16 Surprising Benefits of Keeping a Rooster with Your Flock

Author: Esther Donohue

The idea of keeping a rooster can stir up mixed feelings for many backyard flock owners and homesteaders.

Roosters often have a bad reputation for aggression, and anyone who has encountered a protective rooster in a flock has likely experienced the dreaded rooster attack.

My kids are still recovering from the time they were chased by an oversized, and very angry Rhode Island Red Rooster.

That angry rooster eventually ended up in the stockpot, but the question remains: do we still keep roosters? The answer is yes—and for good reason.

After a few years without any roosters, we decided to focus on creating a self-sustaining flock. Fertilized eggs were a necessity for this, so we added a few roosters to the mix.

While fertilized eggs are great, we quickly discovered that roosters offer many other surprising benefits to our homestead flock.

Roosters bring more than just breeding potential to a flock. They contribute to the safety and protection of hens and even play a role in improving their overall health and social well-being.

Here are some reasons you should add a handsome rooster to your backyard flock.

 The Benefits of Keeping a Rooster on Your Homestead

Flock Protection

1. Predator Defense:

 A rooster’s crow is nature’s built-in security alarm for your flock. They are incredibly protective and always on high alert for potential threats. This protective instinct is why so many people have experienced being chased or even attacked by a rooster—they’re simply doing their job

2. Free-Range Monitoring: 

Roosters will also guide the group of hens and keep them together when out free-ranging, ensuring he can protect them if a predator attacks.

This right here proves invaluable on our homestead where chickens are usually allowed to free-range every day.

 By keeping the flock together, he minimizes the risk of isolated hens falling prey to predators and ensures the entire group benefits from his manly skills.

Flock Management

3. Stabilizing the Pecking Order: 

One of the lesser-known benefits of keeping a rooster in your backyard flock is their ability to help establish and maintain the flock’s social hierarchy, also known as the pecking order.

In the absence of a rooster, hens often compete for dominance, which can lead to frequent squabbles and stress within the flock. 

A rooster takes on the role of flock leader, reducing these conflicts by asserting his position at the top of the hierarchy. This leadership helps prevent excessive fighting between hens.

By maintaining social order, a rooster can significantly lower stress levels among your hens, promoting better health and productivity. 

No one likes a hen fight, and with a rooster around, fights are much less likely to happen.

4. Integrating New Birds: 

They can ease the introduction of new hens by breaking up fights and helping create a sense of a safe place for the new hens.

Reproduction and Sustainability

5. Fertilizing Eggs:

 One of the primary reasons we decided to add roosters to our flock was to fertilize eggs, allowing us to establish a self-sustaining flock. 

A self-sustaining flock can reproduce naturally, eliminating the need to purchase baby chicks from hatcheries. This not only saves us money over time but also ensures we have full control over the genetic diversity and health of our birds.

To achieve this goal, we’ve integrated heritage breeds and broody breeds into our flock. Heritage breeds are known for their hardiness, longevity, and excellent foraging skills, making them ideal for sustainable homesteads.

 Broody breeds, on the other hand, excel at hatching eggs and raising chicks, ensuring that our flock continues to grow naturally without human intervention.

6. Genetic Diversity: 

Now when it comes to breeding for certain colored eggs such as a deep green egg or say you want a beautifully speckled egg you will want to pick a rooster with those colors in his genes.

Or if you are looking to create a healthier more hardy breed, picking the right rooster will have a major effect on building your flock genetics, or breeding program.

Hens’ Well-Being

7. Protecting Broody Hens and Chicks:

When you have a broody hen and they hatch their fertile eggs, they are incredibly protective of their new chicks.

While the hen will vigilantly guard and care for the young ones, the rooster can also play an important roles in helping to protect and support them. 

We’ve seen firsthand how a rooster will assist the hen by keeping watch over the flock and even helping care for the chicks, ensuring their safety and encouraging their free-range skills.

8. Encouraging Hen Activity:

A rooster plays an active role in encouraging the hens to stay engaged and healthy, especially during free range excursions.

By leading the flock to forage for bugs, seeds, and other treats, he ensures the hens remain active, which contributes to their overall physical health and well-being.

Added Functionality

9. Natural Alarm Clock:

 Roosters are also known for their vocal presence. They crow not just at sunrise but any time of the day: at sunset,  when they see a predator when they spot you approaching, or simply to assert their presence they will issue a warning call.

10. Pest Control:

 Like all chickens, a good rooster will look out for his flock and help control bugs and pests in your lawn and around your house. Chickens love a diet high in protein! 

11. Emergency Alerts: 

If a rooster senses danger, he will sound a loud alarm, alerting the hens to take cover.

Whether it’s the sight of a hawk circling above, a neighborhood dog wandering too close, or even just a shadow passing by, a rooster will not hesitate to issue a warning crow.

Aesthetic and Social Benefits

12. Colorful Plumage: 

Roosters are not only remarkable flock protectors but also truly magnificent creatures. 

Their flowing tail feathers and vibrant plumage add a striking splash of color and beauty to any backyard or homestead.

With their iridescent greens, fiery reds, and deep blacks, roosters are a testament to the diversity and charm of nature.

I find it fascinating to see how hens and roosters differ so dramatically in appearance.

While hens may appear more subdued, a rooster’s bold and brilliant feathers set him apart, making him the centerpiece of the flock.

13. Entertaining Personalities: 

If nothing else, every chicken flock needs a rooster simply for the entertainment they bring.

A rooster’s personality is often larger than life, varying greatly depending on their breed and how frequently they’re handled.

 From their unique crowing patterns to their bold, quirky behaviors, roosters provide endless amusement with traits rarely seen in hens.

Some roosters are show-offs, strutting around like they own the coop, while others display surprising gentleness. 

