Roo to Hen Ratio with Mixed Breeds

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ChicksnPacas

ChicksnPacas

In the Brooder
11 Years
Apr 9, 2008
69
1
39
Byron, IL
I've read various posts ranging from keeping one rooster to ten hens up to one rooster to twenty hens. I'm wondering if this refers to the same size breed.

I have a total of nineteen one and two month old silkies and bantam cochins, up to large breed BO, leghorns, etc. I only know one is a rooster so far. I planned on letting the different breeds stay together.

Will a large rooster try to breed a small bantam hen? Do you still keep the same ratio without looking at breed size? I am hoping I will not need to keep the sizes separate. Anyone one with mixed sizes together?
 
Oh yeah, I have 2 Black Sex Links, 1 Jersey Giant, 2 OEG Hens, 2 Partrigde Rocks, 2 Black ? that are all serviced by a OEG Rooster but I don't hatch the eggs.
 
I had a mixed flock as well consisting of 1 cuckoo maran, 1 golden laced wyandotte (both roosters) 2 ameraucana hens, 1 rhode island red bantie roo, the rest were cochin bantams and a few other bantams they got along just fine.... In fact this winter was pretty brutal as far as temps go and all i had in the coop was a 250 watt heat lamp and no heat in the run so to keep warm they huddled under the big birds... It was soooo cute to see. Yours should be just fine as long as they are used to each other now and grow up together. Just my personal opinion, I wish you the best
 
Will the small guys try to mate the big girls? Yes.
Will the big guys try to mate the little girls? Yes.
That is what they do; they dont know any different.

Here's the rule of thumb on male:female ratios:

For medium breeds, it's one male for every 10 females.
For small breeds, it's one male for every 15 females.
For the largest breeds, it's one male for every 8 females.

These numbers are accepted as breeding standards, to ensure good fertility. They may not apply outside of the disciplined breeding pen and they are not etched in stone. As with all things "chicken," a little deviation is allowed.

If you want reliable results, it's always best to maintain a consistent flock in both size and breed type. Predictions become moot without that.

With your mixed bag of birds, you can do about as you please. I suggest you adopt a "wait and see" attitude. You have a lot of complex dynamic in your flock, with all the multiple sizes and types. Under those circumstances, most anything can happen and everything is gonna be a guess.
 
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Serviced......
gig.gif
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Sorry got a kick out of that
 
Glad to hear I can start by keeping them all together. I'm still trying to figure out which ones are roosters right now. I know I will have to fnd new homes for a few of them. Thanks for your replies!
 
Quote:
This is really interesting because I know a family that has 18 chickens and five of them are roosters as a result of a classroom hatching project that was not really well thought out in advance . That seems like a lot of roosters to me, and their hens do look like the roosters pick on them quite a bit (they have heavy breeds.)

~Phyllis
 
Be cautious about excerpting out of context... remember the warning that these were not cast in stone, just generally accepted guidlines for breeding purposes.

For example, if the males are kept separate, then you can have as many as you wish. In fact it's thought to be beneficial if you have a "pool" of males and rotate them out among the breeding females. This is one adaptation of the pen breeding method. You have more control over the flock as a whole this way and you can better know which of the males are best suited for breeding.

But in the case of 5 males left to mingle in a total population of 18, well - most would consider that excessive.
Some hens will become "favorites" and so be worn to a frazzle, while others may be neglected. Too, the plentiful males will likely fight incessantly among themselves and so again, some of the females will be left barren.

If you dont care about such things or are ignorant of them, well.... anything goes. But if you want to have consistent, dependable results, then some control needs to be practiced.
 
I agree about the control. If you care about the comfort of your bantams, I'd not let a large-sized roo breed them. I'd separate them. In my case here, I have pens of Brahma Bantams separate from my Delawares. My bantam hens are a little over two lbs. My Delaware roos are upwards of 8.5 lbs. Common sense would dictate, I think, that it's not a great idea to let those big guys run roughshod over those little girls. I don't know what sizes you're talking about with your flock, but I think the comfort of the hens probably needs to be a consideration.
 

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