2 Roos?

[Heat]

I currently have a flock of 12 hens, a roo, a drake, and two ducks. Their coop is a large 6’ by 20’ fiberglass greenhouse and they have a fenced yard attached (say 20’ by 20’). Most of the hens leave the fenced yard and free range around our property.

I have 8 chicks brooding in the house, in a few weeks they will go in the coop with the flock and eventually integrate into the flock. This will give me 20 hens/pullets eventually.

Now… my mom has an older flock of 8 hens and a roo. They are much older, 6 or 7 years old, and have stopped laying regularly. Their coop is deteriorating and mom is done taking care of them. We got them several years ago when I was living at home, so they are technically our flock.

I would like to bring them home, but I am not sure if 28 hens will be enough to keep the two roos from fighting. My current roo is a Japanese Bantam (just turned a year old), the other is an Easter Egger (7 years old). They are both rather docile right now, but I am afraid Stellar (the Egger) will just step on Bonsai (the Bantam) and that would be it for him.

I could look at building a new coop for the older flock to live their days in, but I would rather they roost in the greenhouse if at all possible because it is the more secure than anything I could build.

Any ideas, suggestions, or tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Bill Matthews]

Twenty eight hens should do the trick...No pun intended...

 

[Heat]

Appreciated!!

 

[donrae]

The two roos will still have to figure out who's boss. It may be pretty mild, or they could be pretty determined and make life miserable. The age of the ee may help, he's past his prime and may easily yield to the younger bird. Size doesn't matter so much in the animal world, so the little guy may win out.

Once they work that out, you have plenty of hens. I have four roosters--two 8 months or so, one 1 year and one 4 years. The older one just got de-throned by the yearling and I don't think he's mating much, but the three young guys are making some of my hens ragged. I think I have 20-24 hens--not positive, actually--but three roosters gotta go!


Your set up sounds a lot like mine! I thought I was reading about myself--a little different ratio, but I have two older drakes, one hen duck, the roosters and hens in a similar sized run and my coop is also an old greenhouse!

 

[tamraclovw]

I have 2 8 month old brothers who seem to be sharing my 15 hens nicely. I've never seen then fight, and both mount and crow. Sometimes I think they each have their own girls, with the less colorful male having 6 or so females with him most of the time, but I'm not sure about that.

 

[Heat]

Thanks! I am feeling more hopeful about this situation than I was before.

I will be bringing the older flock home on Saturday so I have the weekend to observe and see how they do before I have to leave them to fend for themselves while I am at work.


I am excited to bring the original flock home, one of them is a Blue Cochin with feet feathers (don't know why... but I LOVE the feet feathers) and she has always been my favorite.

@donrae - the greenhouses work out well don't they? I am using an old fiberglass one that has algae and whatnot covering it and it doesn't get much if any sun since the trees have grown up around it since it was established in the early 80's. It still has a bench on one side (we put nests under that one) and an open table on the other which serves as their roost.

 

[Heat]

Well the new flock is home and doing well!

The Roos have been right next to each other but haven't scuffled. Stellar (the older/new Roo) scuffled with one of my original hens, but they are fine now. A few of the original hens are scuffling a bit with the new/older ones, but it hasn't happened a lot or often.

This transition has gone MUCH better than I had anticipated