Birds and Bees questions re: Roos

[MissPrissy]

I went through this last sping. I had never in my life seen gang mentality in chickens until then. It was the most aggressive behavior I have ever witnessed. They went in the freezer ASAP.

Here is the story and the pocessing thead.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=18818

 

[aggiecatholicmom]

Ok - I'd just like to be clear on this. Do groups of young roos never get along with the hens? We've got about 3 roos and 11 hens, all about 4 1/2 months old. One roo is defenitely in charge, but we've not seen too much ganging up yet, as you all have mentioned. Is this bound to happen, or just occasionally? Can more than one rooster live peacefully with the hens, or must you keep them separate except for mating?
Thank you! These are our first batch.
-Jennifer

 

[Bossroo]

Extra roos = B-B-Q = (patting belly) YUMMMM !!! The best solution to the problem that I ever found.

 

[Buster]

I have heard that they will gang up too. I have roos separated with their own girls by breed for the most part but I am trying a couple breeds in pairs and seeing how it works. It is important to not have too many roos per hens you have because the constant breeding is very hard on the girls.

 

[chickenannie]

You have too many roos in ratio to your hens and your hens will continue to suffer and possibly be killed if the roos get too active. You have to face the fact that you've gotten do something about the situation. If you don't like the butchering option then re-home your roos.

1. Do they ever become gentlemen and try and protect and herd and court the ladies like I've read about? ONLY if the ratio is correct -- 1 roo to 12-15 hens.

2. Does this rough behavior ever stop or do the females just get used to it or learn to like it?
It does not stop. The females do not learn to like it. The roos are overmating and it can damage the hen's backs and heads and hurt them severely. Again, it's a matter of ratio and how many times the roo breeds the hens.

3. If I built pens and started separating the roos and wanted to add a few ladies for breeding purposes would they just be subjected to this trauma and unable to get away? Yes, you would be subjecting the hens to more trauma, unless you only allowed the hen to be in the pen for a very short period of time (say 20 minutes).

 

[Buster]

Quote:
Good advice here. I do know someone who has a very active roo who just puts him in the pen with the girls once a week to do his thing. She has very good fertility and it saves her girls a lot of trauma. He spends the rest of his time penned by himself. A lot of it depends on the individual roo. I have roos that are in with 5 hens a piece and do just fine. I agree that 12 would be better though. If they were tearing up my hens I would separate them.

 

[ruth]

Thanks everyone for all the great advice and info. As I said, I'm brand new to having roos and like Ms. Prissy said, I've never seen this "gang behavior" before and it is an awful thing. However, the last few days they seem to have settled down. Ruth has even started staying around them some - she usually stays next door with the ducks because the BR roos go for her as soon as they see her.

My problem is that I have several breeds of chickens and now have a roo or two of each breed and am hoping to keep at least one roo of each breed so that I can breed them true to form. From what I've read here I'm thinking I will build a few roo pens or breeder pens and keep the roos separated. Then when I want to breed the BRs or RIR or EEs, etc - I could add roos and hens together for a short time and then separate them again.

Is this how those of you who have different breeds do it or do you leave them together all the time if you have lots of females? I have a 10-1 ratio on some breeds.

 

[Weewanona]

I have 2 Roosters that live with their own flocks. My ratio is 17-1 on the Standards and 8-1 on the Bantams. The hens don't run in fear or hide and their not torn up.

Both Roosters are Gentlemen - in fact, my Standard is named Gentleman Jim - and call the Gels over whenever they find 'goodies'.

 

[can you hear me now?]

Separating into different pens is what I was going to suggest. I have 3 baby roos that I plan to breed with my RIR's, BR's, and Brown Leghorns. The hens will be separated from them much of the time unless i plan to breed them. Which will take place during the spring. This eliminates the fighting and over breeding of the hens.

 

[ruth]

I still want to be able to free range everyone and have them all continue to get along as one big flock - minus the roos I guess. So I'm thinking the roos will live mainly in a bachelor pen and I'll have to come up with some kind of breeder pens for when I want hatching eggs.

It's starting to get complicated - sounding like I need to build an apartment complex.