Are 9 Too Many?

[ClareScifi]

I have 2 roosters I hatched in September that I was planning to send to a friend's farm. Last I heard, he had only 1 rooster, so I thought it would be a good set-up.

Today he told me he has 7 roosters. I asked where they all came from, and he said his friends hhad asked him if he would take their roosters, and he agreed (1 he bought).

He said he has only one rooster in with his 20 hens (a red rooster), and the other roosters are all apart from that rooster and the hens.

I asked whether they fight a lot, and he says they don't fight at all, or peck each other at all, that they never did, not even from the start, when they were first introduced to each other.

He promised me he would not eat my roosters, and that if they cause problems, he'll let me know, without killing them, so I can try to rehome them. He says he's not going to kill any of the roosters, that he likes their looks, looking at them, whereas he does plan to butcher some of the hens.

I asked whether we shouldn't separate out my roos with a chicken wire barrier so they don't get pecked by the other roosters when they are first introduced to them.

He said it isn't necessary, that he didn't do that with his friends' introduced roosters, and there were no problems, that they all got along fine from the start. He said there is so much space in the country for them to run to, if any rooster should try to chase or attack them, and the hens are separated from the roosters, so they wouldn't be a problem.

Do you think this is true, that my roosters would do fine just dumped in with his other ones? I have my doubts.

Do you think 9 roosters are too many in one location? Can you foresee other problems? He lives in a high predator area. I'm thinking so many roosters might lower my boys' chances of getting killed by the predators. They would have a 2 in 9 chance of it, if the other roosters were with them at the time the predators descend? Would that many roosters tend to keep the predators away? They are with the goats and donkeys and llamas, which also might help keep the predators away?

Darn, there are always snags in this rooster relocation project.

 

[ALRwild]

Hmmm... I guess it all depends on how desperate you are to get rid of your roos and how confident your friend is that there will not be a problem. If I were you, I would go for it. For my personal taste 9 roosters and 20 hens is not a very good balance, but as long as they get together, it should be okay. Just keep in touch with your friend to make sure that he isn't having problems with your boys.

 

[ClareScifi]

Thanks, ALRWild. I do think it's sweet that my friend takes in those roosters, giving them a home. He lives deep in the Boonies, so their crowing would not be a problem to neighbors, and his house is pretty far from their pen.

I found an old post on here about whether roosters can be friends, and it sounds like they can, that the big problem occurs when they are competing over hens and ganging up on hens.

It said there can be minor scuffles, and it does depend on the roosters. The farmer said none of the 7 roosters have shown aggression toward his 6 young children, unlike another rooster he had, that a friend had raised, whom he claims was mean and he killed it and it is in his freezer. The friend is still upset over this. He told me the whole story, from his point of view, and he said his rooster was sweet.

The fellow who will take my roosters said that one of the ones he has looks just like one of mine, so that could be a good sign, if that one he has doesn't fight. It might be a sign the breed is gentle.

I do know I was worried my two roosters would fight, but they get along great, even in their bachelor pen. I've seen them chase each other once in a while, but they really do co-exist peacefully and sleep pretty close together. I think they would defend each other to the end, also, which could be an advantage if they were placed together at the farm.

They don't like my 3d rooster who was raised separately. They don't really know him, since he wasn't brought up like a brother (one of the 2 roosters pecked him badly when they were both first hatched, after the StepMama had pecked them both), so that does make me worry about how they'll react to the new ones at the farm. But we are in town, and I don't think 3 roosters would go over with the neighbors here. My 3d boy doesn't crow very much at all, unlike the other 2, and he is more of a gentleman around the hens.

I'd love to keep all 3, but I don't think it's feasible, and the other places I've tried to home them with just didn't work out (they had the wrong color feathers, or the place wasn't zoned for roosters, or the people who wanted them were perverse suspected cockfighters or stew eaters, etc.)

I think I will need to plan to provide lifetime feed, since these roosters won't really be earning their keep, other than looking pretty, and the farmer doesn't have extra cash. I was hoping to buy my two roosters some grown hens just for themselves, but the farmer said he doesn't need any more hens.

This does seem my best solution to date. I feel better reading that roosters can get along together, especially if they have lots of open space to roam and aren't confined in close proximity. I like the idea of the fresh mountainous air for my boys. Our air here in town is highly polluted.

 

[SteveBaz]

Often times its when the roosters are mixed with the hens that there are problems. If he keeps the Roo's separate from the hens the boys have no reason to scrap at all. Maybe if you chip in for some food for a while he would do that and then if it works out great if not you can ask him to call and you can worry about re-home in the future. It sounds to me he has the freezer thing worked out with the hens and if that it you have no worries. Good luck it sounds like a sweet deal.