Rooster Advice Please

[andham]

I have a newly laying flock. One of my six "Hens" is a rooster and is becoming aggressive. I have small kids. I am thinking of eating him and getting a point of lay pullet to replace him with.

The family is not thrilled with this idea and I do allow my chickens to free range on our ten acres in the evening. The rooster does a good job of keeping the girls together and getting them back in.

If I get rid of him and go with an all hen flock will they free range together as they do now?

Are there any negatives to a flock with no rooster?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The only real purpose a rooster fulfills is to continue the species. But with only a small flock you may not want to hatch your own replacement pullets. The second rooster function is to stand guard and raise the alarm, make a fuss, or create a distraction if he sees a predator. But hardly any rooster is able to fight off a predator and live to tell about it, so security is really your job.

However a rooster is just PART of keeping chickens and I would rather have a rooster or two around to not only rule the roost and keep the flock in line but to give me pleasure just watching him. My advise is to keep that bad boy until he is 12 months old or even a little older and see if he doesn't settle down. Remember the old saw, "Birds of a feather flock together." So will your hens with or without their feller. But in my opinion you lose a certain something.

 

[bobbi-j]

Get rid of the rooster. Small children and an aggressive rooster are a bad combination - especially since your birds free range. There is no reason your hens can't free range without a rooster. They will stay together, and since they know the coop is home, will put themselves in at night. The only negative would be if you were hoping to have fertile eggs for hatching. Your kids' safety is far more important.

 

[lazy gardener]

Ditto: Ditch the roo. If you want to hatch eggs in the future, you can get them from someone who has a roo and does not have the aggressive roo/ little kid combination.

 

[Llwydnos]

Aggressive roosters will not hesitate to spur small children in the face, and those weapons can get to two, three inches long easily.
Do NOT risk your beloved child's eyes!

If you want a rooster for breeding or just because they're beautiful to look at, look in the Free Rehoming section and there's tons of roosters in there this time of year. Get a cuddly poofball for your hens and family to enjoy. After all, you wouldn't put up with an aggressive dog, would you?

Best of luck.

 

[donrae]

I'm in the eat him section. We had a free-range rooster attack my youngest when he was a toddler, just ran clear across the yard to jump on his back and spur him. My husband kicked the bird off, held the boy under his arm, got the shotgun and shot the bird from the hip just like they do in the stupid action movies! We ate him for dinner, mean roosters taste better. Roosters and kids have no place together. My hens did just fine without a rooster, free ranging and I had no predator losses (but I also had a vigilant farm dog). We didn't get roosters again for a few years, until the children were better able to keep an eye out.

 

[dandrews1971]

How old is he?
Ive seen some roos go through a phase. SOmetimes you just have to show them who is boss. You can do this fairly easily. Works for a lot of roos.
Grab hold of him & pick him up, avoiding claws & any spurs. Totw him around while youre working, thus dominating him. Make sure the hens all see him & make sure he realizes they see him. Also, while youre holding him, push his head down, forcing him to submit to you as the 'higher' rooster. If he tries to raise his head, push it back down. Keep doing this several times til he gets the hint. Then set him on the ground, still holding on to him & push his ehad down again, in plain view of the hen. It forces him to submit to you. You may have to do this several times. It worked for one of our roos. Not so much for the other, he got put down after he jumped at my daughters face, knocking off her glasses & scratching her face.

 

[Folly's place]

Eat him! You just might convince him that YOU are dominant, but that won't transfer to anyone else, and most especially to children. If he's just having an adolescent moment, and doesn't try again, maybe it's okay, but I wouldn't give him another chance. The cockrels that get close to me and give me "that look" have grown into bad boys, in my experience. I want them to avoid me and get out of the way immediately when I approach. Lots of nice rooster out there, too. Mary

 

[Folly's place]

Eat him! You just might convince him that YOU are dominant, but that won't transfer to anyone else, and most especially to children. If he's just having an adolescent moment, and doesn't try again, maybe it's okay, but I wouldn't give him another chance. The cockrels that get close to me and give me "that look" have grown into bad boys, in my experience. I want them to avoid me and get out of the way immediately when I approach. Lots of nice rooster out there, too. Mary

 

[bobbi-j]

Eat him! You just might convince him that YOU are dominant, but that won't transfer to anyone else, and most especially to children. If he's just having an adolescent moment, and doesn't try again, maybe it's okay, but I wouldn't give him another chance. The cockrels that get close to me and give me "that look" have grown into bad boys, in my experience. I want them to avoid me and get out of the way immediately when I approach. Lots of nice rooster out there, too. Mary

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