cohabitation of roos?? Silkie and Brahma?- repost

Hi! I have a small flock (1 black silkie roo (Penguin) and 5 hens (speckled sussex (Agnes), cuckoo marans (Stella), white silkie (Mugatu), black australorp (Dottie) and ameraucana (Artemis))

The silkies hang out all the time and are definitely a mating pair. I've witnessed this and can see it in the eggs- may consider hatching later but not a priority right now. I'm happy they band together, even if its so they can run away from the bullies together. jk the other hens aren't bad.

My question is this: the big hens want nothing to do with Penguin and that's fine since I'm not particularly interested in breeding at this point. I'd really want a large but GENTLE roo (thinking a brahma???) for both protection and looks. Gentle is KEY, quietness is a big plus. My chickens are free range at times but depends on the season and if I'm home/what the predators seem to be up to that day- we have foxes, coyotes, raccoons and hawks galore. So I'd want a roo that could attempt to protect the flock from these threats yet be gentle enough to accept the other roo as well as me/my bf/my german shepherd/husky mix. I was thinking that since the "big girls" don't consider the silkie head honcho that adding another roo wouldn't cause too much upheaval? I also hear that more than one roo may reduce the crowing (penguin crows ALL the TIME). I don't mind but I'm trying to be a good neighbor.

Is this possible with a brahma? or other breed for that matter? I would consider adding another hen or two if if would help the roos get along but not much more since we already have more eggs than we can eat and have chickens because we like them as "value added" pets but not trying to get into the egg business. I love my penguin but honestly he thinks he's a lot tougher than he actually is and flock safety is important to us! That being said, his safety is really important to me as well and I don't want to add a rooster that could likely hurt him or worse.

Any feedback graciously welcome! I need chicken experts to help me convince the bf that more chickens = good idea!

Hi! I keep silkie roosters with LF roosters without much issue. The silkie just mostly keeps to his own silkie hens. There's not any fighting, but he is subordinate to the other roosters so they will sometimes chase him a bit to show dominance. You can cohabitate roosters - I keep six together currently. In your case you'll probably want to get a juvenile cockerel not yet feeling his hormones and introduce him then so he is not a threat to the silkie and they don't fight right away. Doing it this way there is also a chance your current roo will retain dominance over the new guy. My silkie roo is dominant over all the LF roosters I have that are younger than him because he put them in their place when they were young and they won't challenge him for dominance. Once dominance is established, most roosters respect the order and there's no major fighting.

You say you only have five hens - if you want to add another rooster I recommend you add at least another five at the same time, preferably more. The best ratio of roosters to hens in a flock is ten hens to each rooster, but five to seven hens per rooster sometimes works out okay.

Thanks for your reply! That makes me feel better. I was planning on getting the new rooster as a chick so I can raise him to be a little friendlier or at least used to people.

I know the ratio of hen/roosters should be high to prevent fighting and overbreeding but figured since the 4 big girls don't really hang with the current rooster that the new guy could just take over those and leave the 2 silkies to themselves without much turmoil in the group?

It's not really turmoil you'll have to worry about but rather the hens getting injured by the roosters overmating them. The hens can suffer feather loss, stress, and injury if they are being mated too often by roosters. The more hens, the more the matings are spread over them all, so the less often each individual bird is mated With just six hens to two roosters, I worry that your hens could easily end up stressed.