Bad Rooster!

[Maxi'sMinis]

I have 2 roosters, one Maran and a Brahma. I like having the Roos to protect my day time free range chickens but the Maran is getting aggressive towards me, the dogs and cats. He has tried to spur me. Also both Roos are breeding a couple of the hens to the point they are pulling out feathers. The Brahma stays away from us and just minds his hens. I only have 5 hens and the roosters are really mating them a lot these days.

Have any of you used the saddle blankets for the hens? I made one from fleece that I saw a design for. How have they worked for you?

So would you get rid of the Maran Roo? I have had them for a year now and they have been manageable but now it seems to be taking a turn for the worse. I cant kill him and I know if I got rid of him he would probably end up in a pot.

He is a beautiful Rooster.

 

[Crabby-Chicken]

Mary,,, I would put an ad in the paper. Sometimes people are just looking for a certain rooster to breed to their purebred hens. We had luck with that when we bought some straight run silkies and wanted to give away our black rooster. I have 5 or 6 calls for him. And all I did was to say pet, not eating. Who knows what happens after they leave, but that is about all you can do. Good Luck!

 

[phoebeq]

I had the same problem with some of my hens last summer. I actually had one that was completely bald on her back (still known as baldy, even though all of her feathers grew back, lol). At the time, I had 9 cochin hens and 5 cochin roosters

. I just hadn't had the time to find homes. I had a certain three roosters that would gang up on a hen. One would mount then another would mount that rooster, then the third would get on too. I ended up giving away 3 of those roosters THAT day. I couldn't risk them hurting my girls. After that, I added some new pullets (once they were old enough) to the flock. Now I have about 20 hens and 2 roosters. Everyone gets along great

I would honestly suggest only one roo for 5 hens. I would think he could handle that flock pretty well. Especially a Brahma...it isn't like he is a small rooster, so he should be able to protect them fairly well, I would think.

Good luck!

 

[jayne]

I think the general rule of thumb for a home flock is one rooster for 10 hens. That way they don't get too beat up with mating, but there's not too many hens for the rooster to keep an eye on and protect.

I don't think your maran rooster will end up in a stew pot right away. Brown eggs, and the browner the better, are very much in demand and the maran's eggs are the darkest. He would probably pass some nice dark brown genetics down if mated to regular brown egg layers. I ended up with a maran roo that was supposed to be a hen, so I put an add on Craig's List and had about 5 people who really wanted him. I think I even got $20 for him. No one is planning on eating a young rooster they paid $20 for. Now if he continues to be a big butt head, that might over-ride any other qualities he might have.

Sounds like you have a lovely flock, other than having one too many roosters. I have 15 in my flock, with just one tiny little banty rooster. The hens are: two australorps, 4 barred plymouth rocks, one leghorn, one banty silver sebright, and 6 young pullets not yet laying: 4 buff orpingtons and two rhode island whites. I like my flock this size, but it does vary from about 12 to 17, depending on losing some and adding some occasionally. I do not let any of my hens raise chicks because the eggs are not fertile (the rooster is too small to make the connection) and I wouldn't want that cross anyway. I prefer buying pullets past the baby stage.

Jayne

 

[Sterling]

I just typed a whole paragraph plus on this subject and when I hit reply it lost it all. Quickly to reiterate again....I mentioned clipping your roo's spurs. You can do it just like a dog's nail and then file it dull. This will help with your hen's backs. Also this time of year is the start of breeding season. You will see personality changes in your roosters...from the most docile getting aggressive etc.... Watch them and remove them. I've had to remove aggressive, dominant downright mean roosters AND hens and egg eaters as well. This is all a part of chicken keeping. I usually keep 5 hens to a roo because I breed I like to make sure my hen's eggs are fertilized. Good luck with yours this season! I will be hatching out Salmon Faverolles.....I'm excited because this year that I've had them I've really enjoyed their docile nature.

 

[Maxi'sMinis]

So has anyone tried the saddle blanket for the poor featherless backs? I have one dedicated layer that has lost her feathers under her wings. I was thinking about putting a jacket on her to cover her nakedness and to protect her from the Roo. Anyone tried this with success?

 

[Katiean]

The last rooster we had was when Jessica was about 4 years old. She is now 13. He was a Bardrock and his name was pepper. Well, when pepper was about 6 months old he spured Jessie. She was so upset she wanted to take him to the pound. Which after making sure that is what she really wanted we took him down. As I went around the back of the car, I opened the back door and she said to Pepper "Haa, Now you are at chicken jail. You won't do that again will you?" I almost laughed. She left him there and never looked back.