Chicken Coop Cam
Goat Stall Cam
Rooster 38 at 18 Weeks
The Buckeye roosters are driving us crazy with their crowing and fighting (they’re now 24 weeks old), so we need to select two roosters to keep. And, it’s important to pick the best two, because they’ll be the foundation for the flock.
I get a lot of questions about why anyone would want roosters. The first question is often, do you need roosters for eggs? And no, roosters aren’t necessary for eggs; but they are necessary for fertile eggs. That leads to one reason for keeping roosters; in our case, we’d like the hens to go “broody” and hatch some of their own fertile eggs thereby naturally propagating the flock.
Another reason for keeping roosters is that they protect their flock. They’ll try to find food for the hens, watch for any signs of danger or predators, and sound an alarm if they spot anything threatening. Upon hearing the alarm, the hens run for cover, while the rooster will stay to do battle. They’ll sacrifice themselves to protect the hens, and ensure survival of their progeny. Our Buckeyes will be free ranging on a couple of acres, so having some roosters looking out for the hens is a good thing.
For the Buckeyes, we could distinguish the roosters from the hens by about 8 weeks, but their behaviors didn’t seem much different. However, between 20 and 24 weeks, they started crowing. Roosters crow very early in the morning, randomly (as far as we can tell) throughout the day, and regularly seem to participate in crowing duels. You shouldn’t keep roosters if you can’t have crowing – we like a little crowing, but with 13 roosters, we have too much crowing going on.
When buying day-old chicks or eggs to hatch, odds are that half of the birds will be roosters. However, one rooster is sufficient for 10 – 15 hens, so there are invariably extra roosters. In our case, we have 19 hens, so we’ll keep two roosters. That means that 11 need new homes or are going into the freezer.
Since the Buckeye’s are a dual purpose breed, both meat and eggs are important. But, roosters can’t be evaluated for eggs, so we’re left with selecting birds that are big (think meaty) and that also conform to the breed standard. For our first selection round, we weighed the birds and picked the heaviest five that also met the breed standard (any birds that had any defects according to the standard were excluded). Those five went into the coop with the mature hens and Buckeye pullets.
Rooster 41 at 18 Weeks
For the next round, we evaluated the heart girth, skull width, shank thickness, and overall body appearance looking for the widest girth, thickest shanks, widest skull, and a “brick” looking type body appearance. We also took a look at the birds coloring and comb, trying to select for the rich mahogany color without black except in the primaries, secondary’s, and tail.
Initially, we picked numbers 41 and 38 as the winners; and tried to move the 3 losing birds back to the barn with the other roosters. Well, when roosters grow up together they establish their pecking order and there’s a lot of posturing, but not fighting. However, if you introduce a new rooster, all the others will fight with it. We found the three that we tried to return from the coop were already considered intruders, and they were taking a beating. So, we put them back in the coop – they may as well enjoy what time they have left.
We’ll probably vacillate over whether 41 and 38 are the best birds, but I’m certainly looking forward to a little more peace and quiet!
There is a big Rooster at the SPCA, I have a couple of dog homes set up with hay inside. We have acreage, if I brought this Rooster home would it use a dog house or would I need to fence it in? We have deer fencing around our property, would the Rooster try and escape? Is a lone rooster a good thing or will it die of loneliness? I plan on buying some ducks and possibly chickens next spring.
Darren, chickens are flock creatures, and a rooster really needs the companionship of hens for him to be happy. He thinks his job is too protect the hens and ensure his progeny survives. A rooster by himself will likely feel very lonely. So, I’d recommend holding off on getting a rooster until you have hens too.
Why are my roosters chasing my children and I around when they free roam?
Betsy,
Roosters think it’s their job to be “head” chicken and protect “their” hens – and that generally means protecting them from other roosters and humans too.
There are some roosters that are naturally friendly towards humans (and these are the first to consider keeping), but more are of the protective type and will try to chase or attack anyone approaching their hens.
When one that we want to keep chases or attacks me, I give him the benefit of the doubt the first time, but if it happens again, we (the rooster and I) have a “discussion” about who’s really “head” chicken. In the discussion, I will stand up to the rooster and then continually advance, pushing him back with my feet (not kicking him but just keep pushing him back), until the rooster concedes, turns tail, and runs off. At this point, I’ve established myself as “head” chicken. It’s all in the pecking order for chickens!
So, I would recommend you try a similar tactic, just be firm with the rooster and let him know that you’re boss. This can be difficult for children, but it sometimes helps if they know the rooster isn’t really trying to hurt them, just trying to protect “his” hens.
Usually the roosters that will chase or attack never become really friendly roosters, so I always so love it when we raise one that truly is friendly!
Lesa,
Love you blog and ALL the info you have written about keeping chickens and the Buckeye! I’ve been keeping Buckeye’s for nearly a decade and they are excellent fowl for small backyard flocks.
Just wanted to add….roosters and cockerels can be selected for egg laying by using the Walter Hogan method. Basically it boild dow to the curvature of their pelvic bones and you can feel these near the birds vent. Straight pelvic bones are ideal but you will seldom find Buckeye’s that are not curved inward so select the males with the least curvature (same with hen selection). Hens that are excellent layers produce male offspring that carry good layer genetics. The same is true for poor egg layers, their male offspring tend to produce females that are poor layers as well.
Keep up the great work! Jeff in Ohio
Jeff, thanks so much for the info on selecting for egg-laying, I didn’t know and every bit of info helps in keeping the best traits in these wonderful Buckeyes! And, so glad someone else is enjoying the chicken pot-pie.
We have a rooster who moved in – someone probably dropped him on the side of the road, since we have a fairly large farm – and after a month and a half which he survived all by himself, with some stray dog protection from our horses, we’ve decided to keep him. A friend says he’s a barred rock rooster, I wouldn’t know from Adam. What is the best way to introduce hens to him? We’re considering starting a SMALL flock, have a great location for a small coop in amongst the lilac trees. Any advice would be much appreciated!
I actually did a post on introducing birds, it’s here: http://www.betterhensandgardens.com/2010/01/18/introducing-new-chickens/
Introducing hens to a rooster should go pretty easily.
Do you “process” your own roosters? I have 4 that are about 5 or 6 months old and I wondered if it was too late for the meat to be any good?
BTW, I love your site – very informative!
Yes, we “process” our own roosters, and 5 or 6 months old is not too old. In the old days, before grocery stores were pervasive, the extra roosters were routinely “processed” – usually between 6 and 9 months of age. It wasn’t considered that they had enough meat or flavor until they were that old. However, when cooking them, they need to be cooked at a lower temperature because they have developed more muscle than the supermarket birds.
BTW Laura, your question inspired the post on flavorful heritage birds/roosters. Thanks!
I do like the look of 41. Good luck with your breeding.
Thanks, we like his look too – anxious to see how he turns out.
I’m with Doris!
I have 10 roos in my coop, but I’m keeping 2. The rest may reside on “death row” until they fatten up. The roos I’m keeping are an americauna and a plymoth rocks who is massive. I figure any chicks I get will lay pretty eggs and/or be meaty. The P. rocks name is Mr. Big.
Pretty eggs and meaty makes sense to me on the two you’re keeping. The roos that aren’t keepers are supposed to be a lot tastier than grocery store birds – I’m looking forward to finding out.
Lesa,
I will never have roosters, chickens, or goats, but I enjoy reading your blogs. I think you should write a book. I found your “Keeping Roosters” blog both interesting and humorous! Good job.
A book??? What would I write a book about