2 Roos and 1 hen - is this a good situation?

[thailand]

Hi,

My Brahma chicks are now about 3 months old and I'm needing the advice of others please.

As it now turns out, I clearly have two roosters and sadly just the one hen. Can someone please advise me about how this triangle might work....
I definitely want to increase the size of my flock but am a little apprehensive about purchasing any more chicks as I do not want any more roosters. Therefore, is it advisable to just wait the situation out and hope for natural increase - or would this be too stressful for the hen?

At the moment both boys are getting along pretty well, with just the occasional spat, but nothing major.

Opinions please?

 

[emvickrey]

They may get along but think about that poor girl when they decide to compete for breeding. We made the mistake once of having 2 roos in with 4 hens. We didn't know what was going on till we where putting up the run. Those roos where very violently taking turns with the hens and they would drag them under them. If they where human they would be in jail. Since they are chickens, they went to chicken jail. The girls got a good rest and their feathers grown back out and we let them pick which one they preferred and sold the other one.

 

[thailand]

Actually.....I've just given this some more thought and realised that no matter which direction I take, eventual natural increase or buying new chicks now, either way I'm gonna end up with the possibility of more roosters. So, I guess I've just answered my own question. Looks like I might be buying in some new baby chicks! Yaay!!!!

Still like to hear your comments though about how two brahma roosters might be able to live together in peace.

Thanks,
Angela

 

[fishermans wife]

Buy sex linked chicks, that way you will know for sure you have hens!

 

[sourland]

Not a good situation. The roosters MIGHT get along but oh the wear and tear on the hen.

 

[Nuzzy]

Quote:
Step 1) Cull or rehome one rooster.

Step 2) Buy from the pullet bin, or choose pullets option online.

Step 3) Enjoy happy chickens

 

[NYRIR]

yep...definitely would NOT keep 2 roos for 1 hen.I had 6 roos to 32 hens and it was bad....the roos didn't fight too much,but my poor hens have feathers worn off until molt. I learned my lesson...got rid of all but 2 roos,and my flock is MUCH happier.I will be keeping a 3rd roo and I will be keeping 37 hens....I would think if you had 2 to 1 ratio...they'd end up killing her. JMHO

 

[thailand]

Thanks for your replies.

Living here in Thailand I've been very fortunate just to find some 'western' breed chickens. Certainly sex-linked Brahmas will not even be known about, and even sadder is that there is no feed store selling chickens and no pullet bin anywhere nor am I able to find any chickens available online.

The chickens I've already bought came from a local petshop and the owner has brought in Brahma fertile eggs from The Netherlands. He is raising 100 Brahma on his farm and then sells them through his petshop. All this means that my options are very limited. As far as I can tell he is the only person in Thailand who has Brahma chickens or might even know what they are! Most other chickens available here are of very poor quality and are skinny, unhealthy looking things.

I'll post a photo of my current three for you to enjoy - I am completely a chicken novice, but as far as I can tell these are splendid looking birds of excellent quality (yes, I am definately biased! I just love my birds! LOL) In hindsight, the single female of the three (I've had them since they were 3 weeks old) always had a 'poufy' kind of tail compared to the other two, so on that rather slim evidence I'm hoping that might be a trait of the hens in this strain of Brahma and if I opt to buy more will be looking for the 'poufy', kinda tail-less tail.

The important question now is: how many chicks should I buy....just enough to get me by with 2 roosters until my own hens can reproduce???? I should add, I do have some means of separating roosters should the need arise. I have just started free-ranging them during the day so they would only be housed separately at night. Please help me with this...thanks

Any and all thoughts from others will be very gratefully received

This is the female at 3 weeks old:

And the female again, at 7 weeks old (standing full side-on) with the 2 roosters bending down next to her:

Thanks,
Angela