Are you considering adding a rooster to your flock of chickens? Read the pros and cons first! Here are 7 reasons why you should not have a rooster!

 

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7 Reasons Why You Should Not Have A Rooster

 

7 Reasons Why You Should NOT Have A Rooster!

Do You love your chickens as much as I love mine?

I love looking out my window and seeing them run around my backyard eating bugs!

I love watching mother hens care for their chicks!

And I love to see my beautiful rooster sitting on a fence post crowing!

Whoa, what?!


You’re probably wondering why I just said I love to see my rooster! Isn’t this post supposed to be about why you should NOT have a rooster?!

Let me first say, that I do indeed have a rooster!

Yep. I have a rooster.

Now, having a rooster is not for everyone or every situation. Roosters can be a serious problem depending on multiple factors!

There are definitely things you need to consider to decide if owning a rooster is right for you.

Here are seven reasons why you should not own a rooster:

Rooster Crowing

1. Roosters are noisy!

You know how cartoons portray roosters crowing at day break?

That’s false!

Roosters do not just crow at day break. They crow All. Through. The. Night!

Now, if your chicken coop isn’t close to your house, its fine. But if you have neighbors that are really close or if it’s really close to your bedroom, be prepared to hear a rooster crow in the night!

Rooster

2. Roosters can be mean!

Now, this doesn’t apply to all roosters. My rooster is actually a very nice rooster and has never tried to attack me or the kids.

But I can remember as a kid being chased by a rooster that my parents had! It literally chased me into the shed and I had to jump up on a table to get away from it!

And, when they attack you, they don’t just peck, they try to get you with their spurs! Which are like talons!

So this is one reason that really just depends on the personality of your rooster. Certain breeds are known for being more aggressive as well.

Our rooster is an Ameraucana rooster and he has never given us any problems. I can’t guarantee that all Ameraucana roosters will be nice though!

Fighting Roosters

3. Roosters fight!

If you have more than a couple roosters, then be prepared for war!

Roosters will literally fight to the death!

We had baby chicks hatch out one year and almost all of them turned out to be roosters.

So, we decided that when they were big enough we would butcher out the roosters so that we had meat in the freezer and plenty of bones for broth!

Well, just before time to butcher, all the young roosters got into a fight! It was horrible! They were spurring one another, pecking one another, it was bad!

So, you definitely do not want to have a lot of roosters. I have found that two at a time are not a major issue. They determine a ranking order and all is well.

But any more than that, and it’s a major problem!

Rooster

4. Roosters don’t lay eggs!

This one might seem funny, but it’s a reason to not have a rooster!

Roosters don’t provide any eggs. So if eggs are all that you desire from chickens, you really have no use for a rooster!

You can find out here if chickens need a rooster to lay eggs!

Rooster

5. Your rooster might be illegal!

In some areas you are not allowed to own roosters.

Some developments have a no rooster rule due to the noise.

Some areas only allow you to have a certain number of roosters.

Check your local laws to determine if roosters are allowed in your neighborhood!

This could definitely be a good reason that you shouldn’t have a rooster!

Rooster

6. Roosters might kill baby chicks!

Another reason to not have a rooster is to protect any new babies!

If you introduce really young chickens, or a mother with young chicks into the flock then you run the risk of losing them to the rooster.

Roosters will kill a chick to get it away from the mother if he wants to breed her. It sounds barbaric, but its true!

We had a hen once that hatched out a nice brood of chicks. The rooster actually killed some of the chicks to get them away from the mother! It was very sad:(

Of course without the rooster there wouldn’t be chicks, unless you are introducing a hen that already has chicks to the flock. Read this post to find out more about when you actually do need a rooster.

Rooster

7. Roosters can injure young hens!

When a rooster mates with the hens, he can be very rough.

If the hen is still pretty young a large rooster could seriously injure her when mating!

I’ve had to chase a rooster away from a young hen before that was just too small for him!

So this is definitely a good reason to not have a rooster!

Now, I do want to say, that there are actually some pros to having a rooster!

I know this list sounds kind of scary, but lots of people do have roosters!

It’s really comes down to why you want to have chickens, and what works best for you and your family.

Roosters are extremely beautiful birds! They are so colorful and elegant! Like I said above, I love to watch mine!

Also, as I mentioned above, you can read here to find out when your hens actually need a rooster!

And another pro is that roosters are very protective of their hens. So they are also good for protecting the hens from predators!

I hope this post has helped you in determining whether or not a rooster is right for you and your hens!

Do you have chickens? Do you have a rooster? What is your experience with roosters? Leave me a comment below and let me know!

Rooster