too many roosters for too few hens... what do i do?

[drewskimac]

Well, as far as damage goes, it's just that one or two of them have a lot of feathers pulled on their necks and their backs are pretty bare. I've had quail that get bred to aggressively and bleed and so far it is not to that extent. They aren't free ranged right now, they are only free ranged during the winter. However, they have quite a large pen.

Since eliminating a rooster is off the table you will either need to increase the number of hens or separate your birds. If your birds are already not looking that great, no, you don't have time to hatch and raise birds to maturity to increase your female numbers *unless* you separate birds in the meantime. Just what sort of damage is showing on your hens - there are varying degrees of damage that you can see from over-mating, understanding what point your girls are at is going to be key. Are your birds housed in a confined area or free ranged? In situations where they are confined, allowing more room for the hens to escape the attentions of your roosters can sometimes help. You may want to get some saddles for your hens if the damage is mostly physical and focused mainly on their backs.

I think it's cruel or very unfair to have more roosters than hens. It's not much of a life for the hens and they just look worse and worse. My hens give me the eggs so they come first. I'm very sad for your hens.

I have 1 rooster for 45 hens and have plenty of fertile eggs. Just hatched and sold a batch of chicks so I know they're fertile.

Yes, I realized the ratio was not good. That is why I am seeking help on here. Like I said, I didn't get two roosters on purpose, and I didn't tell the coons to kill 5 of my hens this summer either. So I'm not really happy for the hens either but I'm trying to fix the situation.

If your not willing to get rid of one of the two roosters then get more hens the recomended is 10 hens per rooster to pervent over breeding.

Yes, that is what I am thinking, thankyou for your input

I understand getting attached. I ended up with 5 roosters out of my 11 chickens, which is actually really good odds, but by the time they were sex-age I had already had them for several months, and it was hard getting rid of 4 of them. I did so immediately, though, knowing it would be harder the longer I waited. I just have the one rooster to my 8 hens now and he's doing very good with all of them. Keeps them in line when free-ranging, calls them all back when they start straying, leads them back to the coop, and my first chicken had began laying and all her eggs are fertilized so far.

The other posters have given you good advice already. If you're unwilling to re home one of the roosters, you need to expand the space they're in (how big is it currently?) and separate them in 2 halves to give each rooster their own hens to rule and care for. And even splitting them into two groups will cause quite a too few hens per rooster, so I would increase the amount of hens as well, so they don't each over-use the few they have. I don't know what the secrete number is for how many hens per rooster you should keep. If you can separate them into different groups for each rooster, then I would say at least 5-7 for each of them. If you can't separate the two roosters into their own spaces and hens, you might need a lot more then that. There's a reason I kept only 1 of my 5 roosters, and it was to prevent this hardship lol. It hurt to rehome them, but I ensured the rest of my chickens happiness and health in the mean time.. and I liked them all just as much, and making sure they were happy and healthy vs sickly and ill-treated wasn't that hard to choose from. I was more willing to get rid of a few males to keep the rest in good health. I plan on getting more chickens next year, my husband wants a better coop, more space, more run. I want silkies and frizzle chickens and we'll probably end up with 2-3 roosters by next year if we get as many as my husband is looking at, lol.

I did have to rehome 3 of my ducks the other day, and that sucked. I've had them for about 4 months and seeing them go was heartbreaking, but I ended up with 2 hens and 5 drakes. Nobody was buying my drakes (and the idea of getting rid of them sucked just as much, I'm more attached to my drakes!) but I knew those girls would be dead if I didn't do something. Ended up selling the 2 girls and letting a male go with them to someone who had a single hen duck who needed companions. It was better for them, and now I have a male flock of 4 ducks vs my previous 7.. it's quiet, and a bit lonely sounding.

Good luck, what ever your choice.

Wow! thankyou for so much helpful information... yep, it is always hard getting rid of one that you love!

You could make a smaller separation pen and trade off which rooster is out until you get more hens, you might even find you or your hens like one over the other.

