They are usually more friendly than hens because they are not afraid, and their clucking and presenting for hens is endlessly amusing. In order to ensure that you have a good hen to rooster ratio, it's best to figure out the sex of your chickens early.
Chickens are fun to watch, and even though roosters tend to be less people-friendly than hens, some of them can be docile and friendly. This is especially true if they have been handled and picked up, starting when they are young chicks. This applies mostly to hens.
So while the answer to the question of "Do you need a Rooster to lay eggs?" is no, you can certainly have a happier flock with a rooster. Although uncrowded hens generally get along with each other, a flock with a rooster is usually more peaceful. There is less fighting for the top spot by the hens.
Roosters will keep order in the flock, forage and locate food for their hens, protect their flock, and even help them to find locations to lay their eggs. While some may select to have a flock without a rooster due to its noise and aggressive behavior, it is important to note that hens can be just as aggressive.
Hens will usually respect the rooster of their flock. They know his role and enjoy having him around for protection. He can help prevent bullying amongst the hens, settle any fights quickly, and reduce stress within the flock.
Roosters fight with each other - and with you.
But it's not only males bred for fighting who are aggressive. Once those male hormones kick in at about 12 months old, backyard roosters can also become a menace. Why does it happen? Because they instinctively protect their flock.
Silkie roosters are known to have very docile temperaments and friendly, calm personalities. They adapt well to confinement and would be a good fit for small backyard flocks. Silkie roosters (and hens) are not very cold hardy due to their unique feather type that does not trap heat well.
In general, we can opt for a rooster to hen ratio of 1 to 10 or 1 to 12, that is, maintain one rooster for every 10 to 12 hens (in the case of heavy breeds we can go down to 1 male for 5 females).
A hen to rooster transformation is most definitely possible no matter how impossible it may seem. This occurrence usually occurs due to a genetic condition where the chickens only functioning ovary is damaged. The non-functioning ovary can then start to develop into a structure known as an avo-testis.
The rooster dance is a jig a rooster performs for his hen before mating. He might also dance to keep his hen in line or show another rooster that this is his lady. During the dance, the roo thrusts his wing outward and shuffles quickly around his hen.
On average, roosters can live between 5-8 years. However, in captivity when they are properly cared for, their average lifespan increases to 10-15 years. Unlike hens, roosters are less tame and spend the majority of their life on high alert to defend the other birds.
A rooster often has his favorite girl, with whom he spends most of his time. She is not necessarily at the top of the pecking order, but he will treat her like a queen. It's possible that other hens might be envious of her role, because when the rooster is removed, his favorite hen is sometimes picked on by the others.
Many roosters can co-exsist peacefully in one pen as long as there are no hens to fight over. Don't separate the boys from each other or they might forget that they know each other and start fighting when they are re-introduced. That would guarantee you would need to re-home one of them.
Any rooster of any breed can become aggressive just as any rooster of any breed can be a teddy bear. Aggression typically becomes apparent in cockerels when they reach puberty, generally any time after four months old. Sexual maturity ushers in the full load of testosterone, which is a behavior game changer for some.
It is possible for a female chicken to take on external characteristics of a male, a phenomenon referred to as sex reversal. (To date, spontaneous sex reversal from male to female has not been reported.)
Do chickens need to mate to lay eggs? No. Chickens can produce eggs without the presence of a rooster (male chicken). However, mating with a rooster is necessary to produce fertile eggs (from which new chicks will be born).
Every day, the dominant rooster will escort a hen to a suitable nesting site, wait until she has laid, then escort her back to the flock. He will also escort the flock as it moves to roost at night. The fringe males use these times to take advantage of the dominant rooster's distraction to try to mate with 'his' hens.
Correct ratio of hens to roosters:
A good ratio is 10 hens for every 1 rooster. Roosters are very protective of “their” hens, and if there are too many roosters in your flock this can cause fighting over another rooster mounting a hen that is not “his” hen.
A rooster may mate from 10 to 30 or more times per day, depending on the availability of hens and competition from other roosters. However, the number of sperm per ejaculate is seldom less than 100 million which is the minimum required to maintain high fertility.
Roosters needs to mate with a hen two or three times a week in order for the hen to lay fertile eggs. You can then incubate the eggs to hatch out chicks. You typically need one rooster for every ten hens. Roosters also can help to protect the flock.
In the wild roosters are not very aggressive, they tend to avoid conflict with another male unless it is a direct challenge to their authority. However lots of modern rooster breeds are well known for being aggressive. All of these breeds have one thing in common: they have all been bred by humans for cockfighting.
Male chicks are killed for two reasons: they cannot lay eggs and they are not suitable for chicken-meat production. This is because layer hens — and therefore their chicks — are a different breed of poultry to chickens that are bred and raised for meat production.