- Thread starter
- #11
SweetieChicken234
Chirping
- Jun 9, 2023
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This is the situation I may find myself in. I have a flock of 8- 9 week olds. They are outside with my flock in the baby pen. I want to keep one of those cockerels too. He is my little baby. Sweet little cuddly boy. He is very submissive and runs away from the 2 Wyandotte cockerels in his flock. I worry about him with the 2 big boys BUT his flock also has pullets. I read that when you add a male and he comes with his own females it may be ok. I want to try because he's my little Delaware boy that was supposed to be a sexed pullet. Turns out I love the boy!! HahaMany will say (I have too, in the past) that you need a minimum of 8 hens per rooster. However, I've found there is no magic number that works with all flocks. Some roosters need 20 hens all to himself, others can share with only 5 hens between two of them. You just have to watch and see what they do.
Yes, multiple roosters CAN live together in peace.
I happen to have two roosters and an 8-month-old cockerel with about 40-45 hens. It's a lot of girls, yes, but it is the number I've found that is most peaceful in my flock. My boys get along very well with each other. They each know their place. There is a LITTLE bit of chasing with the older roos going after my young cockerel, but nothing violent and they rarely even make contact. The older roos never fuss with each other. They are best buddies and a great team for watching over the flock. The youngster is learning from them, and has even started collecting a harem of his own who follow him around.
I had a fourth rooster about a year ago, a big beautiful BPR. But he was a shy, submissive kind of guy and would not stand up for himself. He was attacked by a group of hens once (nearly killed him!) while the roos stood by and watched, no doubt chortling to themselves and cheering the girls on. He eventually quit trying to fit in. When they free-ranged, I'd see him way out on the fringes of the flock, all by his lonesome. When they were locked in the run, he'd hide inside the coop. It was very sad. He would have been quite happy being the only rooster in a small flock, but alas, I did not have the setup for it. I got lucky and was able to rehome him with a bunch of pullets to a gentleman who'd just lost his whole flock to a dog attack and was starting over.