7 Rooter and 4 hens - need advice on how to handle this

[Eristas]

The question is, do you really want a rooster?
And how many hens do you want all in all?

Yes, I do want a rooster as that will offer at least some protection for the hens when they are free ranging. As far as quantity goes, ideally I'd have 12 hens and 1 rooster as that is the size flock I built the coop and run for.

 

[LaFleche]

Yes, I do want a rooster as that will offer at least some protection for the hens when they are free ranging. As far as quantity goes, ideally I'd have 12 hens and 1 rooster as that is the size flock I built the coop and run for.

Sounds good to me.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm concerned that the girls and 2 roosters that don't run with the gang are scared to come down to eat and drink since they are harassed when they do.

I do let them all free range most days, but even with the run open most of the girls will not come down.

That is pretty much what is going on. I don't care how much acreage you have, if they are locked in the coop and run none of that is available. How much room, in feet or meters, do you have in your coop? In your run? Can they come down without the others seeing them? A standard suggestion to allow them all to eat is to have multiple widely scattered food and water stations but if they can be seen from the others they will get bullied away. They need to be out of sight. I don't know what criteria you used to build a coop and run for 13 chickens, but for something like this square feet doesn't mean much. Can they get out of sight of each other?

Additionally, just today I saw a bit of blood on the head of one of the girls. This is the first time blood has been drawn.

That's a sign that something probably needs to change. The head grab is part of the mating act. The rooster grabbing the back of the head is her sign to raise her tail out of the way so he can hit the target. But if she is resisting it is a way for him to control her. It could have been an accident, he did not grab correctly and cut her skin or comb. But if they are resorting to that they should be separated.

I do not want to kill any of my chickens and I do have a lot of land. I'm looking for some advice on the best and quickest solution to this issue.

In my opinion adding more girls is not the answer. You can have as much fighting between boys over 40 girls as you can over 1. You can have as many over-mating and barebacked problems with 40 girls as you can with 4. Even if you skipped quarantine all you'd accomplish by adding a bunch of girls would be you now have to handle integration on top of everything else.

Since you don't want to get rid of any boys the quickest solution is to build that bachelor pad and put the boys there. If five are causing trouble put five. When those other two start causing trouble, if they do, add them. You can try putting one with the four girls, sometimes that isn't too bad, but as they go through puberty you will probably want to remove more boys.

The obvious long term solution is to get rid of 6 of those boys and bring in another 8 girls if you want to get to one male and 12 females. You may reach that point in time, but it sure sounds like you are not ready yet. But to solve your immediate problem isolation of the troublemakers is the obvious answer.

I could seperate them out into a batchelor flock (but I have concerns about 5 roosters together as well) and a girls flock with 2 of the roosters that are not harassing them. Or I was thinking I could go get 30 more hens from somewhere to fix the gender ratio - problem is I'd have to quarantine the new girls for 30 days and I have a problem now. Not sure what to do here, any advice welcome.

For reference I have 10 acres in the middle of no where so space isn't an issue, neither is getting a whole lot more chickens - its the 30 day quarantine thing that makes that not a quick solution.

 

[Eristas]

Ok, it looks like the plan right now is to move the 4 girls out of the coop into a spare kennel/secondary existing coop we have several hundred yards away from the where the roosters will be and out of sight of them. Its much too small for the full flock but I think fine for only 4 hens.

This will mean the 7 roosters will form a batchelor flock in the main coop and the four girls will chill nearer to the house with us. In time (ie before winter) I will aim to get a better setup for the hens, and possibly more full sized hens as well and construct a second proper sized coop and run for them on the opposite side of the property from the roosters.

Or maybe I can relegate the boys to the new location later on as I really like the current spot for hens. The boys can have the other side of the property!

I mean alternatively my neighbor will happily process and eat the roosters but I would just feel terrible about that.

 

[jpalmatier83]

Ultimate plan is to have happy chickens, no more than that. I'm not doing it for egg production or money, I just like chickens lol. I have had flocks on and off for the last 20 or so years. But, I don't have much exp with roosters. I finally managed to buy a place with land last year, my previous places were very much the suburban backyard type of setups so I could only have hens before and even then my prior max flock size was 6.

