Breeding -- ratio of roosters to hens

[CynthiaM]

Tried to find the correct forum for this question, but came up lost. I am going to be breeding these breeds, all standard size:

GLW
SLW
Barred Rock
Blue Cochin
White brahma
Buff Orpington
Easter Egger
White crested black Polish

In a catalogue put out by a popular hatchery, it indicated that with the Buff Orpington and Ameraucana there should be 10 hens to each rooster, as the roosters are more aggressive and if there is not enough hens, they may begin to hide, to get away I presume.

I am beginning to gather birds (and have been for some time) for a breeding program. A teeny tiny thought operation, nothing big, just supplying for a very large family that I have, and a few friends.

Does the ratio of rooster to hens to provide proper coverage for good hatch change with the breed of bird? What is the "average" number of hens to roosters. Is there an "average".

My agenda this winter is to read books, be on this forum alot, and look after the bees (not, they are doing their own thing quietly in their homes over winter and won't need care, my time off, smiling). Have a great day.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
Hi Cynthia, the recommended ratio is 1:10 at a minimum, because the roo can really tear up the hens' backs through overbreeding. That is a general idea, most roos can easily cover 2 or 3 times that many.

I don't know that it varies a huge amount from breed to breed, I have never had a roo who didn't do his job. And I have about 16 roos right now..... and NOT enough hens!

Sounds like you have a lovely winter planned!

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

well I don't know a lot about breeding ratio but the 1:7 ratio worked pretty well for my hens I was not breeding though.

 

[CynthiaM]

Ah, Ranchhand, thank you (and Hollywood Chickens, by the way, lovely handle) for the fast replies. I am well onto that way then, my hen numbers are increasing as the pullets mature. They are still all in the main flock area (about 1/2 acre of poultry wire fencing, with lots of grass and trees), living amongst the Muscovy ducks and ducklings. I can certainly see that some breed of rooster are more aggressive, like the Barred Rock. He is the second in command here and doesn't get much in the way of action, the Light Brahma ensures that, smiling. The Light Brahma is the casonova of the yard, he is gentle, just like his personality and the gals all love him. The Blue Cochin is not of the breeding age yet (boy they take a long time, he is 6 months old and is still not even entertaining the thought of crowing, let alone looking at his two gals, he will need more, but for now, gonna have to just let things be). He is very gentle too, that is clear how he mingles with his gals). The Cochins are in a separate area with the black crested Polish and two month old breeder chicks. That Barred Rock loves to beat up on everything that he can, except the human. I have been very fortunate that all the roosters we have ever had have been sweeties. Hope it stays that way. Been in fights with an ugileeee ol' Muscovy drake. He is gone now, off to a better place, with a very beautiful and sweet drake to replace him. This ol' Muscovy did not have a nice way with anything and the ducks used to run for the hills when they saw him coming. I didn't run for the hills, I headed the other way. Tried to make him understand that I was king of this flock, he never quite understood that, and with a few good bruises on my calves, he went to a place where he was third in line, with other drakes his boss. Served him right, smiling. Ramblin', oh dear. Oh well, get used to that, as I become more on this forum as the winter time comes forth, you will see, that I am that ramblin' gal. Have a wonderful day.

 

[Ridgerunner]

This thread may help.

Number of roosters thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=219443

There is no magic number of roosters per hen that will prevent some fighting or will guarantee no barebacked hens. To me, these are the biggest concerns on the hen to rooster ratio. My recommendation is that you have the minimum number of roosters to meet your goals. With your stated goal, it will take some management from you.

Good luck and have fun with it!

 

[cmom]

I agree with the other posts the rule of thumb is 1 Roo to 10 hens MOL.

 

[cybercat]

Now what breeders do is not the same. Many do a 1 on 1 or 1`on 2 or 3. Why because they are doing selective breeding. Matching up the best partners that work together. When one is flock breeding 1 to 10 is normal. In the wild it is 2 to 10 because of the free ranging you will have one roo in fron and one in back of the flock. That is how our wild turkeys do it here i see them every year walk down the property line. It is always 2 roos to 10 or 12 hens.

 

[Nocila]

I just wanted to say, I have a purebred Ameraucana rooster, and he's the sweetest rooster I've ever had. He runs up to me, and begs me for food, while he runs from the hens, yes, the hens! If it weren't for his color, I'd have thought he was a hen. I believe what you may have been hearing about, was an Easter Egger, or Americana rooster, which is quite different from an Ameraucana, as the Easter Egger is a cross breed, where an Ameraucana or an Araucana can be purebred. I started with Easter Eggers, but when I found out about the difference between Araucanas, Ameraucanas, and Easter Eggers, I began the hunt for the purebreds. Often, hatcheries will call Easter Eggers Araucanas/Ameraucanas, or Americanas, which causes a lot of confusion about which bird is which, to those who don't specialize in the breed. If you ever want to show the breed, you will want Araucanas or Ameraucanas, but if you only want them for the eggs, you can do just as well with Easter Eggers.

Sorry to change the topic a bit, but I just wanted to clarify that point, as I saw you were looking at Easter Eggers, and then started talking about Ameraucanas. I try to spread what the difference is, because I know that, when I'm looking for new birds, it can be really difficult to find pure Araucanas or Ameraucanas, because even the birds that are labelled as one or the other, are often a cross, so I like to spread the word, so that, in the future, it may be a little easier to find the purebreds. . .

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Now what breeders do is not the same. Many do a 1 on 1 or 1`on 2 or 3. Why because they are doing selective breeding. Matching up the best partners that work together. When one is flock breeding 1 to 10 is normal. In the wild it is 2 to 10 because of the free ranging you will have one roo in fron and one in back of the flock. That is how our wild turkeys do it here i see them every year walk down the property line. It is always 2 roos to 10 or 12 hens.

Coming here to say this. What you may want to do to guarantee purity of your matings is to separate out groups of hens for at least three weeks (to make sure they were not fertilized by the wrong rooster). Use your very best hens of each breed. Whether you keep the rooster with them during this time is up to you. After the three weeks, you can either start collecting eggs for hatching (if the rooster was in with them all this time) or add the rooster and collect eggs for hatching after several days. Breeders that do this often use ratios of 1:5 or fewer to insure fertility. This isn't what you want to do for a large flock, but for small breeding pens it will work.

I often have a roostern ratio of 1:20, and the eggs are definitely not all fertile. At 1:10, you should be fine with fertility.