1 Roo for 20 hens?

[Bleenie]

I am starting to dislike my EE roos personality more and more lately, he has started getting really rough with the girls and chasing them all over the property. I have a Wyandotte Roo also and I am wondering if he would be able to "take care of" all 20 of the girls once they're full grown? Nine of them are only about 8wks now so there's a ways to go for them but I just wanna be sure. I do want to be able to hatch some of their eggs to replenish the flock a little bit later on.

The Wyandotte roo is much nicer, he hardly chases them and he's not really rough at all when he grabs them, is this normal behavior for Wyandotte roos? If so, I might just replace EE with another Wyandotte.

 

[Bleenie]

anyone?

 

[gamebirdsonly]

With that many hens I would have at least 3 roos just to make sure eggs are fertile

 

[kano]

I use to have this one (EE), he lived with 17 girls. I put 6 eggs of their eggs under a broody and 5 were born.(and he has been one of my best roosters ever)

 

[TheReidHomestead]

My Wyandotte roo is also incredibly gentle. Never had an EE roo though.

 

[Bleenie]

I don't doubt the EE roo could handle them all, he chases them like crazy all day long. They recently started laying but I am sure if I put some in the incubator they would grow/hatch. But he is just such a jerk to them, pulling feathers and making them scream bloody murder.... and he thinks that everyone needs to know HE"S THE MAN a bazillion times a day....

I just said, " I must have stopped raining, the dummy is out there yelling again"

 

[Delmar]

Quote:
I was given 7 roos a while back. 6 are in the freezer. Of the 7, 4 were EE two of those were mean, I don't know the disposition of one because I processed him right away. One is a very proper gentleman.

 

[kano]

Armin, like I said, is extremely gentle, when he mounted one hen, eventhoug he was big, you could see how carefull he was. He never chaise one around ,separate the figths betwen them, and so on.....

 

[Karrie13]

Is your roo young too? If so, give him some time to calm down. My roo was rough with the ladies at first too but has calmed down a LOT as he got older. He used to Chase them and grab their necks and have his way with them, now he is a gentlemen.

 

[BooBear]

20 hens ....... well he will die wore out but overly happy!

The rule of thumb is around 10 hens per 1 rooster. Some breeders like to keep the hen to rooster ratio a little lower to insure fertility of the eggs.