Hen politics I'm fine with, I've introduced new girls to an existing flock loads of times before. It's just the roos I don't have much experience with.

So, my suggestion would be to keep one roo, rehome the six others, add some pullets, and watch how it goes. Sounds like that would be the next progression to your chiicken experience and would also be the way to have the happiest birds.

Roos will be a new experience. Something I feel must be lived and can’t be fully described. For some it’s worth the effort (and potential risk), for others, not. You’ll do your best to pick the right one. Sometimes you’ll hit a home run. Sometimes, despite all odds, they’ll be a terror.

Congrats on upgrading your place.

What I can say definitely is that with 7 Roos and 4 hens, no one will be happy.

 

[Eristas]

What I can say definitely is that with 7 Roos and 4 hens, no one will be happy.

You got that right! I am especially not happy. Anyways, I put together a makeshift second coop from a large doghouse and kennel that came with the property. Its actually perfectly sized for the 4 hens. It's not as secure as my main coop though, so I was hesitant to move the girls tonight.

I went down to the main coop at chicken bedtime and all 11 of them were acting very peaceful for once in their lives. Damn things are making me feel even more bad about splitting up the flock! I am a giant softie when it comes to animals. grr.

Anyway, as they were playing nice tonight and the 2nd coop could do with better security I'm letting them stay together tonight and that will give me time to reinforce the new coop and build a door for the front of the kennel/run as its open right now and we do have predators.

So assuming they're all still being discordant tomorrow I'll move the girls after I've finished reinforcing coop #2.

I'm probably grasping as straws here but as they have all been raised together from 1 day old chicks.....is there a chance in hell of them working out their differences or is it 100% yeah, no way?

 

[LaFleche]

By your description I would suggest to rather move the (surplus) cockerels to the makeshift doghouse coop and leave the pullets in the secure one.

And no, just because they were once cute chicks raised together does not mean they will not feel their hormones at puberty.
Get it over with before they seriously injure the pullets in their hormonal overdrive.

 

[jpalmatier83]

You got that right! I am especially not happy. Anyways, I put together a makeshift second coop from a large doghouse and kennel that came with the property. Its actually perfectly sized for the 4 hens. It's not as secure as my main coop though, so I was hesitant to move the girls tonight.

I went down to the main coop at chicken bedtime and all 11 of them were acting very peaceful for once in their lives. Damn things are making me feel even more bad about splitting up the flock! I am a giant softie when it comes to animals. grr.

Anyway, as they were playing nice tonight and the 2nd coop could do with better security I'm letting them stay together tonight and that will give me time to reinforce the new coop and build a door for the front of the kennel/run as its open right now and we do have predators.

So assuming they're all still being discordant tomorrow I'll move the girls after I've finished reinforcing coop #2.

I'm probably grasping as straws here but as they have all been raised together from 1 day old chicks.....is there a chance in hell of them working out their differences or is it 100% yeah, no way?

I mean, miracles do happen. That said, its about a 99.97% chance 7 Roos and 4 hens don’t work in a full flock. And I think the 0.03% chance is being generous. I just hate to tell people the situation they want is hopeless.

That doesn’t mean you can’t keep them all. Once you have them divided, give it a little time. See how day to day life, chores, bird behavior, and whatnot work for you. Maybe you’ll be fine keeping both a bachelor coop and a traditional flock.

Keep in mind that you can’t free range both groups simultaneously. I also don’t know how a shared fence wall will change things. The bachelor flocks I’ve read about have always been isolated from hens entirely.

It just wouldn’t be my first choice.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

By your description I would suggest to rather move the (surplus) cockerels to the makeshift doghouse coop and leave the pullets in the secure one.

If there’s less space in the dog kennel than the current coop, that’s a recipe for disaster for a bachelor flock.

 

[LaFleche]

If there’s less space in the dog kennel than the current coop, that’s a recipe for disaster for a bachelor flock.

There will be less birds in it than in the actual one and at least the pullets will be safe.