Roosters: The Prepper's Complete Guide to Raising Chickens
An exert from the upcoming eBook "The Prepper's Complete Guide to Raising Chickens"
Male chickens, called a rooster or roo, are absolutely stunning creatures that come in many eye-catching feather patterns and colors. Once a rooster reaches maturity at about 6 to 9 months old, his strong instincts to watch over its flock begins. Roosters are excellent at protecting the hens and warning of danger. If you watch a rooster you will see that his eyes are always looking around and above to the sky. At the first sign of danger, the rooster will let out a warning call, round his hens up, and prepare to fight the intruder.
As a male chick matures into a rooster, you will notice his feathers change greatly in ways that are different than the hens. His feathers will be shinier and may have a rainbow hue when viewed in the sunlight. His neck will develop pin feathers and a saddle will emerge draped over his ever-growing tail. The tail is often considered one of the most beautiful aspects, in addition to his red wattles and crown that grow and dangle from his head.
If you’ve had chickens before, you can probably pick out the roosters of your flock as a chick just by their predictable male behavior. They stand tall and tend to look around more, even as few day-old chicks. Some will be a little pushy and they tend to assert themselves early on as the leader of the group they’re in. It’s quite comical to watch the little fluffy chicks and try to guess who your hens and roosters will turn out to be.
A roo is also an expert at finding forage for the flock and he will be the first to test a new food, giving the ok the rest of the flock with his enthusiasm and small sounds. A chicken has great eyesight and matched with the alertness of a good rooster, nothing will get past him to your flock.
There are absolutely “good” roosters and there are “bad” ones too. A poor rooster will be rough on his hens, being overly aggressive when mating or taking food from them. Roosters usually weigh a few pounds more than a hen of the same breed, and a bad rooster will injure your hens being a bully with his size and spurs. A bad rooster is better off becoming chicken soup than you later finding a hen injured or dead.
Good roos are keen watchers that are self-seeking, as they should be, but not physically harming your female chickens (or baby chicks). A good rooster is definitely a chicken to keep on hand to grow the size of your flock.
The best rooster that we have had over the years was a bantam Serama frizzled boy we named Turkey (his tiny frizzled-feather sister’s name was Ducky). Showy and stepping high as he proudly strutted through his run each day, Turkey was an excellent watcher of the flock that was also acclimated to being around us and being held. He never showed any aggression towards our family members and would always come up first to say hello when we came up to the chicken run cage.
One not-so-great aspect of this little bantam chicken was his mighty crow, which he wasn’t too persistent about, but he would still surprise you with his loud sound at random times of the day. He actually didn’t even begin to crow until he was over two years old, and with his lack of aggressive-type behaviors, you could have mistaken him for a hen the entire first year of his life.
Keep in mind that all roosters crow and many cities and HOAs ban having them on property. A crowing bird can be very loud, especially if you have a larger breed chicken. If you are close when he makes his call, the jarring sound is enough to make you jump out of your skin. Roosters can grow a few pounds heavier than the hens and these large birds can get quite strong. We definitely recommend that you spend time with your rooster so that he is not aggressive towards you and allows you into the cage without an attack.