Hmm, that is a good idea.... I already know which one is the favorite... in fact, I very VERY rarely see the other one breed them. I may do that! Thankyou


Thankyou all of you for such helpful information. My grandma has been wanting a rooster, so I may let her "borrow" one of mine until I get my chicks all grown up and then i'll make a trade for one of my roos and that way i'll have more hens too.

Again, thankyou all!

 

[drewskimac]

Now that I think about it... Is it possible that one of my roosters just really isn't very sexually productive? I mean, I rarely see him breed a hen and the two roosters have NEVER fought so they clearly aren't competing. He's like 3 years old too, so maybe he's slowed down?

 

[mamabear2005]

Ive got the same problem and am thinking of having a separate bachelor pad for the 2 roos. They are brothers, hand raised since 1 week old and get along great right now, have the alpha/beta thing worked out so far, but im sure it wont last forever (6 moths old and hens have started laying). If I do this will their coop need to be as large? Would a dog house work for roosters? (modified to be more coop like) Will the roos slow down in winter or will they make the hens miserable very soon?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Roosters get along way better than people think, occasionally there's a really good fight that can go on for a bit and get quite bloody, but it's mostly from the combs, I usually let mine do it and work it out, I have never treated a rooster for fight wounds, they look bad but heal just fine.

Roosters raised together usually work out the order at a younger age, young roosters added at a few months old are mainly ignore and fall into the position under the dominant roosters.

A dog house can work based on climate, having room to run a bit is more important, just don't try adding any older ones to a group of roosters. My temporary rooster pen is 2x6, and I let them out occasionally to make trouble before penning them up again.

Roosters mate less in winter, the comb color of the hens tell him who is in need of his services, when hens molt their comb shrinks and turns pink so usually these hens are not mated, younger first year hens are laying through winter may get mated. Come spring roosters get quite busy and this is when most fighting between roosters occurs due to surging testosterone levels.

 

[drewskimac]

I was thinking about this today. I have noticed that roosters are less busy come fall and winter... And i'm actually quite surprised that my hens look as good as they do for having only 6 hens and 2 roosters. the only damage on most of them is balding on the backs. a couple of them are balding on the next (that might be molting, i'm not sure?) So, do you think I could have my mom make some saddles and see how they do during the fall? Like I said, I rarely ever see one of the two roosters breed them in the first place.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Certainly make you decisions based on what you observe, in your situation the one rooster probably controls all the hens, I have roosters that have no hens they live on the outskirts, mostly left alone by the dominant roosters and I have never seen them mate, though they try enticing some hens.

Chickens do go through neck molt, so it's hard to say which is causing the feather lose, are yours old enough to fully molt. That would pretty much stop most mating and allow their feathers to grow back. I will usually take some time to decide such issues, spending more time observing the flock to see if and what I should do.

 

[mamabear2005]

Certainly make you decisions based on what you observe, in your situation the one rooster probably controls all the hens, I have roosters that have no hens they live on the outskirts, mostly left alone by the dominant roosters and I have never seen them mate, though they try enticing some hens.

Chickens do go through neck molt, so it's hard to say which is causing the feather lose, are yours old enough to fully molt. That would pretty much stop most mating and allow their feathers to grow back. I will usually take some time to decide such issues, spending more time observing the flock to see if and what I should do.

It seems like this is the case so far. The beta roo hangs back and have not seen him try to mate. The alpha has made it known that at least 2 of the hens are his. So far then the girls are great and not showing any signs of feather loss. I would love to add more hens but have no space for quarantine and am nervous about messing up the flock dynamics. They get along so well so far!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It is near impossible to add adult hens to an established flock, but fairly easy to add young chicks between 6-8 weeks, or to have a broody hen raise some.

 

[keesmom]

Do I have time to hatch a batch of chicks and wait for them to grow into adult hens?

Thankyou all!

If you want more hens I would suggest you order pullet chicks from a hatchery instead of hatching your own. If you hatch, on average 50% will be cockerels and that will compound your rooster problem. If you are like me 75% (or more) are male. My silkies even hatched 7/7 cockerels once too. (They were fired after that.)

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

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