Why have a rooster?

[CAjerseychick]

You have roosters so you can hatch out chicks yearly and repopulate your laying hens naturally. The mortality rate ( espec for newbies-- like we were) is high-- out of 18 eggs 5 hatched live chicks (6 were my fault- I put them aside and the dog ate them--19 days gestated unfortuantly) 3 made it to laying and our new dog killed one last month... so its lucky they were free....
Also our Roo provided flock cohesiveness good job keeping his hens herded together and (between him and the occasionally chicken killing dogs) no predator losses in 2 years of free ranging...
and he didnt crow that early-- the occasional 5 am but mostly 6am and later....
We are getting 2 free roos on Sat and for the first time will be having a mixed flock-- the hens are Jersey giants (roos are farmers market mystery chicks grown into roos-- a solid white and solid brown one)....

 

[mekat49]

I have a young flock of pullets, I have 16, 2 each of different breeds, except I have 4 RIR. Most have come from show stock I hand picked.

I have an order in with a hatchery for more pairs of different breeds of purebred pullets for March.

I have been offered my choice of a free rooster, my choice of 2 RIRs or a HUGE beautiful white roo I think a white columbian rock. (need to check for sure on breed) but he is breathtaking and HUGE, hubby says , get a rooster!!
The owners of the roos, have had NO preditor problems and I have been plagued with coyote problems, I want my girls to free range.
Since the coyotes got 3 of my first freebie hens while free ranging I have kept the rest locked up in the barn at night and out in fenced yard by day, I keep a close eye on them.
Maybe a guardian dog is a better idea??

I am not sure I want mixed breed babies if some of the hens do go broody and set on eggs! The only other solution is building more pens for the roo and hens of the same breed, I'm sure my hubby wants another project for my chickens...LOL
opinions please, thank you

 

[Utard]

I think my short term plans for when I get to my new place will be a large coop with small fenced in area.

I am going to do a Woods open vent type of coop. Most likely 8'x 10' or 12'. This should be enough for 40-50 birds? At the most. With this coop if needed it should have enough room if they HAD to I could keep them in it all day long. The coop will be raised so in the summer they can hide underneath it or hide from hawks.

Then I will have a about an area 100'x100' (could be as big as an acre) that is fenced in. And once a week for a day I will let them roam out of that area on the 30 acre area.

Once I get the new area finished up I will work on getting new birds? I think I will do 10 this spring. All the same breed. And then next spring 10 more but all a different breed and so on. That way it will be easy to keep track of how old the birds are and when I should be culling them.

 

[tadaen sylverma]

Quote:
As far as incubating and such I have come to believe it is overkill. A good friend of mine who is quite the chicken farmer said he did that once. And it worked out but was to much work. He lets nature take its course now. Is what I plan on doing. Separating 2 hens and a rooster and just letting them do whatever it is they do. Everyone has an opinion though I have no doubt. I don't claim this as gospel simply what I've been told, and it makes sense to me. Your weather may not permit this, I don't know.