roosters to hen ratio

[chickyduck]

Is 5 roosters too many for 24 hens? We have about a 1/4 of an acre that they roam during the day, a fenced area at night that's 18ft by 11ft and about 12 ft high. And 2 coops inside that locked up area.

 

[HeavensHens88]

The ratio is: 1 rooster to 10 hens if he's under 2 or 3 years. Every year after, it declines by two hens a year. Example: Rooster that is 4 years old can "handle" (breed, protect and keep in order) up to about 8 hens.
So, yes, technically, you have too many roosters. But that doesn't mean you can't keep them. There will just be more crowing and squabbling between them for who gets the most hens.

 

[chickyduck]

I guess I need more pullets/hens. Don't tell the hubby!

 

[aart]

Hen to Cock ratio depends in many things.
The 10:1 thing is about fertility rates for commercial breeding facilities.

You need to look at what your goals/reasons for having roosters in the first place.
And look at what having any roosters might mean for that adorable tiny child in your avatar.

Dealing with the males is part of having chickens, they can cause a lot of trouble and even injury to birds and people.

I find them necessary for creating replacement layers, pleasing my eye and enjoying(mostly) the social interaction within the flock.
I only need one for that, any more are trouble in my confined run and limited coop space, the extras are delicious.

 

[chickyduck]

Mostly looks and for predators. They are EEs, and beautiful. But we rescued them at 3 months old from someone who couldn't have roos in town, so we have no attachment to them. I've been watching these last few days. I know for sure we will be putting down one shortly, maybe two. We have only 2 hens and the rest are pullets and one of the roos pecks every time when my Barnevelder hen walks by. And she is such a sweet hen. Thank you for your help, I think my 5 will soon be 3, I just have to make sure we keep the right ones.

And my daughter loves the birds. Our pullets are almost 10 weeks and our RIR and red sexlinks still let her pick them up and hold them.

 

[Buddingwisdom]

We have been enjoying our five chicks until recently when two of them started crowing. Through the help of these forums we've pretty much confirmed that two of our five are roosters. We have been watching them carefully to understand the impact on the hens and our morning wake ups. We are starting to see some unpleasant aggressive behaviour from our leg horn towards our Americauno.

Is two roosters too many to have for three hens? Does it matter if they all grew up together?

With gratitude.

 

[junebuggena]

One cockerel is too many for 3 girls. The girls will get over bred very quickly and without their back feathers to help protect them, they will be a risk of severe injury from a rough teenage boy. The cockerels will mature a lot earlier than the pullets, and those hormone driven teen boys will start trying to mate the immature pullets if that's all that around. Plus, with only three between them to share, they could turn very aggressive quite quickly. And the girls really don't need the stress of constantly trying to dodge the boys. If you insist on keeping both boys, get a lot more pullets, at least 15 more. If you only keep one, then you will need at least 6 or 7 more pullets. If you don't have the room to do that, then rehome both boys.