]

Just to clarify things, I only picked him up once.
When he challenged me this morning when I let the flock out of the run, I just kept walking at him until I saw him stop fluffing his feathers, stand up and walk quickly away the way I see him submit to Dex after a tiff.

 

[Shadrach]

Roosters can be a complete pain. I really like roosters though. I've had challenging roosters. Having a few senior roosters I find helps but it's not possible for many people to keep more than one. I've got 3 roosters and two cockerels at the moment. I've probably had more than 20 over the years.

 

[DobieLover]

Cage one alone for a day or so. Then do the other. See how each one works with the flock on their own. Roosters attitudes change greatly around other roosters, so even a nice one can get mean, and vice versa.

I'm going to try this next week when I'm off work and will be home to observe. I'll post the results after I evaluate their respective behavior.