That's a question I read 100 times over the past year. There were always replies from both sides of the isle, keep them (if they were raised together)/ kill all but one. I had roosters from 5 different breeds and I really wanted to breed them this spring to increase my flock so I decided to keep all 5. After all they were raised together and hadnt shown any real signs of aggression outside of a minor stand off so far. In fact they roosted together ate next to each other and really got along just fine.
In early December I was doing chores. I looked over at my nest boxes to see my favorite Welsummer rooster standing inside one. I shooed him out and went about feeding watering and then stepped out to collect eggs. My nest boxes open from the outside for easy access and so my 5 year old can collect eggs with out a rooser attacking him, again. I opened one of the boxes and was shocked at what I saw. It looked as is a chicken had exploded in the box. There was blood all over. Then it hit me. Its the box my Wellie roo was in. I ran around the corner to check on him. He was in the corner shaking and on closer examination bleeding from the comb, head and neck. My only choice to save him was to remove him to another pen that was occupied by 10, 8 week old Buckeyes. He was in shock, he wouldnt eat, drink and could barely stand. Over the next two hours I watched him and froze my butt off, it was in the teens. He stayed under a heat lamp I had in the pen and started to recover. It took him almost 90 minutes but he drank a little and ate some cracked corn from my hand. He seemed better so I was off to tend to my two boys and finish dinner. I was 100% certain Id have a dead roo in the morning. To my surprise he recovered. It took almost a week but he started crowing again and is now back to normal minus the points on his comb.
I thought I was back in business with the other roos. Only 4 left in the coop with 28 hens. Well boys will be boys. The roos didnt really get into it with each other but they certainly did like to do what roosters do. My hens seemed to be taking a beating. Many were starting to show signs of wear on their backs and the back of their heads. All this time my egg production was dropping I told my self it was for the typical reasons, cold weather, less light (even thought I have a light in the coop). After watching my hens lose feathers faster than they could possibly manage I made a REALLY hard choice, 3 of the 4 remaining roos had to go. 2 weeks ago I made my choice and it was off with their heads.
Its been 2 weeks now and the change in the coop is amazing. Looking back I thought the hens stayed on the roosts all day because it was cold. I remember them just sitting there all day rarely getting down for any reason. When I thinned the roos, just 2 weeks ago, I was down to about 3 eggs a day, from 28 hens. I was going through about 30 Lbs of feed a week and 2 gallons of water a day. Now after my rooster removal program they are almost always on the floor of the coop doing all kinds if chickeny things, scratching, eating (OMG eating) and once again laying eggs. Last week I went through 60 + pounds of feed, 3 gallons of water a day and over the past week Im averaging 9 eggs a day.
For me, heres the take away lesson. Not only will roosters eventually get into it and do each other some serious harm, they will in the process of trying to out rooster each other stress your hens to the point the wont leave the roost to eat, drink , or lay. Last night I collected a dozen eggs and the average just keeps climbing. Im down to 22 layers because 6 are molting. So for this flock over the past 6 months thats amazing. And keep in mind the jump in productions comes mid-winter in 10-20 degree day with temps with over night temps in the single digits. The only difference is my coop is a very pleasant place for the hens now, no fighting, no gang roostering and no stress.
Thats my 2 pennies on the question "Can I keep more than one rooster in a single coop?"
In early December I was doing chores. I looked over at my nest boxes to see my favorite Welsummer rooster standing inside one. I shooed him out and went about feeding watering and then stepped out to collect eggs. My nest boxes open from the outside for easy access and so my 5 year old can collect eggs with out a rooser attacking him, again. I opened one of the boxes and was shocked at what I saw. It looked as is a chicken had exploded in the box. There was blood all over. Then it hit me. Its the box my Wellie roo was in. I ran around the corner to check on him. He was in the corner shaking and on closer examination bleeding from the comb, head and neck. My only choice to save him was to remove him to another pen that was occupied by 10, 8 week old Buckeyes. He was in shock, he wouldnt eat, drink and could barely stand. Over the next two hours I watched him and froze my butt off, it was in the teens. He stayed under a heat lamp I had in the pen and started to recover. It took him almost 90 minutes but he drank a little and ate some cracked corn from my hand. He seemed better so I was off to tend to my two boys and finish dinner. I was 100% certain Id have a dead roo in the morning. To my surprise he recovered. It took almost a week but he started crowing again and is now back to normal minus the points on his comb.
I thought I was back in business with the other roos. Only 4 left in the coop with 28 hens. Well boys will be boys. The roos didnt really get into it with each other but they certainly did like to do what roosters do. My hens seemed to be taking a beating. Many were starting to show signs of wear on their backs and the back of their heads. All this time my egg production was dropping I told my self it was for the typical reasons, cold weather, less light (even thought I have a light in the coop). After watching my hens lose feathers faster than they could possibly manage I made a REALLY hard choice, 3 of the 4 remaining roos had to go. 2 weeks ago I made my choice and it was off with their heads.
Its been 2 weeks now and the change in the coop is amazing. Looking back I thought the hens stayed on the roosts all day because it was cold. I remember them just sitting there all day rarely getting down for any reason. When I thinned the roos, just 2 weeks ago, I was down to about 3 eggs a day, from 28 hens. I was going through about 30 Lbs of feed a week and 2 gallons of water a day. Now after my rooster removal program they are almost always on the floor of the coop doing all kinds if chickeny things, scratching, eating (OMG eating) and once again laying eggs. Last week I went through 60 + pounds of feed, 3 gallons of water a day and over the past week Im averaging 9 eggs a day.
For me, heres the take away lesson. Not only will roosters eventually get into it and do each other some serious harm, they will in the process of trying to out rooster each other stress your hens to the point the wont leave the roost to eat, drink , or lay. Last night I collected a dozen eggs and the average just keeps climbing. Im down to 22 layers because 6 are molting. So for this flock over the past 6 months thats amazing. And keep in mind the jump in productions comes mid-winter in 10-20 degree day with temps with over night temps in the single digits. The only difference is my coop is a very pleasant place for the hens now, no fighting, no gang roostering and no stress.
Thats my 2 pennies on the question "Can I keep more than one rooster in a single coop?"
