Roosters are known for their early morning crow heard in the common rural countryside chicken farms, but did you know the importance of having a rooster in your backyard chicken flock is sometimes overlooked? Chicken breeders around the world will agree that keeping a rooster within your chicken farm can protect your chickens from harmful predators. Some backyard chicken farm hobbyists would be unaware of the fact that while keeping roosters is vastly important, too many roosters living in the same chicken coop can be a problem. It is my advice to you that you take a few minutes to verse yourself with some chicken keeping facts about roosters before introducing them to your chickens and bantams.
Building a Chicken Coop is an excellent source of rooster keeping tips that will have you dominating your chicken flock with great ease. This fantastic ebook will not only explain the importance of keeping roosters in your chicken farm, but will chronicle the steps needed to properly introduce new roosters to your flock. Keeping roosters can be quite a task if you are not fully aquainted with their natural tendencies, hence why this amazing new ebook is defintely worth owning. What’s more is that with Building a Chicken Coop, you will get massive instructions on raising backyard chickens happy and healthy with award winning chicken coop plans that you can easily construct for your flock. Click here to learn more about Keeping Roosters and the incredible Building a Chicken Coop Ebook.
For centuries, roosters have been known as the evil chicken, the ferocious little clucker that would chase anyone who would come across the chicken pen or get near his hens. It is for this reason alone that many chicken farm enthusiasts would rather keep hens in their backyard chicken farm and use them for unfertile chicken eggs. However, there are bigger reasons why having a rooster in your chicken pen can be beneficial to your chicken raising hobby.
Why keep a Rooster?
For starters, roosters are male chickens and if you want your chickens to give birth to beautiful tiny little baby chickens and keep your chicken farm growing, you will need a few roosters in your chicken farm. Though roosters are capable of driving hens crazy at times, the only way you are going to get fertile eggs for a hen to nest on is to have a rooster in the pack. And boy will you be in for a treat when that rooster gets turned on by a hen. Roosters tend to do a little vaudeville esque dance when they become attracted to a female chicken. He will skitter sideways and open his wing faethers downward sort of like an oriental fan. It is really a treat to watch or capture on film if you are so lucky.
Another reason why keeping a rooster in your chicken flock is a wise idea is for the protection of your chickens. It is a rooster’s instincts to protect its hens from harmful predators that may invade the chicken pen and threaten your livestock. A rooster will protect his flock the instance he thinks that one of its members is being harmed. Also, when one of his hens is nesting on their eggs, the rooster will be in full alert and protect her and the eggs from nearby predators. This goes for us humans too. It best not to let a rooster see you disturbing the hen or he will attack you.
The Rooster Pecking Order
The nature of the rooster is quite amazing and if you really sit down and observe them, you will be greatly entertained. You see, when a new rooster is introduced to the flock, he is not accepted with highest regards from the other roosters. As a matter of fact, there will be a fight amongs all the roosters, especially the new one to determine who is boss and what the ranking order, or in this case, pecking order is established. The pecking order works this way: The king of the flock is known as the Alpha Male and he is first in all matters whether it be fighting intruders, leading the pack around the chicken run, and even first liberties with new hens or pretty much any hen he wants from the flock. No rooster will dare challenge him once he has been established as first in the pecking order for he will receive a great pecking reminder. So how does the Alpha Male keep his thrown? Well, by simply reminding his subordinates with a good old beating, or by interfering when another rooster is trying to mate with a hen. When this heppens, the Alpha male will push aside the other rooster with either a hard beating or his presence alone will cause the rooster to yield. The Alpha male will continue to be king until he is either de-throwned by a new rooster, or becomes too old to lead the pack in which the Beta Male, or second in command, will take over.
As you can see, keeping roosters can be exhausting if you’re not ready to take them on. Just introducing new roosters into the pack can lead to numerous fights and injured chickens. That is why I urge you to check out Raising Chickens Right by Laura Childs. This is a fascinating book that will reveal the secrets of keeping roosters in your pack without risking injury to other fellow roosters, explain how many roosters are needed to keep your chicken farm safe from predators, and even the ever lasting question of why do roosters crow in the mornings? Don’t risk bringing new roosters to your chicken farm without versing yourself with all the rooster keeping knowledge you can get. To gain this invaluable information on keeping roosters and to grow your backyard chicken farm easily and fun, click here to visit the Raising Chickens Right website!