What You Need to Know About Roosters

How to keep rooster as pets? Perhaps the most distinct feature or best characteristic of roosters is that they crow! Hens (female chicken) can also crow but not as much as roosters do, and oftentimes hens really don’t. How to keep rooster as pets? In fact, you can already identify which ones are the roosters because they already start crowing as early as 3 months, and their hackles also start developing along with their crowing abilities.

How to keep rooster as pets? A rooster’s temperament and behavioral characteristic or personality can be differentiated in the way they crow and also how often they do it in a day. You’ll soon realize, especially if you’re going to take care lots of rooster, that they have their own distinct voices and patterns of crowing.

Rooster Crows

How to keep rooster as pets? Roosters have other crowing calls as well, and they can also cluck just like their female counterparts, but they don’t do it as much compared to hens. You’ll oftentimes find them just sitting on a slightly high post or fence during the day, where they can overlook their territory and serve as the guard for the group. Roosters will do a distinct alarm call to alert other chickens that a potential threat or predator is near its surrounding territories, and if it is indeed a threat, he will crow or attack it.

Omnivorous Rooster

Roosters and chicken are omnivores; they usually eat vegetables such as herbs, grubs, leaves, and chicken feeds, and grains. For their meat diet they like to eat small and large insects sometimes even the larva, small mammals such as mice, and other meat source. Gizzard is an organ in their stomachs that process foods.

Predators

The usual predators of roosters particularly if they are in the wild includes fox, snake, owls, eagles, hawks, opossums, raccoons, bobcats, skunks, and other reptile or mammal species larger than the rooster.

Basic Essentials

How to keep rooster as pets? In terms of where to place your coop or chicken enclosures, you can place it in the grass if you have a garden or space in your backyard or you can also dig a shallow piece of land and place it on top of it. However, the most ideal location is to put it on top of a concrete base or a hard – standing base. You can easily renew the bedding underneath and it can be easily cleaned compared to when you place it on top of a soil/ground.

In terms of the size of the enclosure should of course depend on how big your rooster or chickens will get, and how many will stay inside it. Another general rule of thumb is that the more space, the better! If the housing or the space within the enclosure is limited, it can cause your rooster to be stressed out and could also become aggressive. You want to make sure that the run side of the enclosure has plenty of space so that they can still free range safely even if you’re not around.

Rooster Bedding

Back in the day, keepers use straw but the problem with that is that the thin stalks accumulate bacteria and dust mites which can be harmful for your rooster in the long run. What you can do is buy horse bedding. It is a dry sort of stalks of hays that can be used in nest boxes, coops, and the run of your rooster’s enclosure. The stalks are dry making it perfect for sucking the smell of their poops, and prevent a foul odor inside their enclosures. It’s also environmentally friendly because once you replace it with new bedding; you can use the previous one and use it as a compost pit with your kitchen left overs at home.

How to Feed a Rooster

How to keep rooster as pets? The recommendations of what to feed a rooster greatly vary and most of the times confusing, this is because most roosters pretty much end up at the dinner table at a very young age. Hens are obviously more valuable than a rooster which is why if you ask breeders and even those who have flocks will tell you different things. There is no exact ratio of how much to feed a certain type of rooster, every single breed has its own taste and eating habit so you just have to find out for yourself what is best for your rooster as long as the five components are present, your rooster will be fine.

However, there are some important things you need to know when feeding a rooster, one of which is that you shouldn’t feed young male chicks or pullets with too much calcium enriched foods because it can cause damage in its kidneys. Too much calcium can also affect a rooster’s ability to fertilize an egg. It’s always best to ask a vet or its breeder at how much calcium is right for your rooster breed. In general, a rooster’s diet should be high in protein and low in calcium.

Hydration

Your rooster needs access to fresh and clean water all the time. The fresh water supply has many benefits for your chicken; one of the most important advantages is that if the rooster/chicken is properly dehydrated, it will eat the proper amount of food. If they don’t drink a lot, chances are they won’t also eat a lot. If you happen to own a laying hen, then fresh supply of water is definitely a must because it will help in producing the best quality of eggs (since eggs are mostly made with water). Never ever give dirty water to your pet rooster because it can cause digestive problems and other illnesses.

Feeding Scratch

All types of roosters love to forage and dig around in the ground. They eat almost any type of insects, worms, grains and other things like pebbles, rodents, dirt etc. This is their natural instinct – to constantly dig around and chuckle to whatever they can find lying on the ground. In fact, chickens raised in environments that enable them to freely forage in the ground are much healthier and happier than those raised in coops filled with just commercial chicken feeds.

Rooster Foraging

If you don’t have a foraging space in your backyard, then make sure that you buy a commercial scratch mixes so that they can practice this habit. If you want to go organic, you can feed them with scrap foods or leftovers like veggies, fruits, and the likes. Just make sure that these are also fresh and not rotten. Feeding your roosters with chicken scraps either commercial ones or leftovers from your kitchen will serve as treats for them just like if you’re feeding a parrot or similar types of bird species. Birds including chickens and roosters love treats because it’s not just food for them; it’s a form of exercise, and mental stimulation. Foraging keeps them entertained and it also helps in reducing kitchen waste!

Vocal Roosters

How to keep rooster as pets? Some roosters are quite vociferous or very vocal, you’ll hear them crow more than a few times a day, while some only do it at certain times. These birds also crow if they are threatened, if they are proclaiming a territory from other species, if they are trying to attract a mate, or even if there are burglars around the house!