Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Roosters, yea or nay?

Hello Chicken Raising Chicks!

Today I would like to address a popular misconception about raising chickens.

You need a rooster for your hens to lay eggs.

WRONG

You only need a rooster to fertilize the eggs, the hens will lay eggs on their own whether or not you own a rooster.

Roosters are good to own for many reasons. Visit this wonderful website to view some of those reasons: Hazel Tree Farm: Good Reasons to keep a Rooster

But the thing you need to remember is that owning a rooster is completely up to you.

There are many different breeds of roosters and each breed has a typical behavior. Some people say that their rooster is their favorite chicken in their flock, and others have had to say goodbye to their roosters because of his bad behavior.

We have a docile rooster named Willie (he is a Silkie Bantam) and he rarely even acts like a rooster. He doesn't crow often, and it isn't very loud. He sits on eggs for the girls quite often, and pretty much just minds his own business. (Not that there is any way possible he could boss most of our hens around, they seem to think they are the queens!)

But we also had another rooster who was the most awful chicken ever! He picked on the girls and pushed Willie around. He was even mean to the baby chicks. We had his butt hauled off for sure.

Sometimes roosters are a great addition to your flock. Sometimes they're a bit too rambunctious.


Either way, the choice is yours.




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