A Chick And Her Garden

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What To Expect When You Keep A Rooster In Your Flock

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Deciding to keep a rooster in your flock can be a tough decision!  But if you’re planning on raising a dual purpose flock, or even better heritage breed chickens, they are a must!  (Unfortunately there’s no immaculate conception with chickens!)

**Debating on a dual purpose flock?  You can learn more about how we raise them here. 

But you may not being raising your chickens for meat and eggs like us, so there are a lot of things to consider when deciding to keep a rooster in your flock.

Keep a rooster in your flock of chickens can be like Russian Roulette! You never know exactly what you'll get! But here are some great facts to consider when deciding whether or not to keep a rooster with your flock of chickens! #raisingchickens #backyardchickens #homesteadchickens #chickens #roosters #sustainablechickens #achickandhergardenRoosters have a bad rep, and some of them have earned it! Here's what to expect when you add a rooster to your flock. #rooster #chickens #backyardchickens #homesteading #selfsufficiency #achickandhergarden

Share the love! Pin me for others!Is a rooster a good idea for your flock? Here are some pros and cons to help you decide!

We have always had at least one rooster in the flock and I think about the pros and cons quite a bit!  So let’s take a look at it that way.  Pros and cons.

So, do you like good news or bad news first??  Let’s start with the good news!

What are the pros when you keep a rooster in your flock?

Having a rooster does not mean that you’re doomed to look over your shoulder every time you walk out your door.  Not all roosters are determined to terrify and attack!

We’ve had a lot of roosters over the years, at the very least 20.  (Raising your own chickens from eggs, you unfortunately are not guaranteed all hens.)

And I can safely say that we’ve only ever had one that seemed to be out to get us.

Now, I’m sure our luck will run out soon enough, but I’m liking the odds of 20:1.

Roosters have jobs, and they’re good at them!  And giving them a job takes a job away from you!  (Who doesn’t like less work??)

Job number one is to fertilize your eggs!  You can’t hatch chicks if your eggs aren’t fertile.  And if you don’t have fertile eggs, that means you have the buy them!

(Have a broody hen?  Check out what it’s like letting a broody hen brood!)

Job number two is to protect your flock!  You can’t imagine how much time this saves you and how great they are at doing their job.

Living in a rural area we have a lot of predators.  So, when we first got our chickens we were a bit obsessive about watching over them.

But, after watching how well our rooster did  alerting the flock of danger, we realized he was better than we were!  He noticed things that we never would have noticed and through different sounds he was able to warn them and everyone ran for cover.

They add a new channel to your chicken TV.  Yep, chicken TV.

When you get chickens you’ll realize that you could just spend hours watching them!  They have amazing personalities and your rooster will add a new dimension to your entertainment.

So there are a few pros for you, and they are worth it for us.  But, will the cons change your mind?

Related Posts:

Momma Knows Best ~ Letting a Broody Hen Brood

How to Make Money on the Homestead

10 Tips For Cutting Chicken Costs

How To Keep Your Chickens Warm In The Winter

What Are Heritage Breed Chickens

How We Have Eggs All Winter Long

Rogue Chickens ~ How To Get Chickens To Lay In The Nesting Boxes

How To Build A Brooder House, And Why You Need One

Turn Your Passion Into a Career

What are the cons when you keep a rooster in your flock?

As I mentioned before, you might not be doomed to a crazy, battle prone rooster.  But, you might be…

Our first rooster was nuts.  He and I seemed to have an agreement, but every time my husband walked by there ended up being a 5 to 10 minute battle between the two of them.

And Lord forbid one of the dogs turn their back!  Poor Layla would run off and hide, and Maggie would grab him by the leg and throw him around with me screaming at the two of them and trying to break them apart!

I can hear the neighbors comments in my head, right now!  Needless to say we said goodbye to him when he went after a child.  (Check out how to butcher bad roosters here.)

Their crow is LOUD!  And it’s not just in the morning.  They crow all day long!

And if you make the mistake of letting them out at 7, because you’ve been up since 5 so everyone should be up (shouldn’t they??), and your neighbor has their window open I promise you’ll hear about it.

Watching them mate isn’t so bad when they’ve grown up a bit and have developed their swagger.  But young roosters have none and they will make you want to cry for your hens!

Now imagine having four or five of them all come of age at the same time and decide they each have a crush on the same girl!

This is when you know it’s time for freezer camp.  And I promise even vegetarians have no problem saying goodbye, just ask my friend Kara!

After frequent mating, your hens may develop bald patches on their backs.  I promise they’re not sick!

It will grow back and you can help protect them with a chicken saddle!

It’s a tough call but we wouldn’t change our minds.  Do you think you’re ready for a rooster?? Tell me in the comments!

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  • https://www.facebook.com/app_scoped_user_id/1628259277213988/

    Hahaha… ? I started with five, 5, young roosters. Now one is left and he is waiting for the hens to be ready for mating.

    • http://achickandhergarden.com

      When they’re older you don’t even notice the mating, but those young ones destroy the peace and tranquility of your home don’t they?!

