Are three Roosters too many ?

[Portalguy]

Just that... someone has offered us a Sussex rooster about the same age as our flock.

My wife who is from eastern Europe and knows some of the traditional chicken wisdom says that three males are better than two, two often clash but three provide distraction (she actually heard some wisdom from her long-departed grandmother, it's not first hand experience unfortunately). Then she started reading that too many roosters can curtail hens from laying eggs. Aaaargh.

This is our first year raising chickens, with a flock of 23; about half Sussex and half Black Australorp. One of each breed is (quite noticably) male. As they are about two months old, they haven't clashed and largely ignore each other in the huge run that they have. They have a large coop with ample roosting poles.

Thoughts?

Thanks!!!

 

[ranchhand]

I think you might try it and see- you can always get rid of one if you have to.

 

[Mahonri]

I'd say it's too many with 23 hens.

I recently put my three roosters in their own pen.


When I'm ready for fertile eggs I'll put one in at a time for a week at a time and see what kind of designer chickens I can get.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I suggest you read this article, both about quarantine and about flock integration.

Buff Hooligan’s Adding to your flock
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-adding-to-your-flock

Since they are about two months old, you might have a chance, but I think it is very risky. If you quarantine him for a month, then house him next to the flock for a week, he is getting real close to sexual activity. I would expect some very vicious fights between the roosters for flock dominance. They could easily be of the fatal variety.

Since he is not sexually mature and confident, the pullets will quite possibly torment him unmercifully. At 8 weeks age I'd expect one of your roosters to be showing some flock dominance but I'd expect the other rooster to be way down toward the bottom of the pecking order. At least thats the way mine worked with 23 pullets and 5 cockerels, one dominant and 4 way down in the order.

When roosters are raised together, they normally work out most of the flock dominance issues when they are pretty young and it is mainly pecking order issues, not as serious. So roosters raised together usually get along. Not always, but usually. There will still be some fights, but these are usually more of a reminder of who is in charge than out and out war.

The recommended ratio is one rooster for 10 to 12 hens which you have. This is because, with this ratio, all the eggs will probably be fertile. If you get more hens than this, some eggs may not be fertile.

One possible problem with lower hen rooster ratios is that the roosters can overbreed the hens which can cause injury or death to a hen. She can lose a few feathers during mating, which isn't all that bad or unusual, but that can lead to bald spots, which is getting to be a problem. And, once she has bald spots, the roosters spurs can cause injury which can lead to death. Some people have two hens and one rooster and don't have this problem. Some have this problem with the hen rooster ratios even higher than the recommended. Part of it depends on how rough the roosters technique is and how long and sharp his spurs are. Part of it can be that the roosters pick favorites and overmate the favorite, which can be fatal. It can happen with any ratio but is much more likely to happen with lower hen rooster ratios.

After reading Buff's article and the comments and recommendations you'll get from me and others, you will have to make your own decision. You may be able to make it work but with the roosters jsut getting to an age that they are feeling their oats, adding only one chicken to a flock or 23 that was raised together, and adding a rooster that has not reached his maturity to that many pullets, I think that rooster is in for a very hard time. I personally would not do it.