Can I keep 10 roosters and 20 chickens under these circumstances?

[307151]

1. When do roosters mate with hens?
2. Can I keep this amount of chickens if I lock the Roosters in their own barn at night and the Hens in their own?
3. I was reading during the day the roosters hardly eat because they're too busy protecting the hens so, when do they have time to mate? Especially when roosters mate with like 10 chickens?

Update: Okay, I don't even eat meat, so don't be disrespectful and say I need to make soup out of them. I only have 2 baby roosters right now, but does it help if you clip their nails? I'm not worried about them fighting, I've done my research, I'm just worried about the hens getting over breed and beat up. I wanted to get a breed of one of each rooster for my hens to have pure breeds instead of mutts. If there is an issue with breeds, can someone provide me a list of breeds I should avoid? I have an americana right now which I read isn't the best breed but too late now, I also have a black australorp.

Update again: I never bought straight run. I purposely bought 2 male roosters because I have the room for them for one coop. I don't have 10 roosters, I was just wondering if I could add more. I might be getting another coop to our land, so I could put up a cheapo fence to separate them, but how high should it be? I read that it's a good thing to keep roosters with hens because they protect them and what not, but if I keep 2 roosters with the hens and the rest in their own area, I don't want them to try getting through the fence and hurt eachother.

 

[scooter147]

Too many roosters, you only need 2 and 1 would probably be better. Locking the roosters in a barn at night away from the hens will do nothing to prevent the carnage you will have with 10 roosters during the day.

You need to make chicken soup out of at least 8 of them

Roosters will mate with hens every day and all day long. They are obsessed with it.

 

[dheltzel]

I don't think "carnage" is assured at all. If you were to raise all 30 of them together, I think the chances are very good the will all get along fine. If there are problems with fighting or over breeding, you can get rid of some of the roos over time, but it's not like one day you're going to come home to a bunch of beat up chickens, any problems will occur gradually, giving you time to react.

In my experience, 10 roos work things out amongst themselves better than 2. I have a flock of 27 nearing laying age now. There are 6 cockerels with 21 pullets and there is no fighting at all. None. Some of that may be breed dependent. I have other pens with 2 roos over 5 or 6 hens and all is peaceful there too.

So the real answer is -- it depends. Go ahead and try if you want. I would not separate them at night, the roos can stay with the hens all the time.

And they will not starve. IDK who told you they hardly eat. They may eat less than the hens, but the caloric needs of a hen laying eggs is a lot higher, so you'd expect that.

 

[thomasboyle]

It may work to have this many roos, but it may not. Often time you will end up with a dominant roo who does all of the mating, and the others just hang out. You didn't say which breed(s) you have, and that has a lot to do with it too. I have a barred rock roo who likes the white leghorn hens. He wears them out, they are all missing their feathers on their backs from his mounting them. He pays much less attention to the rhode island reds, barred rocks, tetra tints and easter eggers I have. I had two roos for a while, brothers. They got along perfectly. Unfortauntely I lost one when he flew over the fence to challenge a predator. All I found was a trail of feathers through the underbrush. Probably a fox or a bobcat.

 

[307151]

Okay, I don't even eat meat, so don't be disrespectful and say I need to make soup out of them. I only have 2 baby roosters right now, but does it help if you clip their nails? I'm not worried about them fighting, I've done my research, I'm just worried about the hens getting over breed and beat up.

 

[KendyF]

Okay, I don't even eat meat, so don't be disrespectful and say I need to make soup out of them. I only have 2 baby roosters right now, but does it help if you clip their nails? I'm not worried about them fighting, I've done my research, I'm just worried about the hens getting over breed and beat up.

As for your roosters, or future roosters clipping their nails will not help. If problems develop, as the animal lover you sound like, I am certain you will see it and know which Roos are causing the problem. When my young roosters get older they tend to get aggressive towards younger hens, and over-mate my weakest hens. Just watching it will let you know which roosters you need to re-home. As others have said it depends on breed, space, how they were raised how well it will work. Only time will tell.

PS
Nobody meant any disrespect, many if not most people do eat chicken. Even if you went veggie people are still allowed to say the word soup and nobody has to be offended.
Good luck with your flock

 

[Kathryn79]

All I have to say is the constant crowing from the roosters, you'll probably want to make them into soup lol. I have 3 roosters and their crowing drives me insane, it never stops, it starts at 4am and goes through until
About 3pm lol

 

[Going Quackers]

It would be too much, the only thing would be to divide and allow one(maybe 2 ) roos with the ladies, i do some people will rotate their roosters? Roosters mate when they please that said they definitely eat and forage about at least mine do.

Crowing wise, yeah whenever, whatever time lol I have a fair number of roosters here so i am speaking from experience, i also keep a couple bachelor flocks of them. They are banties however. Do you feel you have 10 cockerels or your planning on having that many??

 

[islandgirl82]

As others have said, having that many roosters each only having one or two hens would be too much, especially for your hens.

The most common rooster to hen ratio is 1:10-15. Some roos can be fine with less than ten and others need more than 15 or hens can and will get injured or worse. If you want to be breeding multiple breeds and keeping them purebred then you'd have to have breeding pens for each, otherwise you'd have no way of knowing which roo is actually fertilizing which eggs and you'd end up with nothing but barnyard mixes anyway.

The Americana you mention is a mixed breed to begin with so if you don't care to continue with them but you want to keep her, then it won't matter if she's in with a purebred roo because you can just keep collecting her eggs instead hatching them.

Good luck.

 

[CrazyTalk]

Okay, I don't even eat meat, so don't be disrespectful and say I need to make soup out of them. I only have 2 baby roosters right now, but does it help if you clip their nails? I'm not worried about them fighting, I've done my research, I'm just worried about the hens getting over breed and beat up.

If you don't eat meat, you shouldn't have bought straight run chicks.

You're not going to be able to 'rehome' 8 roosters. They're going to need to to be slaughtered, by you, or someone else. Almost nobody wants roosters, and the people that do already have enough because of all the ones that need 'rehoming'.