Posts Tagged hens don’t need rooster

I’d love to have a rooster but our hens don’t really need one. I’m an early riser so the crowing wouldn’t bother me. But then again, there are my neighbors to consider. There’s an ordinance in our community that allows us to have up to 20 hens but no roosters. So a rooster is out of the question.

The reason I’d like to have a rooster is not that my hens need to lay fertile eggs. Fertile eggs are no more nutritious than unfertile eggs. Besides the little blood spots in fertile eggs gives me the shivers. I don’t particularly want to see my beautiful ladies jumped on either. In fact, some rather “rough” roosters can be quite damaging to hens. There are “saddles” made for hens to protect their backs from particularly aggressive roosters with particularly passionate mating behavior. You don’t believe me? See the saddles at “Hensavers“. They come in colorful designs and according to promotional material, the hens love colors and the fit!

There are good things to say about roosters. A rooster can be protective of hens. They will often stand their ground when a predator goes after a flock. My sweet Australian labradoodles will run up to the hens, frightening them and causing the girls to squawk and run. That makes the pups get even more excited and they give chase. They think it’s a game! A rooster wouldn’t put up with those shenanigans for a second. He’d stand up to them, puff out his breast, and send them packing.

Roosters actually look for food for hens, then call them to come get it. If a rooster finds a really nice stash of bugs or other tasty treat, it will often call his harem to come enjoy the feast. Now that is what I call a good provider.

Some roosters know how to “keep the peace”.

I’d like to have a good rooster because they “keep the peace” among a flock of hens. We’ve had our share of “cranky” behaviour over the past 2 1/2 years from hens with no authority figure. I’m tired of pecking orders, aggressive hens, and just plain “unsavory actions” in the chicken coop. I think that a rooster would help to alleviate that. I’m not sure why roosters are so good at keeping the peace. We know that roosters can be fighting birds among themselves.

Some roosters can become aggressive and territorial.

Besides the crowing that can occur any time of night or day, there is another downside of having a rooster around. They can be mean. When I was a youngster, my father had chickens that he raised in cages up off the ground. He would have two or three in a cage where they were kept until they grew to fryer age. One cute little Rhode Island Red was constantly being picked on by its fellow “inmates”. My father let the “cute little thing” free-range. That “cute little thing” grew, and grew, and grew. Pretty soon, he thought he owned the place and would attack both kids and adults when we came in the chicken house to do our chores. He would chase us, peck our legs, fly at us with spurs extended. My father, who was as protective of his children as the rooster was protective of his territory, won the fight with the rooster. The “cute little thing” made a delicious meal that was enjoyed by all.

I’ve talked to the hens. Yes, they would enjoy the occasional company of a fine, handsome, gentleman. But then again………………….

If you have a picture of a handsome rooster that I could add to this blog, please email it to me. I’ll try to fit it in!

Sweetpea ruffles her neck feathers. She's not amused at being disturbed in the nestbox.

We are putting buckets in the nest at 4:00 p.m. each day after the hens have finished laying their eggs. After 21 days of “setting” we want Poppy to get back to roosting on the roosts with the others and stop being “broody”.

We used to call them “setting” hens when I was a girl. Today we refer to them as “broody”. Both terms refer to a hen that sits on a nest….. day after day after day. It works like this. Whether or not you have a rooster, a hen will lay a certain amount of eggs in her lifetime. Some breeds lay more, some less. If you have a rooster, the eggs will be fertile and if given the right conditions, will hatch into baby chicks. This is beginning to sound like Sex 101, isn’t it?

In their natural state, hens with a virile rooster will lay a clutch of eggs, then begin “setting” on them. In 21 days, if the eggs have been kept warm, they will hatch and the hen will protect them and show the chicks the ropes for their first month of their  lives.

Alas, as you know, we don’t have a rooster because they crow and might disturb neighbors. Our hens have never “known” a rooster (in the biblical sense) and don’t seem to miss one. Their eggs are just as healthy as fertile eggs, but will not hatch. Two of them have desperately tried to hatch eggs; their own and those of their flock mates. Sweetpea was the first to become “broody”. We took her off the nest several times a day to eat and drink. We also took her off the nest each night (when she couldn’t see in the dark and couldn’t return to the nest) and put her up on the roost with the other hens. In the late afternoons, when we were sure the hens had finished laying their eggs, we closed the door to the henhouse so she couldn’t get back into the nest boxes.

Poppy lets Petunia into the nestbox to lay an egg. Then Poppy will try to hatch it.

Hormones cause the hens to be “broody”. During this period of time, their temperature increases and they pull the feathers from their chests so their bare skin can “get down” on the eggs and keep them warm. By removing the hen from the nest, and putting her on the roost at night, we are hoping to decrease her temperature and break her “broodiness”. So far, nothing has worked with Poppy and there she sits. Day 15!

There is a drastic measure to break broodiness which we haven’t been able to summon the courage to try. That is to put the hen in a wire cage so that she can’t nest and her temperature will drop. It is referred to as “Broody Jail”. Supposedly it cures the hen in less than a week. I’m afraid poor Poppy, who has never experienced wire under her feet, and is a bit “anxious” by nature, would be traumatized. Then again, it would be a great relief to get her back to laying eggs, scratching in the dirt, and roosting alongside her sisters again.