A New Rooster in the Barnyard
Rooster Crowing
I like having a rooster around the homestead. It’s fun to hear them crow in the morning. It’s fun to hear them crow in the afternoon. Maybe not so much fun at 4 am, but you get used to it. We’ve had quite a few roosters around here, but I butchered most of them and tossed them in the stew pot.
We had a couple of nice Barred Rocks, but those chickens fought like the dickens, so I got rid of them. One went to a new home and the other was dinner. There was also a white Leghorn shortly after that sounded like an elephant whenever he was frightened. Tom called him Horton after the Dr. Suess character. Later on, I got a bunch of free, mixed breed cockerels along with a few Americauna hens that I bought. It was tough to decide who would stay and who would go. The winners were Elvis (an Americauna) and Wilson (an Americauna-White Leghorn mix). They were both pretty handsome fellows and they got along for the most part. Wilson fell prey to a hawk and Elvis got ill and died. We went without a rooster to serenade us since May of this year and I was wanting to find a new one.
We don’t really need a rooster. The hens will lay eggs whether there’s a ‘man in their lives’ or not. But I like keeping a rooster around to dance for the ladies, sound the alarm when the hawks circle, and remind me to get up in the morning. The lack of cock-a-doodle-doing around here this summer made it seem like something was missing. And I was having trouble rolling out of bed at a reasonable hour (like before 7am, such a sloth!).
So when I picked up some Production Red laying hens in November, I was happy to see a nice selection of roosters up for sale too. I picked a good looking Delaware from a bunch of young bachelors and he was tossed in for free, since I cleaned them out of hens and paid a pretty penny for them, too. Not the most self sufficient way to increase the chicken flock, but you do what ya gotta do.
Our new rooster has settled in very well. Imagine his delight when he was taken from a stall with 8 or so other roosters to a big coop and pasture, not to mention his very own flock of hens! And quite a flock it is, too. Right now I have a total of about 60 laying hens and pullets. So he’s quite a busy guy. I’m settling on a name for our new roo, and since he is a Delaware, I’m thinking Del would be a good name. Maybe not super unique, but it makes me think of the Del McCoury band when I see him strutting around.
Cue the banjo music boys 
Lisa Lynn
Update: Since I wrote this, Del passed away and has been replaced with yet another rooster…Brutus. Brutus is quite a brute to the hens and any other rooster unlucky enough to meet up with him. But he is a darn good watch rooster. He has run off a fox, and lost most of his tail feathers in the process. He’s also produced some fine looking offspring. He’s definitely a keeper!
I have also decided that although I don’t ‘need’ a rooster, I would like to raise my own chicks from fertile eggs…so a rooster is necessary for that purpose. Lucky for Brutus!
Hi! I’m Lisa Lynn…modern homesteader and creator of The Self Sufficient HomeAcre. Follow my adventures in self reliance, preparedness, homesteading, and getting back to the basics.
