How many hens for two roosters

[GirlsHuntToo]

I would say you are going to need about 20 - 24 hens.

 

[NatJ]

My lavender orp kills silkies on purpose for some reason so I can’t get bantam hens

I have really chill roosters when it comes to each other and other chickens they don’t over mate and unless the hen wants to they won’t mate and the Orpington only has problems with silkies. My maran though is really sweet and calm with me and the other birds but the Orpington is aggressive to me and my family.

If there are no problems among the chickens, things might continue to be fine. Or they might not be.

But given what you have said, I would remove the Orpington. You say he is aggressive to you and your family, and he kills Silkies. Personally, I would butcher him. Since you say you don't want to do that, maybe give him away to someone who will eat him (since he already has a history of being aggressive to people, I would not try to rehome him to live with another flock.)

If you remove one rooster, of course that also changes the rooster/hen ratio in your current flock. You could still add hens if you want more, because just one rooster (your Marans) can probably fertilize eggs from quite a few more hens than you currently have.

 

[janiedoe]

It depends on your roosters and their personalities.

In my main flock, I have 3 adult roosters, 34 hens (27 hens are standard size), 4 cockerels (7 months and older), 9 pullets of laying age, and a few chicks. They all run together and roost in their choice of 4 coops.
My head rooster (a brahma & easter egger mix) lived with just 6 hens for the first year and a half. He did not over breed or abuse them. His father, on the otherhand, always wore the feathers off his hens. He had more than 20 at times.
My oegb rooster tends to run with two hens, and he doesn't damage their feathers. I personally like to keep a smaller ratio of hens to rooster. I really enjoy the roosters, but my main reason is that I feel like they watch over their hens better when they have 6 to 8 or fewer hens.
I have 4 roosters and 2 cockerels that are divided into two bachelor pads. I keep them because I like them. They have been removed from the flock because they do not do well with the hens, but I enjoy watching them, and interacting with them and I have no intention of culling them.

I've learned what works with my own flock through trial and error. No one can really say what will work best for you and your flock.

The best thing I've found, is have an empty coop and run in case things do not work out. If you have a place to move them you'll have time to decide how to handle your roosters and whether you want to keep one or both, or none.

I will say that some roosters make it easier to make your final decision when they mature.

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

It depends on your roosters and their personalities.

In my main flock, I have 3 adult roosters, 34 hens (27 hens are standard size), 4 cockerels (7 months and older), 9 pullets of laying age, and a few chicks. They all run together and roost in their choice of 4 coops.
My head rooster (a brahma & easter egger mix) lived with just 6 hens for the first year and a half. He did not over breed or abuse them. His father, on the otherhand, always wore the feathers off his hens. He had more than 20 at times.
My oegb rooster tends to run with two hens, and he doesn't damage their feathers. I personally like to keep a smaller ratio of hens to rooster. I really enjoy the roosters, but my main reason is that I feel like they watch over their hens better when they have 6 to 8 or fewer hens.
I have 4 roosters and 2 cockerels that are divided into two bachelor pads. I keep them because I like them. They have been removed from the flock because they do not do well with the hens, but I enjoy watching them, and interacting with them and I have no intention of culling them.

I've learned what works with my own flock through trial and error. No one can really say what will work best for you and your flock.

The best thing I've found, is have an empty coop and run in case things do not work out. If you have a place to move them you'll have time to decide how to handle your roosters and whether you want to keep one or both, or none.

I will say that some roosters make it easier to make your final decision when they mature.

Thank you I have a little holding area and i do like how my roosters protect the flock

If there are no problems among the chickens, things might continue to be fine. Or they might not be.

But given what you have said, I would remove the Orpington. You say he is aggressive to you and your family, and he kills Silkies. Personally, I would butcher him. Since you say you don't want to do that, maybe give him away to someone who will eat him (since he already has a history of being aggressive to people, I would not try to rehome him to live with another flock.)

If you remove one rooster, of course that also changes the rooster/hen ratio in your current flock. You could still add hens if you want more, because just one rooster (your Marans) can probably fertilize eggs from quite a few more hens than you currently have.

They are your chickens and you can do as you wish. I think you are still rather in the romance stage of having chickens. There are a lot of misconceptions that people tend to get from experiences with other pets.

• being raised together has almost no influence on long term behavior. They can get along this week, and not next week.
• chicks that you raise should be kept all their lives. Chickens change, the darling cockerel that you raised weeks ago is not the same bird when the hormones come on, many cockerels need to be culled.
• The way cockerels are acting now, is not an indicator to how they will act next week or even tomorrow. This forum is filled where the darling became the nightmare overnight.
• Roosters can attack other roosters, hens or people
• Inexperienced people often vastly underestimate the violence of aggressive roosters.
• If you let them out for an hour or two of free ranging it won't compensate for over crowding in the coop/run.

I would not call a rooster "chill" that is attacking my family. Why anyone would keep an aggressive rooster that attack the people that care for it is beyond me? If you have children less than 6 years old, those children can take an attack in the face, no child's face or eyes is worth keeping a rooster. An aggressive rooster most often becomes more and more violent. You might be able to give him away for a soup pot.