14. Companionship for Hens: 

The presence of a rooster can greatly benefit your backyard flock. Acting as the head of the family, a flock rooster helps maintain harmony within both small flocks and large.

He keeps a watchful eye on the hens, promoting healthy interactions and reducing unnecessary squabbles among them.

A rooster’s companionship also provides the flock with a sense of structure, fostering a more cohesive and peaceful environment.

For many homesteaders, this dynamic creates a more natural and balanced way of raising chickens.

Educational Value

15. Learning Opportunity:

Adding a mature rooster to your flock offers a unique chance to observe natural flock dynamics, making it an excellent learning opportunity for families, especially those with small children or homeschoolers. 

A rooster demonstrates natural leadership and provides insight into how a flock interacts, establishes hierarchy, and responds to various situations, from threats to daily routines.

For children, this experience can foster a deeper understanding of animal behavior, responsibility, and the interconnectedness of a homestead.

Watching how a mature rooster leads, protects, and communicates with hens can be both educational and fascinating for all ages.

Stress Management

16. Flock Stability During Stressful Times:

  Introducing a rooster to your backyard chickens can bring much-needed stability to the flock during stressful periods, such as molting, predator scares, or environmental changes.

Roosters naturally take on the role of flock leaders, helping to keep the hens calm and maintaining order when the group is unsettled.

Their leadership provides a sense of security that can reduce anxiety among the hens, helping them recover faster and adapt more easily to disruptions.

Whether it’s a sudden weather change or the stress of introducing new chickens, a rooster can act as a grounding presence in the flock.

Now with all the benefits of having a rooster, there are some cons! 

The cons of keeping a rooster

• Crowing at all times of the day- you will either enjoy the constant crowing or it will annoy you, here on our farm we enjoy it. The crowing adds to the farmstead charm, our farm isn’t complete without a rooster crow. But if you live near someone they may not enjoy the crowing or if you just want a quiet homestead you may not enjoy the constant crowing.
• Potential Aggression: Depending on what breed and sometimes on your rooster’s personality they can become mean and attack. Now they will attack with no warning or sometimes they give a crow and come flying at you, depending on the breed they can fly quite high and they can severely harm small children and even you if they catch you when you have your guard down.
• Feed costs and no output, they eat feed and don’t provide eggs. They will provide other benefits like we talked about above, but no eggs. So if you somehow end up with 6 roosters after hatching eggs, you may want to find new homes for them or raise them for soup. 
• Legal and Zoning Issues: In Urban areas, they are usually not allowed due to the constant crowing. Which annoys everyone if they aren’t used to it.
• Injuries to Hens: If a rooster’s spurs are not trimmed and the rooster-to-hen ratio is off the rooster can injure hens due to excessive mating. The hens will lose feathers on their backs, they do make protective saddles for the hens to wear that help prevent this. 
• Cock fights-  If you have an older mature rooster and introduce a younger rooster, they may occasionally fight. We have about 45 hens and 4 roosters, 2 of which are Silkies. The Silkies are calm and chill, The other two roosters leave them alone and we have never seen them fight. Because they have enough hens to share.

Tips for managing an aggressive rooster

I would like to say you can fix a mean rooster, but the reality is you cannot. As a mature rooster may become more aggressive.

There are a few ways to remedy this- a trip to the stockpot or sending it to a rescue organization. 

We tried everything to break our Rhode Island Red rooster from holding him upside down and showing him to all the hens, taking away his dominance. That would last for a few days then he would go back to attacking us. 

Separating him from the hens… nope that didn’t work either. 

Now you can choose to keep the rooster separate and in a breeding pen. But we did not have that nor did we want the offspring from that rooster due to his aggression. 

 Is a rooster right for your backyard flock?

There are a few considerations to ask yourself before adding a rooster to your backyard flock or homestead. 

1. Do you have enough space? Roosters are more territorial than hens and need plenty of space to avoid aggression or stress within the flock. Crowded conditions can lead to conflicts and over-mating. Ensure your coop and run have adequate room for all birds.
2. Are you prepared for crowing? Roosters don’t just crow at sunrise—they crow all day long to communicate with their flock and assert dominance. If you live in a suburban or urban area, this could lead to complaints from neighbors.
3. Can you handle a dominant bird? Roosters often display dominant behaviors, which can include attacking humans or other animals. You need to be confident and knowledgeable about managing these behaviors, particularly if you have small children around.
4. Are you okay with roosters breeding your hens? Roosters will fertilize eggs, which is great if you want chicks, but you’ll need to collect eggs daily to avoid accidental incubation.
5. Are you comfortable handling an aggressive rooster? If you are dealing with an overly aggressive rooster you may need to cull or rehome the rooster.

Do you need a rooster to get eggs?

No, you do not need a rooster in your henhouse to get eggs, Hens will continue to lay eggs without a rooster, they will just be unfertilized eggs.

You do need a rooster to fertilize the eggs so they can be hatched. So don’t be worried if you’re not ready to deal with a rooster just yet, you will still get a nice steady supply of eggs from your flock of hens.

Above are some the reasons you should add a handsome rooster to your backyard flock.

What are some friendly rooster breeds?

After our experience with the Rhode Island Red roosters, we added a few other roosters that were a bit more friendly.

• Golden comet (shown in 4H by my daughter and got Grand Champion)
• Silkie
• Silver Laced Wyandotte 

 We have also had these roosters that were friendly and never attacked us.

Easter Egger and Jersey Giant

There are many other breeds that have roosters that are friendly, but these are the ones we have had that are really nice and we have never experienced any issues with them. 

So now if you decide your favorite hens need a handsome man in their lives remember to ask yourself a few questions and be prepared for the pros and cons, before going out and purchasing your own roosters.