Anyone Keep Multiple Roosters Successfully?

[pinewoodacres]

In my limited experience, you just have to play it by ear. It has a lot to do with individual temperament. Someone will always be top of the pecking order and there’s no real way around that. They can’t reason like we can; they are driven by instincts. The entire flock dynamic changes when you add or remove even just one of them.

I will note that I thought I was solving a problem by separating my run into two areas - one for just “da boys” and one for breeding. I use 2” chicken wire that’s 5ft tall and the cockerels ended up fighting hardcore through the fence. One ended up with a limp that’s just now better, and one that was super aggressive (and went to freezer camp) always had a bloody comb and wattles. The remaining ones have gotten better and don’t seem to have as many severe injuries and I have only one on each side of the divider. When I had more on the bachelor side of the run, they didn’t fight nearly as much with each other as they did across the fence. I had two boys in the breeding side at one point and those two were pretty much fine together also. I only have 9 females and half of them weren’t even to puberty yet in this time frame. I did have one smaller boy always jumping to the coop roof and coming over to the breeding side (which messed up my hatch dates as I had to stop collecting eggs) bc he was getting bullied on the bachelor side. The ones on the breeding side didn’t really care about him but they did chase him off from the females.

Anyway, all that to say, “It depends.” They can be fine together with or without females around. I would put a better divider if I did it again and I still might (another layer of smaller mesh, double layer of the chicken wire, a 1x6 board to prevent them kicking through it, a 12” opaque something or other to block their view…you get the point). What we think will help doesn’t always. If they want to get at each other, they will. Let them try to work it out and if they’re really hurting each other badly, freezer camp for the more aggressive one.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I have a lot of thinking to do. If my current guy was not aggressive towards me, I'd be a lot easier. I have a hard time thinking he'll get along with another male.

If I can't rehome my rooster, I will try integrating these new ones soon in hopes that he thinks there his. See what happens, i guess. He's been very good about letting babies into the flock so far. But I don't have a good feeling about it.

Do y'all think my current rooster will "influence" this new one to disrespect me, too?

And my current rooster is tiny. Like, super tiny. Like he weighs only one lb tiny. This new cockerel is a large breed. Does that change the situation any?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I keep multiple roosters - flock in sig below. I culled 2 this week, down to 7, I think. Took five others maybe two weeks back, and three more a week or two before that... The rest are ladies. The 1:10 ratio you see thrown about is for fertility (and with young roos and young hens, I've had very good fertility at 1:14-1:18), NOT for behavior.

SPACE is a social lubricant. The more space you have, the more likely the roos will tolerate one another, and that the ladies will split to hang out around their favorite roo, who will likely move to opposite ends of their forage range and crow at one another in an effort to entice the girls.

Yes, vast size disparities are a potential problem. Granted, I have an 8.5# Roo who is currently low on totem pole - his name is "Ugly", and he's a Brahma cross with mutt. Brahma get big, but they are slow to develop. He doesn't object when some of my smaller (4.5-5.5#) "red" Roos (mutts of mutts) jump ladies right in front of him, but as he gets his hormones, I expect that WILL change.

Even so, it stresses that there are no guarantees - individual birds, individual circumstances both combine to offer individual results, which may change from year to year, even with no change in management style by you.

And for myself, I give my breeders a year with the ladies, then freezer camp. I leave my best older hens (1 year+) to teach the young roos how to behave. It generally works for me. GENERALLY.

Flock in sig, below. They free range about 1 3/4 acres of pasture, plus about 4.5 acres of woods - and frequently escape the electric fence to add another acre or three to their range.

 

[adstowe]

If your current rooster is aggressive towards you, I'd ditch him now and raise the cockerel up in you established flock. The older hens will push him around and make him earn his place. Ideally he'll turn out better than the first one, but it's always a guessing game. Either way, the first guy needs to go and give the little dude a shot at proving himself.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I have 3 groups with multiple roosters (soon to be just 2 for an unrelated reason).

One group free ranges 24/7/365 and has 2 males and maybe 11 females? They get along usually, though the older male does occasionally reinforce his top status with with younger one.

The other group has 3-4 (4 during the day, 3 when penned up) males and 8-11 females. Older male very rarely starts or participates in squabbles. Usually the interloper is just chased away from the main food source.

However, nearly all these males have been raised in the flock with the head males. The interloper is the only one who was seperate up until 5 months ago

 

[DarJones]

Genetics play a big part in this. I currently have 14 roosters in a flock with about 40 hens. It is way too many roosters, but I had to grow them out to determine which have the best traits to retain. I will cull down to 3 or 4 roosters this weekend. My base stock is Silver Laced Wyandotte. All of the roosters are related and all of them grew up within the flock.

