Very new with questions

[areandare]

We finally brought home some baby chicks. I am building the coop now. I was wondering , we purchased pullets and a friend has a older rooster they want to donate to us. My question is will he upset the group and can this interfere with the egg laying and quality of eggs produced and does the roo fertilize eggs and how do you know and are they then not for food?? These girls are mainly pets and we do not really want a really large family down the road.
Thanks

 

[michellerene]

I'm pretty new, but I know that you can, indeed, eat fertilized eggs.

I'm sure someone else will come along to answer the rest of your questions.

 

[Arklady]

An adult rooster can and will hurt chicks. You should have a young chick that is male that could grow up with the chicks. The Roo will be older and the word is that the older the roo the more roo babies you will have. If you are satisfied with the chicks you have I would not accept an adult rooster to put with them. He would be livinging alone for months, waiting for them to grow up. The chicks depending on their breed may not set or hatch eggs at all. Some just don't. If all you want is eggs I would save myself the grief of getting the older rooster.

If you decide down the road to get a rooster cockrel it would be easier to get one after they are grown and laying eggs.

Arklady

 

[justusnak]

I agree with Arklady....if your girls are young....under 5 months old, they really should NOT have an older roo in with them. He will try to mate with them, possibly killing them.
As far as egg laying....if you do not want babies..you do not need a roo. The hens will lay with or without a roo. IF you decide later to get a roo, and the eggs WILL be fertilised, they are fine to eat, of you collect them from the hens every day, some even say a few times a day and straight to the fridge. This stops the egg from growing. they are fine to eat. ALL of my eggs are "fertilised" No big deal...no difference.

 

[ChickieDee]

Hi, I'm pretty new myself. Second year for me. I don't think you should take the roo. He will continually mate with your girls. I've had my share of experince with roosters in my short time so far and when they mate, their claws tear off the feathers on the girls backes, and they hold them on the back of the neck with their beaks also taking off feathers and sometimes making them bleed. They can also be aggresive to you and especially to children. That being said, they can be interesting and some have great personalities as well as beauty. I have a feeling I know why someone wants to "donate" him. Good luck with whatever you decide!

Dee

 

[daubernut]

I have had four roosters donated to me over the past three years. We had no problems with predators until the arrival of the first rooster. He was killed by a weasel as well as at least six of our hens. Once we resolved the weasle problem and we accepted another rooster he vanished into thin air. We suspect an eagle carted him off. as well as our next rooster. Right now we have a very large rooster that was wrongly sexed. If we didn't take him he was going into the stew pot. He certainly loves to crow. If you want to have pretty birds, do not get a rooster. I have never had such scruffy looking girls since I got this guy. I feel really bad for them. My girls are mainly Rhode Island Reds and Mr is a huge meat bird. Some of the girls are even limping from his pouncing on them with his great weight. With all the crowing a rooster does he is announcing to the world the whereabouts of food for the predetors. Just my opinion! I will not get another rooster after this one has vanished.

 

[skeeter9]

I agree with everyone that you should not get this particular rooster.

However, I have had the opposite experience from Daubernut. Our rooster protects our hens and does a very nice job of it!! He does kinda tear their feathers up, and one particular hen is completely bald on her back, but she never leaves his side, so I guess she doesn't mind.

Our rooster also finds great areas for our girls to scratch, find bugs, etc and calls them over to let them have their fill. I've even seen him pick flowers, seeds, etc, and drop them at the feet of the hens. Kinda cute to watch him flirting with them!!

Of course, we have had to deal with him challenging us to see if he can convince us he is top dog. We searched out information on how to handle this on BYC and he is doing much better!!! I think having that little talk with him about the stewing pot did the trick! Just kidding. . . .

I guess you just have to decide if you want the added peasure/frustration of having a rooster. Some people love them and others just don't !!!

Good luck deciding,

Lori