photo #896044

A post from a year ago today.Someone asked me how my hens were doing if I have all those roosters, so I figured more people may be wondering as well.There are some things that people do not understand about roosters I will explain from my own experiences with them. It may not be the same as other's experience but is how things go with me.Long Spurs: I do not clip my roosters' spurs. You may think then they will rip open the hens' backs. No, that is not the case. Short spurs dig into the hen and if the rooster is not gentle or if the hen is not submissive or both, the hen will lose feathers or get hurt. The spurs helps the rooster to balance properly when mating. Long spurs curl up. They give a rooster a good grip on the girls, but cannot dig into them even if the rooster is rough or the hen is not submissive.A lot of rooster damage happens because his people take away his authority and disrespect him in front of his hens. If you do this the hens will not respect or submit to the rooster.The Amount of Roosters: Believe it or not 5 to 10 roosters can do more damage to hens than 30 or more. Roosters have a complex system. The head rooster gets the girls and the girls pick the head rooster. A lot of things make a good mate: color, pattern, how strong the rooster is, the size of his comb, the size of his tail feathers, how well his people treat him, how good he makes a nest, how good he gets food. But if a hen has the choice, she will pick a big, strong male with big curled spurs.I have seen a rooster lose his headship just by breaking one of his long spurs. If the girls do not respect and obey their rooster they may struggle when mating and they may wander off and get killed.But if there are lots of boys to choose from the boys must stay on their toes to get to mate. When there are less boys and only so many girls in a small coop with a small run there will most likely be fights. But even in that situation roosters can be trained.I have roosters with only 1 hen to their name but they treat that hen like a queen. Some have 5 hens and other have 10 hens. Some roosters have 20 to their names and other roosters have none. Some roosters will share girls, but the girls are the ones that choose. I had 1 little bantam rooster who worked 3 months to win 1 little hen's heart. Once he did he was happy and happy with just her. I see this more in bantams.Big Coops: I have big coops more like barns and my chickens free range. That means the boy all run off in the morning with their girls to their spots and the roosters usually leave each other alone. At the end of the day of free ranging, when they all come home, it is to eat and go to sleep. They all go to their roosters and repeat every day. Each coop has one or more head roosters. The head rooster has his underlings. Some he will trust with his girls. Some he will only trust with border guard duty.The Head Rooster will run about checking on everything throughout the day. He will check on the other roosters with their hens and make sure all is going well and will break up disagreements between rooster and rooster, hens and roosters, hens and hens. He deals with all disputes. That is why you do not want to scold him in his tasks, because it is his authority that makes things run smoothly with the rest of the flocks. You do not want to undermine that authority. The Head Rooster can also mate with any of the girls, whether they are his or not.Lower Roosters, Underlings, Under-Roosters: All the lower roosters respect and obey their head rooster but also some will sneak some romancing with one of his hens if he can. I have seen a head rooster come and look over the under-rooster watching a group of 5 of the head roosters hens and after he has made sure all is well he go to look at another under-rooster with 5 of his girls. Sometimes, as soon as he is gone the under-rooster sneaks off with one of the head rooster's hens and they have a quickie. If she was for it, all is good, if not she makes a fuss, the head rooster runs back and kicks the under-rooster off to let him know who is the boss. Sometimes another hen or rooster sees the under-rooster's behavior and tells, and again the head rooster comes a running back to deal with him.Back to the Big Buildings:I keep my chickens in big buildings, other than moms' with their chicks in Spring and Summer. With big spaces roosters can live together in harmony.I also have my chickens in more than one coop. For the most part all runs smoothly. All roosters do their parts. It is fun to watch them go about their lives with their little romances and dramas. I could write a book just of cute little romances.Okay, Let's Talk Cockerels:Cockerels are hormone driven sex machines that are rarely in control. They will mate without reason or permission and can case damage, especially as the spurs have not grown big yet. No hen in her right mind takes a Cockerel as her mate and protector if she has a choice. Most people get rid of these roosters when he is in mad puberty. But if he has big, older males with him he is calm and knows his place. Old Roosters: Once a rooster is about 4 or 5 years old, hens usually go for a young rooster or 2 or so. The old guy retires and mostly relaxes in the coop. There are exceptions to this and I have some roosters 6 and 7 that keep their girls and headship. But for the most part the hens go for the most fit male with some good experience under him.Sometimes when I add a new rooster he pays his homage to the head or homage to a group of under-rooster that run about together with no girls. Sometimes a new rooster says, "I am boss!" and has to be put back in a cage for a bit, until he learns to behave. Sometimes he works on winning the hens' hearts while he is in the cage and when he comes out he says," I am boss!" and the girls say "Yes, you are honey" and that is that, there is a new king. Everything changes and grows as the years go on.No matter what, if you take in a lot of roosters you need some things. 1. You need to understand rooster dynamics and flocks in general. 2 .You need to know how to treat a rooster and you cannot be afraid to be bit and pecked. 3. You need to learn the difference between rooster personalities so you can catch if a rooster attacks out of fear or dominance. 4. You need to love and repeat the rooster. 5. You need to know the difference between a fight and the boys working out who is boss. 6. You need to keep an eye on your head roosers and make sure they are being treated well. 7. You need to have spots and cages to put boys in if they are being naughty. 8. You need to have places ready for girls if they get hurt. 9. You must be willing to take boys in to the house when needed. 10. You need big coops. You need big runs and/or allow them to free range. Okay, I think I have everything but I probably have forgotten some very important stuff. Ask questions and be kind to each other. Why I do not pick up chickens: There is more than one reason but I cannot take in every rooster in need and still eat. But I can usually take in those who can get them to me. I acknowledge that some people just cannot handle roosters or should not have roosters. I understand that some people only can handle 1 or 2 roosters. I just saw a need and I do what I can to help. I am not perfect. I make mistake but I try to learn all I can. And I am constantly observing.