BRAHMA : How many hens per rooster

[Mrs. K]

They don't call it cock fighting for nothing. I would want over 30-50 hens to keep 4 roosters.

"do not take anything you feel sorry for..." is very good advice in chickens. It sounds like you have a beautiful flock that is working well. Adding more roosters to this, is going to cause a lot of strife to your hens and your current roosters, no other way around it. I would not want to risk my current flock dynamics.

Roosters that not aggressive with roosters they know is not the same thing as being with strange roosters. Strange roosters tend to fight.

If you do add new chickens, THEN add new roosters. Rooster do not understand the idea of sharing and certainly won't wait for more hens and be good in the meantime.

Mrs K

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

...4 hens per rooster would not be dangerous?

I don't have any experience with adult Brahma roosters : the ones I currently own are my first ones, and they are only around one-year-old...

One started mating earlier I tought he would; but he is not for now, because he is confined because of his condition...

But the other one is mating, but it does not look like it is a favorite sport of his : compared to my previous rooster, I find him to not be making a lot of mating.
(But he fertilize the eggs, so he has to do a good job at least...?)
...Even then, I don't know if 4 hens would really suffice for him, once spring is here?



Good to know. Thank you for the information...!!
Nevertheless, even if cockerels are gentle, they sadly could change their behaviour when they mature...

Would you know about Marans ROOSTERS, specifically - not cockerels?



I did not even know it could be possible; ah, ah!

Id say atleast 4 hens per rooster.
If i were to it would be a flock of atleast 8 per rooster.
Well all my cockerels went to amazing homes and im being updated on them and so far they are all still gentle and mating.
I dont know about roosters behaviors when they are older unfortunately where i live i cant own them because of the crowing.

 

[Papaye]

"do not take anything you feel sorry for..." is very good advice in chickens.

I feel sorry, true, but I actually also planned to take two new Brahma roosters eventually : a Golden Partridge, and a Blue Partridge.
And the ones I am, or was now, thinking about bringing home have exactly these colours, and it is usually so hard to procure them in my area I will probably regret to not get them while I can...

It sounds like you have a beautiful flock that is working well.

Yes.
Hierarchy does not even change. Ever. (...I'm lucky!)
(Not taking into account the times when I bring new hens home... but these ones always stay at the bottom of the hierarchy, and eventually end up having their own hierarchy and forming a subgroup...)

Adding more roosters to this, is going to cause a lot of strife to your hens and your current roosters, no other way around it. I would not want to risk my current flock dynamics.

Roosters that not aggressive with roosters they know is not the same thing as being with strange roosters. Strange roosters tend to fight.

You are right!!

And now, I feel I will probably not take any new rooster for the time being - at least for some months.
(But I would take a really, really young cockerel, since new hens will be coming home with me anyway before the boy has the time to mature...)

...Sad for these roosters, since they thus are going to be culled; but my chickens are more important for me : compared to the roosters I'm interested in, my birds already are pets. And so, being their owner, I have the duty to think about their well-being first - and NOT endanger them in any way, for any reason!

If you do add new chickens, THEN add new roosters. Rooster do not understand the idea of sharing and certainly won't wait for more hens and be good in the meantime.

I will do like you say, and NOT add any new rooster before buying more hens.
You are right to point that, and I could not take any risk for my chickens and then pretend to have done the best I could for them if ever one of them end up hurt - or DEAD - because of my (stupid) decision...

I dont know about roosters behaviors when they are older unfortunately where i live i cant own them because of the crowing.

...That's really a shame!

 

[Mark Park]

You may need to separate the roosters into their own specific flocks if they start fighting over hens.

Each bird is different and have different personalities so one breed won’t all be not aggressive. Hatchery chickens are a hit or miss with rooster aggressiveness as they don’t breed for personality. Both breeds need the same amount of hens as other breeds. You may need to have a rooster with his own hens in his own run and coop if they start fighting over hens.

The most aggressive rooster I ever had was a Copper and Black Marans. My kids had to take a rake with them for defense when they went to collect the eggs.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Hello.

So... I know this person who is going to cull some beautiful roosters on the weekend... and he did ask me if I wanted to buy one of them.

And after thinking about it : if weather allows me to get out of my area in the next days, I plan to buy 1, maybe 2 one-year-old Brahma roosters - so I can save them from being culled, and keep at least one of them home...

...But, for the time being, I already own 2 Brahma roosters.
These two boys have 11 hens to keep them, but not for long : I will bring (at least) 6 other hens home in March and/or April. More so further in the year...
(...Not taking in account the fact one of my roosters is currently isolated from the other chickens because of his condition : recovery being incredibly fast, boy probably will soon be able to get back with his friends...)

I like Brahma roosters, because they are big babies and not aggressive... and don't fly... and they are not sex-addicted like some other roosters!
So, I feel even 10 hens for 2 Brahma roosters would be fine - even though I would prefer at least a "6 hens to 1 rooster" ratio...

