What are the happiest ending options for my Roos? Long and rambling post.

[Shugercube]

TLDR: Ok I know “what to do” with Roos, but. Is there any way to realistically make having multiple roosters work? And have them all still be happy and healthy? I’ve heard one mention of a “bachelor pad.” Does that really exist, and does it really work?

So, now my ultimate problem lol: I LOVE all animals, and I love all my birds!! I’m not sure how many Roos I actually currently have out of all my babies, but I know I now have at LEAST three. I have a total of 26 birds. Only 12 are sexed, and I have 3 confirmed Roos out of those. I have guesses for my younger birds, some based off of feather sexing, some based off coloring/markings (like my barred rocks’ white spots on their heads). Based off of my guesses, I have another 7 suspected Roos. One of which I am already VERY attached to

I don’t have any legal restrictions on Roos, so it’s not that I “can’t” have more than one. I just have no idea how to even begin making decisions on who to keep, if they can possibly all learn to get along, or what. Especially when I love them all so much, I don’t want to have to get rid of any of them lol. I obviously will, if/when it becomes necessary, but I really would much prefer to find a way to keep them if there’s any way possible to do so safely and without causing issues. I have a very mixed flock, some of which are fairly rare breeds. I don’t necessarily plan on breeding for any reason other than maintaining egg production for my family, at least not any time soon, but I also would hate to rule out the possibility of expanding my flock or even generating extra income on the side by getting rid of any of my rarer Roos that I’ve raised from hatch. I do know that at some point my girls will stop laying and I’ll need to raise up some more babies, and ideally I’d like to have them be purebred, or at least be common crosses that are known to be generally healthy layers, preferably sex-linked so that I can weed out Roos before I have time to get attached, and that I’d have a good idea of what to expect from their offspring.

The various breeds in my flock, just for reference in case anyone’s interested or has suggestions of which breed(s) of roo would be best to keep for maintaining decent production as my layers start slowing down with age. I have mixed numbers of each, from 1 up to 4 of each. I have: RIR, BR, CM, GLW, ayam cemani, golden Sebright, buff silkies, australorp, light Brahma, coronation Sussex, pavlovskaya, SFH, amber link, OEGB (suspected, but possibly Dutch bantam or something similar), and isa brown.

 

[casportpony]

What is your setup like?

 

[NatJ]

I’ve heard one mention of a “bachelor pad.” Does that really exist, and does it really work?

I believe it does work for some people, but some other people have trouble with theirs.
There are quite a few threads discussing it.
You can search this site for "bachelor pad" and also "rooster flock" to find them.

Here is a particular article written by one member:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/rooster-flocks.72998/

 

[Shugercube]

What is your setup like?

Just starting out, and constantly changing! Lol.

Right now I have 13 5wks and older in a 12x12 enclosed coop with 2 external nesting boxes, an external brooder box being built that will be attached and accessible from both inside and outside the enclosed coop, and a 12x7 run. My babies (all under a week) are inside my house in the brooders. And I just realized I can’t math I have 33 birds, not 27. I ultimately plan on free ranging most of the time, but my yard is not yet fully fenced and I don’t want them to run off! We have just shy of 2 acres for them to roam once the fence is all done.

 

[casportpony]

I think you'll be fine free-ranging three roosters.

 

[Shugercube]

Just starting out, and constantly changing! Lol.

Right now I have 13 5wks and older in a 12x12 enclosed coop with 2 external nesting boxes, an external brooder box being built that will be attached and accessible from both inside and outside the enclosed coop, and a 12x7 run. My babies (all under a week) are inside my house in the brooders. And I just realized I can’t math I have 33 birds, not 27. I ultimately plan on free ranging most of the time, but my yard is not yet fully fenced and I don’t want them to run off! We have just shy of 2 acres for them to roam once the fence is all done.

Oh, meant to add that once I am able to start free-ranging, the plan is to fully enclose the run and combine them both into one huge chicken house!

 

[Isadora]

Oh, meant to add that once I am able to start free-ranging, the plan is to fully enclose the run and combine them both into one huge chicken house!

Would that make it large enough to keep in all the chickens in case free ranging doesn't work out?
Sometimes people plan to free range their birds and don't have a back up plan when a lot of their birds get taken by predators. Just want to be thinking ahead.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I have multiple roosters that are happily kept together. You have to keep a really close eye on things and be ready to makes changes immediately if necessary. I don't keep my bantams and large fowl together because the bantams are scrappy and ruthless in their attacks on the large fowl. My boys are the happiest whenever they were free ranging during the day and locked up at night for their safety. With this arrangement, I still had one that was forever being picked on.

 

[Shugercube]

Would that make it large enough to keep in all the chickens in case free ranging doesn't work out?
Sometimes people plan to free range their birds and don't have a back up plan when a lot of their birds get taken by predators. Just want to be thinking ahead.

It would leave about 7sq ft per bird if so, as long as I don’t get more/ one out one in them (haha chicken math). Once they’re combined, I still have room to add an additional run as well if it came down to it!

 

[Mrs. K]

Roosters IMO take experience, and multiple roosters are even more tricky.

The thing with roosters is how they behave today, really has almost no influence on tomorrow, neither does being raised together help, or free-ranging part of the time. Multiple roosters are tricky - and you do need a plan B, set up and ready to go.

Wishing they would all be nice and BFF does not work. And they won't learn to get along. They will get along until they don't, and then you need plan B or C or...

Some people keep bachelor pens very successfully. Sometimes they work well, and sometimes even after having worked well, there is a disaster. Roosters are rather a crap shoot, and you just have to go with that.

I do know of a flock, where they never pen them up, and they have multiple roosters, and all seem content. It is a very large flock, and it is a multi-generational flock. I think you have better luck with those. It sounds like you have all very young birds, all hatched this year, and that may be tougher to blend together, so if it doesn't work this year, it might in years to come.

But the problem with free ranging all the time - is predators, they can wipe you out. And in a much more ugly fashion, than just a human culling a bird.

My advice, try it, see what happens, have a plan B, and a fishnet to separate the birds. They don't call it cock fighting for nothing. Most inexperienced people vastly underestimate how violent a rooster can be, to either other birds or to people.

On another note: Do you have small children, as roosters tend to attack them first and a child can take it in the face.

Mrs K