I am sure that selection process Al describes has been done for the last couple of thousand years by almost everyone raising chickens. That's how they become domesticated and are not wild anymore.
They are still around, so fertility can't be affected, right?
Aggression vs. fertility in roosters
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poultry_admin
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Aggression vs. fertility in roosters
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WLLady
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Aggression vs. fertility in roosters
In my barn aggressiveness affects fertility but thats because i have taken the agressive twit out and he is incapable of fertilizing. There is a correlation between aggressiveness and number of sired offspring. Nice roosters are still perfectly caable of breeding just as well-and as someone else pointed out actually may do better because the girls actually like them....i have one boy that goes after my hubby-he will be replaced as soon as another boy is available. He is sweet to me-but if he goes after a kid he will do serious harm. I do not have scientific proof to back it up but i still have birds and i dont tolerate the mean ones. I found a much higher correlation between cold weather and lousy fertilization rates than with rooster behaviour.
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Aggression vs. fertility in roosters
We have had some aggressive roosters over time, but you have to look at the apparent causes of the aggression.
We have two Silkie roosters who survived mink attacks. One is missing an eye and had to regrow all the skin on the back of his neck. The other just had to regrow the skin on the back of his neck and heal a few scratches.
These two have there own pen with about 12-15 hens of various breeds. they take very good care of the girls and don't over mount them. But you do not want to be a threat to them or the girls as they are not afraid to take on the attacker. So in other words they know their job and do it well.
They do not attack us but are on guard even though they know we feed and water them. They also know that we pick them up to check them over to ensure that they are healthy and have no issues or bugs. But when you do this you have to make sure you approach the one eyed boy from the side he can see you or you are going to bet hit or bit. This is understandable as it is his job. When any of the girls go broody they take shifts at the mouth of the coop to ensure nothing untoward happens to the girls, so again they are doing their duty.
This is the type of rooster that I want to breed. I do not need to be overly worried that something is going to happen as they can take care ov most things in the day.
We have also had roosters that were the very epitome of un wanted. They would flog you as soon as look at you. they would flog the girls if given a chance. They all seemed to be from red sex-links. they were dispatched the day they committed the offence and fed to the dog.
We have two Silkie roosters who survived mink attacks. One is missing an eye and had to regrow all the skin on the back of his neck. The other just had to regrow the skin on the back of his neck and heal a few scratches.
These two have there own pen with about 12-15 hens of various breeds. they take very good care of the girls and don't over mount them. But you do not want to be a threat to them or the girls as they are not afraid to take on the attacker. So in other words they know their job and do it well.
They do not attack us but are on guard even though they know we feed and water them. They also know that we pick them up to check them over to ensure that they are healthy and have no issues or bugs. But when you do this you have to make sure you approach the one eyed boy from the side he can see you or you are going to bet hit or bit. This is understandable as it is his job. When any of the girls go broody they take shifts at the mouth of the coop to ensure nothing untoward happens to the girls, so again they are doing their duty.
This is the type of rooster that I want to breed. I do not need to be overly worried that something is going to happen as they can take care ov most things in the day.
We have also had roosters that were the very epitome of un wanted. They would flog you as soon as look at you. they would flog the girls if given a chance. They all seemed to be from red sex-links. they were dispatched the day they committed the offence and fed to the dog.
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