But now... what about 3, or 4, Brahma roosters?

The roosters I plan to get are not aggressive (with other roosters), but I don't know if it would be a good idea to bring them home now - when I have only 11 hens to keep them...?
Knowing only one of my rooster is with the hens, so it will be 3 roosters to 11 hens for some weeks at least (probably - entirely depends on my isolated rooster's condition)...

I really want to save at least 1 rooster... preferably 2 : they are beautiful birds, and it would be a shame to let them be culled...!!
(And I love Brahma roosters, and was planning to get a third one anyway...)

...Would the roosters fight with each others, because the small number of hens? (Small number ONLY for some weeks, remember : more hens will be brought home in about 4-6 weeks...)
And would the hens be at risk of wounds, in spite of the fact Brahma roosters are not so crazy about mating...?

...I could always separate them if there was a problem - and even re-home a (new) rooster -, but before that, I would like to know what I could expect from bringing at least 1 new Brahma rooster home...?

(Also... about Marans and Appenzeller Spitzhauben roosters, since I plan to get one of these in the year : are they aggressive? And does somebody know how many hens do they need...?)

I know that you are technically supposed to have 8 hens to 1 rooster, but I have 11 hens and 2 roosters, the bigger one still chases the other one but doesn't hurt him bad like he did in the beginning. Maybe you can split them up into 2 groups, one having 2 roos and the other having one??? In my experience, they hurt each other really bad for a little while but then just get used to each other. I hope that helped.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Rooster do not understand the idea of sharing and certainly won't wait for more hens and be good in the meantime.

 

[Mark Park]

They "work" harder if there are 2 of them. The dominant one jumps on and off of the hens continuously all day.

 

[Papaye]

Hi.

The most aggressive rooster I ever had was a Copper and Black Marans. My kids had to take a rake with them for defense when they went to collect the eggs.

Thank you for telling me.

And to say I have already put 6 Black Copper Marans eggs underneath my broody Appenzeller Spitzhauben, hoping to at least get a rooster from them...

...Surprisingly, after a long journey of healing and recovering, I have to give away my favorite rooster : he has decided he does not like me anymore... nor other humans, in fact...
He is more and more aggressive with me, even though is a BRAHMA rooster...! (And I'm afraid he ends up severely hurting somebody!)

(I did not think there would a day when I see a Brahma so mean...?!)

...I need at least another rooster for my flock (and to become autonomous), and since I put Marans eggs underneath a broody hen, I am just going to hope I will be be lucky with the rooster if ever I get one...!

For now, if I am not lucky with the Marans my hen will hatch, once I give away my rooster : I will only have one Brahma for a total of 18 hens (for now)!
Too many for him, no...?

I know that you are technically supposed to have 8 hens to 1 rooster, but I have 11 hens and 2 roosters, the bigger one still chases the other one but doesn't hurt him bad like he did in the beginning. Maybe you can split them up into 2 groups, one having 2 roos and the other having one??? In my experience, they hurt each other really bad for a little while but then just get used to each other. I hope that helped.

Thank you for your post.
That helped, yes; especially since roosters' fight are always a stressful event for me!

I tried to put my 2 Brahmas rooster together again...
But my Dark one attacks my Light one, and I had to separate them again eventually, because it was really an one-sided assault, and I was afraid to end up with a dead rooster...

...I own 17 hens for now. 18 next week...

2 are currently raising ducklings.
3 are broody...
1 is too young to mate...
...And 2 are also too young to mate AND are still isolated for now...

So, for the time being, I could tell I have 9 hens for 1 Brahma rooster. (My other rooster being kept in another part of the yard...)

I think these 9 hens are just too many, because my rooster does not even try to mate with all of them...
He has his favorites - one that even lacks feathers on her back -, but some of them he is just not interested in...

With 18 adult hens, I really don't know how he is going to do if I don't bring another rooster!
(I need these fertilized eggs.)

Given I put Marans eggs underneath my broody Appenzeller, I am going to pray so I get a rooster, and that this rooster ends up being gentle...

(...To this day, I was at least lucky with cockerels...!)

They "work" harder if there are 2 of them. The dominant one jumps on and off of the hens continuously all day.

That... would actually be really helpful.
So I have more fertilized eggs...!

 

[talkinboutchickens]

They "work" harder if there are 2 of them. The dominant one jumps on and off of the hens continuously all day.

My dominant roo does that, but my other less dominant roo does it when the other one is not around, too.

 

[Croatia0103]

Brahma roosters will not be aggressive towards each other. I have 2-Columbian Brahma roosters in the yard and these two do everything together. They overpowered 5 other roosters in the yard, but they are not aggressive towards them, they are bosses in a calm and refined way. I believe that they would have the same attitude even if there were four of them.

The only thing I would recommend is to watch the hens, there is a possibility that they will destroy the feathers on their backs because mating will be more frequent and intense. In that case, get them those cloth covers for the back, i saw that in Germany it is very popular.