Homesteading Chicken Coop Build, Chickens, Pond, Garden & Projects

Any of you folks have a rooster with your hens? Just found out I might have a cockerel . Doubt my twp allows roosters but I didn't even check if I was allowed to have chickens but am going to assume the neighbors aren't going to like hearing it crow. Bear with me I have a millions questions:

Is it possible he don't crow? Again my fear is the noise and neighbors complaining living in suburbia. If they do crow at what age typically do they start crowing?
Same thing with aggression, will he become aggressive towards me and or the other older hens (I have small kids). If so what age does that typically starting happening, he will be 11 weeks friday.

This is a dumb question or statement but what typically happens with having a rooster, is he going to constantly mate with my hens? Will my eggs now be fertilized and have baby chicks? I know nothing about hatching baby chicks. Can I still eat a fertilized egg? Sorry again for all the questions.......I have a lot research to do and of course a big decision on keeping him. So far he's super friendly and docile.

 

You need to gather eggs rooster will fertilize eggs and the will turn to eymbyro stage and wife will see little veins in eggs. Then your done! She will buy eggs!

 

We had a rooster. He was pretty annoying. Made noise from sun up to sun down. When he attacked my 2yo daughter from behind he was turned into dinner.

 

Yeah, I try to keep at least one. Right now, I have 16.
Yes, that looks like a cockeral. They will start to crow about 10-12 weeks when their (eggs?) seem to drop.
From my experience, their are 2 types. The fight- these will run at your boots and chase your neighbors. I had a Wyandotte that was this way. As long as I kept him in the run, we were good. But he would escape, and chase the neighbors. I would have kept him but, he got eaten by a coon.
And then,
The flight- these will crow their heads off dawn till dusk. The more flighty breeds tend to be more skittish and crow more. My Leghorns were real loud. My true-blue is going to be replaced this coming meat-bird day. True-blues have some leghorn in them.
Assuming that is your Sussex, I would guess he is more in the fight category so maybe he won't crow all day. I would say make sure to raise him around people with the hopes he won't be quite so aggressive.

You can still eat the eggs. They need to be pretty warm(90°?) for 21 days. As long as you collect your eggs each day, you won't even know they were fertilized. You can hatch them if you want. "Hatching eggs" is the term.

If he fills out and the crowing is too much, you can cull him and make dinner.

 

The little meat birds are growing up nicely!

 

I'm on board with keeping a rooster. I regret dispatching the one I had last year. In spite of him being aggressive and coming at me a few times, I wish he was around to peck the crap out of whatever rodents happen to sneak their way inside. It's what they're hardwired to do and at the time I was being short-sighted about his natural protective instincts. My neighbor across the street has some semi-quiet roosters. I'll have to pick his brain sometime to see what kind he raises. I swear when I first heard his flock I thought he had doves LOL.

 

Thanks so much for the awesome info Eric Schamell Well Seasoned JackHammer and others. I'll certainly try and keep him around and give it a go..........I keep going in each day and picking him and handling him, we shall see!

 

That looks so nice

 

Any increase in area predators?

 

Didn't you have a vegetable garden down in that area?

 

you will have to visit the local farm stands this year! We can only have just so many "pots on the fire" at any one time. Looks nice and green there. You must be getting enough rain. We only recently picked uped some rain. Really needed it. I was concerned about the risk for forest fires.

 

That lattice work will need some small mesh chicken wire fence on the inside. If you don't, you will find your chickens dead without their heads from a racoon reaching in and removing their heads. Chickens are very curious and will allow this to happen. I know this from first hand experience.

 

I had a husky that would do that - lay down, wiggle his toes, chicken looks to see what is going on, off with the head. His brother (that lived in another state), did the same thing. I'm sure foxes or coyotes would be happy to play that game too.

 

Funny you say that, they are always sticking their heads out of the lattice and eating stuff or drinking rain water. That's probably not a bad idea and I've thought about doing that in time. For now I don't see coons in my area during that day and the chickens are in a predator proof locked coop by 8ish but I am sure coons can be out during the day as well and it's a risk i'm taking as they are smart and adapt well especially if they are hungry.