Rooster Flocks

i loved this
last year i hatched 12 gold brahma eggs and surprise surprise out of the 12 brahmas only 4 were hens so ended up seperating most of the cocrells exept 2, kip (he is white!!!) who was bullied alot by the boys so he is very nice to the girls and Rocket he is a beutiful cocrell and kind to the girls too
kip

rocket

This is a great article that informs the readers on how male chickens behave when there are no females around－which, contrary to popular belief, is a lot more calm than opposed to when there are females. Creating a rooster flock is a good choice when you find yourself with excess cockerels. I believe there should be a section in this article that further explains this topic: what you should do when you also have a flock consisting of females, and how to prevent your rooster flock from seeing them in order to not get into arguments over the hens.

Excellent informative and encouraging article for those who may wish to keep their roosters even though they have a flock where the ratio of roosters to hens is disproportionate. I saw your bachelor roosters thread a few years ago, and that led me to make a separate cockerel/rooster pen for my own boys. I now use it to separate randy young cockerels from pullets/hens until the boys' hormones settle down, to temporarily hold some roosters during non-breeding season to give the hens a break, and to keep some spare roosters "just in case." I've been able to move boys in and out of the bachelor pen at will, but my flocks are free-range, and I've only ever kept males with sweet and gentle temperments. Though I've never had a problem with roosters fighting, there have occasionally been hormonal cockerels that decided to "mate" with other cockerels. I've had anywhere from 3-17 cockerels/roosters housed together in the bachelor pen at various times.

Good article! I have a separate bachelor building for all of my guys, and they get along quite well…. most of the time. When one gets overly feisty with any of the other boys, he spends some time in the rooster jail that’s set up inside their building.

Very nice article on keeping the boys!

Wonderful article.. very informative!

This article answered almost all my questions. I am thinking about making a rooster flock because I already have 10 roosters and only 29 hens. I also will be incubating in spring so I really think it would be a good Idea to do this… Thanks!

Terrific and timely article. We have a small barred rock that our older rooster wouldn’t bully but he wouldn’t let him have any girls. the bar rock is full grown now and challenged the adult rooster and damaged his throat and now he can barely crow. I keep the smaller one in the garage in a small pen as that’s I have to keep him
Safe at night. We have a small fenced in yard that I put him out in as much as possible throughout the day so he doesn’t get confinement injuries in the small crate. I’ve been doing this for at least three weeks now is it safe to re-introduce them? I could re home him but he’s a great guy. Super gentle I can carry him around under my arm and all but he just hates that older rooster. Help and thanks!

Good information. Thank-you.

Thank you for the valuable information. I have 9 gorgeous bantam roos from a straight run in March of this year. I thought I would have to rehome them when I read horror stories of too many roos. They spend the day in the chicken run and free range 2-3 hours in the evening and other than an occasional spat, they get along just fine and are staying with us at Oak Pond.

Thank you for recognizing the value of roosters and for giving me some great ideas about how to manage my beautiful boys.

This is a brilliant article! In order to produce 5 colors of eggshells, I have to keep 10 roosters. One main breeder and a backup rooster for each color of eggshell (chocolate, mint, olive, blue, pink). 10 or 12 breeding pens with one rooster and 2 hens each is getting to be a lot to maintain past breeding season. I’m in the habit of letting them out of their pens to free range, but sometimes any of them don’t mind their own business and I have to break up squabbles. Breeds include Australorp, Ameracauna, Penedesenca, Marans, Naked Neck.

Informative

good job! hope your chickens are happy and healthy!

Well that's really cool I've never heard of a roo flock but I might try it way later in my life

Great article! Love the pictures!

I don't have more than 1 roo, but I plan on expanding my flock. This is a great article!

I am happy to see this article! I have been legit concerned I would wind up unexpectedly with a rooster- with the numerous "free roo" ads I see, I have felt I would have a difficult time re-homing. This article has changed that for me as I realize there are alternative solutions I would actually welcome and feel good about!!

Good resource for those raising multiple roosters. There could be a bit more detail on integration

This article is very useful for anyone who has an excess of roosters and is looking for a fun alternative for housing them. Very well written, lots of experience went in before this article was written.