If you are going to have multiple roosters, you need to be able to cull. Or you can create a bachelors quarters, which works some of the time. If you can't cull birds, do just buy sex linked chicks and then you don't have the problem. Turning the extra cockerels out to just free range, means they leave your property or they terrorize you when you step outside.

AArt says it best, roosters are were the romance of chickens meets reality. And the reality often is not pretty. Probably not what you want to read, but pretty realistic.

Mrs K

My Orpington only attacks if a hen is involved or when younger brother antagonises him through the fence by kicking it and running around it. I don’t want to butcher him because it’s not his fault and he was my first chicken I ever got. Also my run is not over crowded there is plenty of space I mentioned letting them outside just to state that and the only reason I let them out is to forage and get enrichment not because of lack of space I think I will get 12 more hens so I’ll have 20 I plan to get mostly marans, Easter eggers, and buff orps and maybe a jersey giant hen just because. All I am asking in this post is how many hens and what breeds are pretty and would do good in south east Oklahoma weather

 

[janiedoe]

Thank you I have a little holding area and i do like how my roosters protect the flock



My Orpington only attacks if a hen is involved or when younger brother antagonises him through the fence by kicking it and running around it. I don’t want to butcher him because it’s not his fault and he was my first chicken I ever got. Also my run is not over crowded there is plenty of space I mentioned letting them outside just to state that and the only reason I let them out is to forage and get enrichment not because of lack of space I think I will get 12 more hens so I’ll have 20 I plan to get mostly marans, Easter eggers, and buff orps and maybe a jersey giant hen just because. All I am asking in this post is how many hens and what breeds are pretty and would do good in south east Oklahoma weather

Welsummers and crested cream legbars do well in hot and cold weather as long as your ventilation is adequate.
(I have both and none of my extra large roosters have ever harmed them.) I love naked necks and they do well in our hot weather and on the rare occasions we drop below zero they've done just as well as the others. My brahmas are hardy most of the year and only show heat stress when it stays over a hundred degrees for more than a week. I like marans, orpingtons, and langshans too, but they sure go broody a lot.

 

[NatJ]

My Orpington only attacks if a hen is involved or when younger brother antagonises him through the fence by kicking it and running around it. I don’t want to butcher him because it’s not his fault and he was my first chicken I ever got.

You say the Orpington attacking is not his fault.
I say, why does he do it but the Marans does not? SOMETHING is certainly different between the two of them.

But they are your chickens, not mine. So you are the one to make the final decision.

All I am asking in this post is how many hens and what breeds are pretty and would do good in south east Oklahoma weather

How many: as many as you want, that you have room for. There is no number of hens that will be "too many" from perspective of keeping two roosters happy. (You could get too many for your space, or too many for the roosters to mate with them all to produce fertile eggs, but that many hens will not make the roosters or the hens unhappy.)

What breeds are pretty: the ones that look good to YOU. Everyone has different idea of what breeds are pretty.

Good in your weather conditions: probably not ones with big floppy combs and wattles (frostbite risk in the winter). Maybe not ones with very big bodies and fluffy feathers (overheating risk in the summer.) I would expect most breeds to be fine, probably including the ones you listed.

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

My brother only messes with the Orpington and the maran is scared that I’ll hurt him if he try’s anything so he let’s me touch the hens while the Orpington will give his life for his hens

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

^

You say the Orpington attacking is not his fault.
I say, why does he do it but the Marans does not? SOMETHING is certainly different between the two of them.

But they are your chickens, not mine. So you are the one to make the final decision.


How many: as many as you want, that you have room for. There is no number of hens that will be "too many" from perspective of keeping two roosters happy. (You could get too many for your space, or too many for the roosters to mate with them all to produce fertile eggs, but that many hens will not make the roosters or the hens unhappy.)

What breeds are pretty: the ones that look good to YOU. Everyone has different idea of what breeds are pretty.

Good in your weather conditions: probably not ones with big floppy combs and wattles (frostbite risk in the winter). Maybe not ones with very big bodies and fluffy feathers (overheating risk in the summer.) I would expect most breeds to be fine, probably including the ones you listed.

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

Welsummers and crested cream legbars do well in hot and cold weather as long as your ventilation is adequate.
(I have both and none of my extra large roosters have ever harmed them.) I love naked necks and they do well in our hot weather and on the rare occasions we drop below zero they've done just as well as the others. My brahmas are hardy most of the year and only show heat stress when it stays over a hundred degrees for more than a week. I like marans, orpingtons, and langshans too, but they sure go broody a lot.

So do you think I could keep jersey giant hens and Brahma hens since I keep my coop extra ventilated with a fan throughout summer

 

[janiedoe]

So do you think I could keep jersey giant hens and Brahma hens since I keep my coop extra ventilated with a fan throughout summer

I don't have any experience with jersey giants, but brahmas should do fine.