Our experience with the first two roosters tells me it is still way too early to form much of an opinion on how Reuben will eventually turn out. but so far I must say he is much more of a gentle bird than the other two even started out being.
For one thing he isn't some giant mutant rooster like Rocky ended up being. I think some of the bigger and older hens may actually outweigh him by a few ounces. This seems to put a real safety valve into place because if he pisses off more than one hen at a time he gets himself into some real trouble. I have also witnessed a hen or two smacking him around when he gets out of control with the crowing thing. It's almost like they tell him "enough already" and send him packing.
Reuben is also getting the job done with the fertilizing part of his job too. After inspecting a few obviously fertilized eggs I knew my suspicions about Rocky were confirmed. Reuben mounts the hens to do his job not to just be an ass.
As a side note I also find it funny how we got no broody hens until after Reuben showed up. Too many variables to make a claim one way or another about this whole "don't need a rooster" thing as being true or not but I suspect a good well mannered rooster who is doing his job properly does help.
Where Rocky was adamant that no hen should be near a human and spent much of his time attempting to bully the hens away from places he didn't want them, Reuben on the other hand just kinda goes with the flow and even joins the hens who like to be near the humans himself. Reuben even allows himself to be petted occasionally and seems to enjoy it. I have not witnessed any hen mounting or crowing right in front of the humans either.
Like I said though Reuben has only been here a few months now. It took Rocky almost a year to start becoming ignorant so we will see what time brings.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!
You might have a good one, it is just a mystery what triggers them into rooster jihad, I suspect it is a hormone change of some kind but then what causes that? Our rooster seems to have gone long enough that he should have done something by now so I am hoping he is a good one. We had a grand buff orphington that finally died of old age, now that was a good rooster, never abused the hens or people. I could give him a piece of bread and he would call a hen over and give it to her.
ReplyDeleteWe don't do chickens but we started raising rabbits this spring. We started with 2 females and 1 male and we had to wait till they hit 6 monthsvto breed them but the smaller doe gave us a litter of 8 (6 m and 2 fm) 2 months ago. The second larger doe kindled yesterday and dropped 5 healthy little ones and 1 still born. So we are off to the races in building our herd.
ReplyDeleteExile1981
One of our cockerels is being aggressive towards us, and attacked Lester from behind the other day. And last night he was behind my back as I was getting the washing in. I kept an eye on him, but could feel that he wanted to have a pop at me. So.....he has been issued with his last warning, and then into the freezer he will go! Hope Reuben keeps up his gentlemanly habits.
ReplyDeleteOur rooster right now is much better than the old one which got crazy aggressive... He was quite the madman. I'm not holding my breath either though because with these roosters you never seem to know when the mean switch might get flipped on.
ReplyDeleteBreed can make a difference. We have had austrolorps, Americana, and polish roosters. The Americana was the only one that didn't abuse the hens and alerted them to danger (mostly Hawks and coyotes here). Unfortunately he got killed trying to protect a stupid hen that refused to listen to him. The polish was really abusive. He would grab a hen walking by by the face just to be do it. That wasn't tolerated for long. He was young too. The austrolorps also showed the over aggressive behaviors early on. Good luck with this new rooster.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to watch them...Shoeless Joe our biggest Australorpe has always been civilized and he has 15 hens who adore him. He will also call me to show me some tasty morsel. Not a hint of aggression and happy hens. However Lefty the Buckeye and Gentleman Jim are a problem. Jim was gentle and Lefty aggressive, now Jim is more aggressive and Lefty is more gentle. The hens avoid both of them unless they get run down by one of them, we think one of them has to go. Hopefully then the remaining Rooster will get a brain.... We do need at least two as the hens range too far for just one.
ReplyDeleteReuben sound like a real find!
We have a gold laced Wyandotte roo now that is one of the two best roosters we've ever had. His name is Topaz. The other one was a Blue laced Red Wyandotte named Turqoise (blame my daughters for the names). Topaz is easy on the hens while still getting the job done (I didn't order any meat chicks this year because the hens are setting and hatching enough to get us through the year if the coons don't kill any more). He fell asleep on my youngest daughter's lap yesterday. Turquoise would let you carry him around like a hawk on your fist (despite weighing nearly 10#). As long as Topaz stays like he is, he can stay out of the stew pot. :)
ReplyDeletePP,
ReplyDeleteSounds like Reuben is the man to get things done with respect unlike Rocky.