Are you weighing the pros and cons to keeping a rooster? If so, I know how you feel. We did the same thing on our homestead several months ago.
If you’re thinking about keeping a rooster, you might be on the fence due to zoning or pre-dawn crowing. Or, you might so ready to hatch your own chicks that you don’t care what time they wake you up.
I’ll say this: roosters aren’t for everyone. But you might be surprised at how many benefits a rooster can bring to your flock of hens.
The Benefits of Adding a Rooster to Your Flock
We acquired our two roosters very suddenly. As in, our neighbor showed up unannouced one spring afternoon with them in the back of her truck to see if we’d like to add them to our flock. They’d started fighting with her head rooster and, rather than cull them, she wanted to find them a new home. So, would we be interested?
Of course, I said “yes,” even though, to be honest, I had some inner misgivings about taking them in. I knew almost nothing about roosters, and didn’t know if the benefits would outweigh the annoyance of their frequent crowing.
Turns out, there are more benefits to having a rooster around than I thought.
1. Keeping a Rooster for Fertilized Eggs
One of the biggest benefits to adding a rooster to your flock is that it’s an inexpensive way to get baby chicks. Roosters will start mating when your hens are ready to lay eggs. If you want to increase the size of your flock you can incubate those fertilized eggs, or put them under a broody hen. In 21 to 23 days, you’ll have baby chicks.
One rooster can keep up to 12 hens’ eggs fertilized. So if you want to earn money on your homestead by selling chicks or increasing your flock so you have more eggs to sell, this is the only way to go. You can also sell those fertilized eggs to other homesteaders, or even schools to hatch in their classrooms. This is an easy way to make extra money on your homestead.
2. Get a Rooster for A Safer Flock
Other than mating, the rooster’s next biggest responsibility is keeping the flock safe from predators. Roosters stay on guard all the time, scanning the sky and yard for potential threats like dogs or hawks.
Once a predator is spotted, the rooster will let out a specific call letting the hens know which threat he’s identified. This tells them where they should best take cover. The rooster will then stay out to battle the predator if need be, and even sacrifice himself to save the hens.
Their protective instincts also apply to baby chicks. Roosters will do whatever it takes to keep their baby chicks safe.
3. Happier Hens and More Eggs
When hens don’t have a rooster to lead them, the most dominant hen will step in and do the job. This can lead to bullying and discord, because hens aren’t natural leaders or protectors. Other hens will challenge her authority, leading to barnyard fighting.
Adding a rooster to your flock leads to happier hens in large part because there is now a naturally defined social order. Roosters lead the flock, and hens have a submissive role. They’ve evolved over millions of years to live in this dynamic, and with a rooster your hens will feel more balanced and safe.
When our neighbor opened up the back of her truck to show me our future two roosters, one of them let out one loud crow and that’s all it took. My hens acted like they were in a single’s bar and Brad Pitt just walked in. They came running, and several of them jumped into the back of the truck in order to heed the call. It was amazing to see, and it was immediately obvious that hens and roosters belong together.
Another reason why hens are happier with a rooster around is because he forages along with them. However, when he finds a tasty treat he’ll rarely keep it for himself. Instead, he’ll give it to one of the girls. Yes, I know this is evolution in action: he’s giving his girls the best food so that they lay healthier eggs, which helps ensure the survival of their species. But I’m romantic at heart, and prefer to think that he’s being chivalrous.
Happier hens can lead to an increase in egg production. Instead of fighting each other or worrying about predators on their own, your hens are free to forage and rest.
4. Coralling the Hens
If you’re letting your chickens free range, then you probably have them roaming all over your yard, farm, or homestead. This might be fine, or it could cause some annoyances, especially when they scratch up your garden or poop on your patio.
A rooster will keep your hens foraging as one group. If one hen decides to go off on her own, he’ll go round her up and bring her back to join the rest of the flock. This, to me, is an enormous benefit.
5. Roosters are Beautiful
Let’s face it, roosters have a full display of showy magnificence. They’re just gorgeous to look at, and they add such a visual dynamic to a flock of hens. I really thought my hens were beautiful, and they are. But they pale in comparison to the two roosters.
The Downsides to Keeping a Rooster
Of course, roosters aren’t all sunshine and rainbows. There are some definite downsides to adding a rooster to your flock. And, we’ll start with the most obvious.
1. Crowing
If you have a small yard and like to sleep in, don’t get a rooster. Yes, they crow before dawn, and if your coop is near your house you will get woken up before you’re ready. Some people don’t mind this pre-dawn crowing. Others can’t stand it.
And, roosters don’t just crow at dawn. They crow whenever they spot a predator, or when they think something is amiss in the yard. They’ll crow to get a hen’s attention, or just to celebrate the day. In short, roosters can crow quite a lot. In fact, the moment wrote that sentence one of our roosters crowed.
If you live in a neighborhood, you shouldn’t get a rooster for this very reason. Your neighbors will complain about the noise, and chances are your city has an ordinance against having a rooster anyway.
2. Aggressiveness
Roosters can be aggressive sometimes. After all, their primary job is to keep their flock safe from predators, so they have to have some aggressiveness in order to do that. Roosters might be aggressive with a family pet, small children, or other livestock like ducks.
That said, roosters can also be very sweet and loving towards people. It all depends on their individual temperament, and how they’re raised. Our two roosters are living with a flock of ducks and they have never shown any aggression towards them.
3. Injured Hens
Roosters can sometimes injure hens during the mating process if they’re too aggressive, or if there are multiple roosters and too few hens. Hens can have their feathers pulled out and their sides scratched from the roosters spurs.
You can avoid this by purchasing a chicken saddle, which is a little protective jacket that protects a hen during the mating process. With the chicken saddle the hen and rooster can still mate, but she’s protected.
If you notice then your hens are looking a little worse for wear, you might want to separate the rooster from the rest of the flock to give the girls a break.
Final Word
Roosters have a bit of a bad reputation, and they’re certainly not for everyone. However, I feel that the benefits of having a rooster far outweigh the downsides. Roosters are beautiful and amusing to watch, and I love knowing that they’re on-duty 24-7 to keep our flock safe from predators.
What about you? Are you thinking of adding a rooster to your flock?