Breeding question

[Guccibirds423]

So my dad use to raise game cocks.. He has a bunch of 4x4 dome pens he told me I could have. I have heard I can put 2 or 3 chickens in each pen. I will be moving them regulary to get green grass. But I do not want that many roosters. I am gonna be working with redcaps and Le fleche. I was wondering is it possible I take 3 pens and but 2 hens each and every couple days move my roosters to different pens? I just trying to find a easier way to do coops since i have all these pens. Would this work? all opinions would be great!

 

[sourland]

2 or 3 hens plus a rooster should work fine if you are moving regularly to a fresh environment. Rotating roosters between pens every couple of days should result in excellent fertility. Give it a try.

 

[Guccibirds423]

So I should be fine if I move the rooster every two days? How many pens of Hens could I have with the one rooster?

 

[centrarchid]

I do very much the same as you are planning with games and dominiques. Key differences are one hen per pen and rooster is rotated daily so a given hen shacks up with him every third day. Egg fertility should not be an issue unless rooster is on verge of being a dude / shooting blanks.

 

[Guccibirds423]

Awesome. I know that is what my dad use to do with Games but he is so busy anymore rarely get to see him to ask him any questions. They will all be young as I am just starting with chicks. I am super excited about getting this underway.

 

[centrarchid]

If you have enough pens and the hands to tame and train birds, then I recommend one bird per pen. Advantages three-fold, first hens easier condition owing to less stress, second you can keep eggs / chicks as to which hen they are out of which is important, and finally it can enable hen rearing without hens conflicting. My roosters / cocks learn very quickly the routine of rotating between pens so long has you are careful not to chase or otherwise miss-handle them.