About 20 years ago, I added a small red game rooster to a mixed flock of barred rock, black australorp, and brown leghorns. There were four large adult roosters and the single young red game. Red Game whipped #4 rooster after about an hour of fighting and #4 ran from him. A few days later, Red Game whipped #3 rooster after a couple of hours of fighting. Both were mauled pretty bad. A week later, Red Game then whipped #2 rooster after about a day of fighting. Both looked like they had been drawn and quartered. A month later, Red Game whipped #1 rooster after 3 days of fighting. It looked like a slaughterhouse, but #1 rooster now ran from Red Game. Needless to say, Red Game got first dibs with the hens from that point on.

 

[RHF]

I have read lots of bad situations with multiple roosters. I just want to be as close to 100% sure as possible before I decide what to do.

I have an established flock of 8 hens, 3 laying pullets, and 1 rooster, mixed ages (8 months - 3.5 years).

I have two 2-week old chicks (a pullet and a cockerel) in the brooder.

I am expecting an order of 6 female chicks in early May. The final ratio would be 2 males:18 females.

I will have a 10x10 coop ready before the current 2 in the brooder are ready to go outside. I will also have a 1600+ sq ft yard for them. Free ranging is not possible here due to huuuuge predator load.

I would *like* to keep both males, but I know that invites a whole host of potential problems. And I want to do right by all the birds involved.

1) In your folks' experience, is that a big enough area to help alleviate issues?

2) is it even possible for 2 unrelated boys to cohabitate?

3) Would having separate coops help? I am not keen on building another, but I can, or I can try dividing the 10x10.

4) Or should I just rehome one of the males? (Full disclosure: I don't eat my chickens) I realize whoever gets one will probably turn him into soup.

Any advice/input would be hugely appreciated.

We have a flock of 37 chickens total, 5 roosters and 32 hens and we rarely have problems with fighting, occasionally there will be some fighting if we introduce new birds to the flock
But that's to be expected, but other than that we have very little fighting even with 5 roosters.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have read lots of bad situations with multiple roosters. I just want to be as close to 100% sure as possible before I decide what to do.

It is hard to know what to do. Chickens and especially chicken behaviors don't go by hard and fast rules. That would be too easy. Reading some posts on the forum you could be forgiven if you think that 3.99 square feet per chicken is a disaster in waiting while 4.01 is pure utopia. Real life doesn't work that way. You don't know for sure what will happen.

1) In your folks' experience, is that a big enough area to help alleviate issues?

As compared to a smaller coop and run, it helps. But it does not guarantee anything.

2) is it even possible for 2 unrelated boys to cohabitate?

Possible, certainly. Guaranteed, certainly not.

3) Would having separate coops help? I am not keen on building another, but I can, or I can try dividing the 10x10.

I've had multiple roosters share one 8' x 12' coop so it is possible. I think your odds of success would improve if they did have separate places to sleep.

4) Or should I just rehome one of the males?

I would rehome one of them with full disclosure. Not because of any of this stuff but because he is attacking you. Don't worry about doing the right thing for your chickens, do the right thing for yourself.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I have read lots of bad situations with multiple roosters. I just want to be as close to 100% sure as possible before I decide what to do.

I have an established flock of 8 hens, 3 laying pullets, and 1 rooster, mixed ages (8 months - 3.5 years).

I have two 2-week old chicks (a pullet and a cockerel) in the brooder.

I am expecting an order of 6 female chicks in early May. The final ratio would be 2 males:18 females.

I will have a 10x10 coop ready before the current 2 in the brooder are ready to go outside. I will also have a 1600+ sq ft yard for them. Free ranging is not possible here due to huuuuge predator load.

I would *like* to keep both males, but I know that invites a whole host of potential problems. And I want to do right by all the birds involved.

1) In your folks' experience, is that a big enough area to help alleviate issues?

2) is it even possible for 2 unrelated boys to cohabitate?

3) Would having separate coops help? I am not keen on building another, but I can, or I can try dividing the 10x10.

4) Or should I just rehome one of the males? (Full disclosure: I don't eat my chickens) I realize whoever gets one will probably turn him into soup.

Any advice/input would be hugely appreciated.

I keep multiple roosters with minimal problems.

I've added unrelated cockerels to established flocks at a young age, to limit problems. The boys get a good slapping around, & learn their manners.(Occasionally you get those that don't learn, & have to remove, or turn into soup)

 

[Tonyroo]

Everyone made valid points with there rooster management. For your situation having a bantam rooster and integrating a LF rooster breed would be bad. So your doing right by rehoming him.