  • I have two roosters. Spike is showy and will talk to me and bring me gifts and watch me through the glass door. My other though…Esteban (FKA Esther) is a hen grabber and makes my girls cry. Spike will protect them and then Esteban will peck Spike. I may need to rename him Stew.

  • https://www.facebook.com/app_scoped_user_id/2010457029183406/

    We have 4 roosters.. 3 of them are Rhode Island Reds and the other is an Ameraucana (Cookie my favorite). They never try to attack us or our dogs. The one red with perfect feathers and comb is the head honcho and is always outside with most of the hens. The other 2 stay in the coop.. We’re going to keep the one and get rid of the other 2. Then most definitely going to keep Cookie.. But we have to separate the Ameraucanas from the Reds because even the hens go after them ? (my babies). We have 37 Reds and 9 Ameraucanas ?

  • My daughter brought me a hen and 4 chicks for mother’s day. 3 of them turned out to be roosters. They are all very spoiled with melon rinds n other goodies. It’s my first time doing this.we are building a coop as it’s getting crowded in the little store bought coop. The roosters get at each other a little but not noticed any major upsets. The main hen gives us a egg a day. New hen is not laying yet. They all seem ok so far but are very entertaining. If you don’t open the door early enough in morning you are scolded by the mama hen.

  • I bought 15 chicks, all pullets, until one morning the white one crowed. I was in a panic. I couldn’t cull him. We are a no-kill rescue farm. I ran to the nearest neighbor to tell them. If they had objected, I would have gotten rid of him, but they didn’t. I consulted my feed store where I bought them. They said he would earn his keep. As he grew, I watched him train the girls to run for cover if he saw danger. I watched him announce a treat of food and pronounce it safe to eat. I watched as all the hens ran away from a dog but the rooster hung back to distract the dog. It only cost him a few tail feathers. He is not my friendliest chicken but he respects me and doesn’t attack. Not true for anyone else that tries to come near his ladies. Except my sheepdog.

    • https://instagram.com/theofficial_tiffini.ellen

      I bought 7 pullets and now have 1 rooster and 6 hens!

  • https://www.facebook.com/app_scoped_user_id/10214530970694294/

    After 5 years of backyard chicken keeping, we have our first rooster. We ordered 6 EXPENSIVE Svart Hona Eggs from across the country. Unfortunately, the post office lost them for 2 day and only 1 hatched. It was obvious very early on he was a little roo BUT my son in law fell in LOVE with little “Solo”. He is – so far – a very friendly and good mannered rooster. He has been handled every day since he hatched and also has become very familiar and very attached to his “fur brother”, our 1 year old pit bull Atlas. He is 6 months old now and has been integrated into the main flock along with 4 young Americana and 2 buff orphington hens we bought as chicks as soon as we realized he would be the only one hatched from his clutch. Our oldest ladies give him no respect at all and he is a small rooster so he takes their abuse, especially our “queen bee”, a 4 year old light Brahma named Ethel who is more than twice his size. So far his crow isn’t TOO loud (except the other night when he decided 2AM was a good time to start!) and our neighbors don’t mind him…..so far!

  • I never knew chickens were so interesting until we got a rooster and a couple older hens from a lady who was getting rid of some unproductive stock. The rooster is a delightful gentleman. He looks after his ladies well and is a VERY good parent to the chicks..now poults and whatever you call teenage roosters. I had let our black hen brood on a dozen eggs this spring. She hatched ten but we lost 4 to a mama rat before we knew what was happening…(pen is now rat proof). We found her nest of little babies and poor husband had to kill them, I was too squeamish. We then fed those little rats to the flock. You’ve never seen such chicken happiness.. Karma is a bitch.
    Eventually Miss Broody decided she was done with those chicks and Lucille took over the mothering … She’s the old hen with red feathers. We’ve 4 little roosters and 2 poults. One of the little roosters seems to be the boss and breaks up any sparring. He never instigates a squabble and we will keep him…a gentleman like his papa. Sorry to ramble on but I don’t get to share my chicken love with people…their eyes glaze over when I start!!

  • https://instagram.com/theofficial_tiffini.ellen

    I love my Rooster! My flock is coming of age to lay and get laid ! haha I have 1 rooster and 6 hens, he has his choice between the ladies and he chooses them all, all day everyday! At the moment I cuss him out for chasing after the hens as they run for their lives trying not to get mounted, I’m hoping they find their footing once their hormones aren’t so raging! I didn’t purposely get a rooster though as I’m only interested in eggs. He’s beautiful though, he has charged at my son which is a big NO NO but it’s a learning experience for all of us. I can only imagine what my neighbors say about living next to a rooster now! Once egg production is up, I will probably send them eggs as a peace offering if they last until that time! haha

    • https://plus.google.com/112402044725872765545

      Get a few more hens please 6 is not enough

  • https://www.facebook.com/app_scoped_user_id/10210523166103009/

    I can’t wait to have roosters again- or chickens for that matter. I live in a area where ALL roosters are against the law in the COUNTY. After that infringement, they banned chickens from my street. Yep, street. The street behind us can have them. Insane.

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