Which rooster should i keep

That's important to me too! Crowing is a big enough factor I almost should call it a category of its own. Some roosters crow so much more than others. From what I've noticed in my flock, the very first roosters from any hatch to start crowing, usually grow up to be ones that also crow most often as adults. Again - this is purely anecdotal, just what I feel I've noticed in my own flock.

While I love the sound of a rooster crowing, I don't love it to be an incessant soundtrack to the day. So for my own happiness, and that of the neighbors, I choose roosters that crow less frequently.

Because I raise a landrace Icelandic chickens - rather than a breed, I don't have a set "breed standard" that I'm shooting for. However, if I were raising a pure breed chicken with a standard recognized by the American Poultry Association, this would be the second most important criteria that I'd select for. These are the kind of things I'd be looking for:.

Weight - I'd also weigh them, and make sure to choose those that for their age are correct for the standard. Conformation - is the shape of the rooster correct, as well as the way he holds himself? Character traits linked to the breed - if there are any behaviors associated with the breed, does he display these?

Now, while I might not be looking to win any ribbons for adhering a breed standard, I do have some personal preferences when it comes to appearance, and you might also. For my flock I tend to favor:. Rose or Pea Combs - these are less prone to frostbite in our cold Maine winters. Color - I like a colorful flock, so I choose roosters likely to sire a good variety of colors in their offspring. Weight - I like roosters with a slightly larger build, since I raise extra cockerels for meat, and this is a trait I want to encourage in my dual-purpose flock.

When keeping a self-perpetuating flock, I like to bring in new bloodlines every several generations, to help maintain genetic strength within the flock. It's possible for a closed flock to lose fertility over time, and for resistance to disease to become weakened. Negative traits like fray feathering can also be more likely to pop up when maintaining a closed flock and never introducing new genetics.

We keep two roosters at all times, and sometimes three. Until he gets too old to do his job, our Ragnar will always be our primary rooster. So with an eye to maximizing genetic diversity, I try to make sure that our secondary rooster s are from a different bloodline, or at least sired by rooster that wasn't closely related to Ragnar. When in doubt, I trust my girls. If you spend any amount of time in the chicken yard, you'll very quickly see which young fella the girls favor.

When I see established hens wanting to be part of a young cockerel's posse - that tends to be a good sign. You want a rooster that the girls trust and follow. My girls have great instincts, and many times cockerels they liked but that I'd not put much stock in, have turned out to be very fine roosters and good protectors. This last year, I let a few extra roosters winter out in the flock.

The one the girls loved but had been on my freezer list! The one I'd originally thought was going to be great turned out to be a total pansy who's afraid of his own shadow. Sometimes, especially when you're a farming family with young kids - young cockerels get named. You find them perching on your daughter's head, getting rides in the wagon, and sitting on your shovel handle while you garden. Well, that's a little window into the inner workings of my decision-making process, when selecting a new rooster to add to our flock.

If you have any other criteria you keep in mind when choosing which roosters to keep, I'd sure love to hear your tips. I hope this helps as you make your own decisions! I plan to keep 1 of the 2 cockerels. So my question is this: which two or three deciding characteristics would be prioritized at the top of your list in the event that no one rooster was the perfect candidate?

But choosing the right rooster remains difficult. We started with 34 chicks, hatched in 2 batches, one month apart: 20 hens, 14 cockerels.

All from the same local Swedish landrace Hedemora. Now we have to choose the right rooster among the 3 remaining older ones. Getting rid of the first 5 cockerels was no big questioning. They were all aggressive and crowing a lot. It became sooo much quieter in the run after the last 'cleaning'. One of the last one to go was Posh, who once was high on our favorite list he even got a name colorful, independent, keen to explore his environment, effective forager, he seemed to mind his own business, not too interested into starting a fight, and he was the only one with slightly feathered legs.

But then suddenly he became quite aggressive toward specific hens and cockerels, never leaving them in peace so he too went down to the freezer. The youngster would grow up, start crowing and challenge the authority of their older siblings.

So, my first question is: is it meant to be so that once the dominant roosters are gone another rooster, who first seemed to be kind and gentle, takes over and become a bully? The throne is free to whoever wants to take the lead. And, of course, if the throne is freed every now and then, new frictions occur and a new leader seize the chance.

That much I can understand. But in my world "take the lead" does not rhyme with "be a bully". But why chase restlessly the weakest hens who have long understood and accepted that they are in the lowest ranking order? Pursuing them merciless while they are desperately fleeing to safety, only satisfied when he finally got a good grip on them and pinned them to the ground.

Chickens are very social creatures and naturally develop a social hierarchy within their flocks. It is therefore very important to allow new birds time to adjust and find their place within the flock. Introducing new birds is best done in pairs and birds should be of a similar age and size to your other hens to prevent the new birds from being isolated or bullied by the flock.

New birds should be housed initially in a separate fenced off area for several days to allow them to meet and socialise with the flock while still being kept safe. After several days, if birds appear to be socialising well together then they can be provided supervised time together like during the day when they are free ranging in the garden.

After several weeks and once you are confident that the flock is socialising well, then your new birds can start being housed unsupervised with the rest of your flock. Considerations for keeping a rooster If you are interested in having a rooster with your hens, there are several things you need to consider. How should I keep and care for my backyard hens? Polish roosters will do their best to protect their flock but they are not known for aggression or dominance. The roosters will not tolerate anyone messing around with their hens.

