50/50 ratio Help,tips..

[Nenad]

I have 5 Cockerels(3 mixed breed, 1 silver leghorn and 1 australorp) and one japanese bantam pullet. I am a minor and I can add 5 more hens next year maximum. They don't try to mate with bantam pullet. They were all raised together. My father won't let me free range them next year for whole day, I asked can I free range them and be with them for few hours a day( maybe in morning and evening). Can 50/50 ratio be done, did anyone do that. I have 4×8 A frame chicken tractor that stays in place, I can add next year 2 pallets in A frame to that. I really love my cockerels and I don't want to eat them. Rehoming isn't option because here they all have chickens and they eat their roos. Thank you and please don't judge me to hard.

 

[aart]

Best to only have as many males as you need for your goals.
Multiple males will almost always cause problems.
You might be able to keep the males in the same enclosure,
but house your females separately.

they eat their roos

That's a good thing to do with them, in my opinion.

 

[Mrs. K]

Oh honey, you are in the wishing stage of chickens. Wishing they will all be nice and get along. Roosters most of the time are just not like that. They can get very ornery to each other, to the pullet and even towards you and your family.

You are in the darling stage of roosters, where it is nearly impossible to imagine them being such jerks. But with 5 roosters, I am pretty sure that it is coming. And you need a plan for if it does.

You need at least a dog crate, sometimes you can find them on Craigslist, or second hand. But you need one ASAP. Get prepared before you get into trouble. You need to have a way to separate roosters if they start fighting. Fighting roosters can tear each other apart. People tend to underestimate the violence of fighting roosters. And as they are all getting along now, it is hard to imagine, but be prepared.

Personally I would not keep 5 roosters unless I had the space for a flock of 50 birds. Not because I am a believer in 1:10 ratio, but because I am a believer in space. Roosters need more space than hens. Adding more hens won't help, but will make the problem worse. They will have hens to fight over. Roosters have no concept of sharing.

Being raised together, or current behavior is no indicator how roosters will act in a week, or a month. Have a plan B.

Instead of keeping these birds, as forever friends... try and think of it as keeping a flock. Birds come and go in a flock. In the long run, I am very confident that you will have a much happier flock that will be a joy to be around, if you let the roosters go. You really have a flock set up to be a disaster.

I know this is not what you want to hear. I do love having one rooster at a time. But I am very comfortable with removing any bird that does not work in my flock. I keep a flock.

Mrs K

 

[Ridgerunner]

Can 50/50 ratio be done

With living animals anything is possible but some things are highly unlikely. My typical suggestion is to keep as few males as you can and still meet your goals. That's not because you are guaranteed more problems with more boys but that more problems are likely the more you have. You have a lot of boys. Having one hen or one hundred doesn't affect that. Getting more girls doesn't help. From reading your post it sounds like space is somewhat limited. That doesn't help.

Since you refuse to let any go my suggestion is to keep a bachelor pad. House all the boys together separated from any girls. With no girls to fight over the boys often won't fight. With living animals anything can happen but many people successfully keep their boys in bachelor pads. You might be able to keep one boy with that one girl or more girls, but in your place I'd be thinking at least four of the boys in a bachelor pad.