If you have raised them from chicks they can be handled quite easily. You can expect Rhode Island Red roosters to keep their flock close and to constantly be on alert for anything unusual. They will sound the alarm and make sure the flock is safely away from danger. They will even put up a fight if necessary to save the flock. The Brahma rooster is a gentle giant of a bird. Despite their size they are gentle and very attentive to their hens. They are so gentle and docile that they can actually be picked on by other birds so keep an eye open if you have some assertive breeds — this rooster is best in a non-mixed flock.

Brahmas are a little slow to mature but these beautiful chickens are well worth the wait. Once they have bonded with you they will become very relaxed in your company. He likes to keep a tight rein on his hens and will make sure they are all near him for protection.

He will find tidbits for them, escort them around the yard and be a very attentive little fellow. These roosters will have no concern for their own safety.

My rooster George has taken off after dogs, cats and standard roosters that have come too close to his flock! Just remember that during the breeding season they can become a little protective of their girls.

Things will settle down once the breeding season has finished. This is nothing that cannot be dealt with using common sense. They can become aggressive when they are startled but on the whole they are gentle boys — the only exception to this is during the mating season but this is to be expected of any rooster. Lots of backyard chicken keepers love this hardworking and popular bird.

They are very well suited to homestead or farming life. Plymouth Rock roosters are dedicated to their flock and are diligent in their attention to the hens. They will escort their girls around the yard keeping an ever watchful eye for trouble. They have a good reputation for being calm and dependable and are frequently the rooster of choice for backyard flocks.

While the Rhode Island roosters have a bit of a reputation for aggression, the New Hampshire boys do not. They are great flock masters and will care for their ladies. As an added bonus this breed is friendly and calm towards their humans too. Introducing your rooster is to your hens correctly is very important if you want your hens to accept him.

Now have a Bantum rooster who takes care of the girls and is not aggressive toward humans. He is very aggressive, and, while he does his job, he really does his job far too well. We seem to usually have about two roosters in our flock, though it sounds like we may have a third coming from our chicks, and he is always on top. One of our other roosters is a purebred Ameraucana, the true breed, not the easter egger, and he is such a sweetheart. He comes up to me and begs me for food, and almost seems afraid of his hens.

The third rooster, if he is in fact a boy, is a Barred Rock Ameraucana or a Barred Rock Easter Egger cross we had both types of hens when the eggs were laid and he was born with a Barred Rock body, but a brown forehead. Personally,I like having at least one rooster around, partially from the look, and partially from the protection. We had a Buff Orpington Rooster, three actually, and two were quite aggressive.

I have a blue silkie rooster and a lavender pekin, both are kept separate with their own flock of hens. Pekin is friendly. Silkie is ok but overprotective and very noisy. Anyway my pekin hen hatched two beautiful chicks yesterday and was still in the same run as the rooster, checking upon them last night noticed the rooster had badly hurt one chick. And it was bleeding from his head.

Removed mum and chicks to a safe place and he seems to be fine. I bought 8 hens 4 years ago and one was a rooster. We kept him and i was excited to have a rooster. Aparently Rhode island reds are aggressive, I have plenty of scars on my legs.

All but the rooster were taken by coyotes…even the coyote knows to stay away from him. We just bought more hens and they are know 3 months old and different breeds. Am I going to have bloody rooster fights? Should I get rid of the rhode island red? What do I do? LaRetta—We have too many roosters this year too! How to deal with it depends on your facilities.

Then you can take a rooster to visit the hens when you want fertile eggs. Personally we have two coops with enough winter space for 10 chickens each, so we keep one roo and 9 hens in each one. Clipping one wing will usually prevent this if your fence is high enough. As far as your situation, first make sure the crowing one really is a male.

Sometimes hens will also make crowing sounds. Usually a 3-month-old cockerel will have redder, larger comb and wattle and longer tail feathers. They often also stand taller and look leggier. If you can keep only one roo, you could choose whether you want a RIR or a Sussex. Or, consider that the RIR roo is already 4 years old and you might want to replace him with the young Sussex. If you have time to handle the young roo often, he may or may not end up less aggressive than the RIR. Be ready to cull one rooster at any time if you witness a bad fight or see injuries.

In any case, if you do not want to use the extra one for meat the RIR would be a stewing bird at this age , there may be someone in your community who would like a roo for their flock! Over a month ago I believe someone abandoned a rooster on the unoccupied lot next to my home there are no other residential homes on my block. After a couple of days of unsuccessfully attempts to capture the rooster I was finally able to have it follow me onto my property this morning with some chicken feed.

Never having a rooster or hens before I was looking for information on what I should provide it for shelter live in South Texas and amount of food. Thank you. Sounds like you have a new friend! Chances are he did all right hiding out in bushes or other vegetation on the vacant lot. Most chickens like to roost on something off the ground at night, and that can be a tree branch or a piece of lumber attached across the structure. As for food, I believe one rooster would probably eat around 6 oz.

I can recommend two blogs to visit for lots of information about raising chickens: The Chicken Chick and Fresh Eggs Daily. Enjoy your roo! I have 3 silkie hens and 2 rooster hatched from eggs. They are generally a happy family and only on rare occasions do the roosters have a go at each other. The are now 16 months old. One rooster can be over protective and flies at anyone. I have 3 cats and a couple of visiting cats and they chickens and poultry all get on fine. My only concern is the lack of hens to roosters.

Any views? They are pets and well cared for. If they are living peacefully, most likely the two roos have worked out their hierarchy.