Can I keep multiple roosters in a small flock?

[Alvie]

I have 5 week-old South African indigenous layer chicks (not quite sure of the exact breed) that I got from a local farm. They weren’t able to sex the chicks when I got them but I just rolled with it without given it the consideration needed. I’m hearing that it may be difficult to keep a small flock with multiple roosters so I’m wanting to prepare myself. I’m finding it difficult to sex the chicks - not sure if feather sexing is accurate with this breed (wing feathers are all staggered lengths and growing at roughly the same rate) and am not certain when it comes to vent sexing.

How do I need to prepare myself if I end up with multiple roosters? Will I need to get rid of some? Will I be able to introduce additional hens later on?

Any help appreciated!

 

[DobieLover]

not sure if feather sexing is accurate with this breed

It's not accurate with any breed.

How do I need to prepare myself if I end up with multiple roosters?

Prepare a second setup to keep the cockerels in once they start to harass and stress the pullets. Once the pullets start laying, they are more accepting of a cockerels attention.

Will I need to get rid of some?

Most likely. And you won't know if you have a human aggressive one in the batch until they grow. You will not want to keep him. You will want to select the best cockerel out of whatever you have and keep that one.

Will I be able to introduce additional hens later on?

Of course.

 

[SueT]

Welcome to BYC! The above advice says it all. Be sure to update us on how it goes!

 

[SaskHenHaven]

With 5 chicks, I would absolutely count on 2 roosters, possibly 3. and with only 2-3 hens likely, one rooster will almost be too much. I started with 14 chicks and ended up with 7 roosters, they all got along together until about week 24 or so. At this point, just after maturity, they tend to engage with each other, about the same time they start to crow. This makes it easier to choose the keeper because there personality's started to come out. For my cockerels the largest one became the keeper, all the others were a bit more aggressive and were a bit meaner to the hens, but Bronty (Brontosaurus) was a gentlemen right from the get go, but also protective. though he is nice enough to pick up with relative ease, he will spar with you if you try to pick up the hens and they shout, he will allow you to pick up the hens if they stay calm. Bronty will also nip at you if you feed the hens from your hand in his presence. LOL. I ended up eating the other 6 roosters. Culling them was not my favorite thing to do, but I was prepared for that moment and kept in mind I gave them a great happy life and that this was their purpose. BTW, They tasted great!

Also, I do have 2 roosters, the other is a bantam Silkie, he has an interesting story for another time, but he is lucky because he seems to fly under the radar of the large rooster as they never really engage with eachother

 

[lomine]

Feather/wing sexing is only accurate if they are breed for it. There are only a few breeds it works for and even for those the breeder has to keep selecting for it to keep it accurate.

You'll want to start paying attention to the combs and wattles. They will grow faster, bigger, and redder on cockerels. When they are around 12 weeks old the cockerels will begin to grow the male specific hackle and saddle feathers. These are pointer feathers that grow around the neck and at the base of the tail. They will sometimes have a sheen to them that makes them shiny in the light.

Being able to keep two or more will be very dependent on the individual birds. Some get along well together and will do fine with a smaller number of females. Some are more dominate/aggressive and won't get along with another male no matter how many females are in the mix. Unfortunately, it's just something you have to wait to find out.

When looking at who to cull, I would cull any human aggressive ones first. Next would be any that are overly aggressive with mating. I don't keep any males that harm females with over-zealous mating. Any with physical deformities should also be culled. You don't want to let them reproduce more birds with deformities. Then cull for flock peace. That can mean a lot of different things but try to view the flock as a whole and be ready to cull birds that cause problems.

 

[RememberTheWay]

I keep my roosters in a multigenerational flock. They are in a very large free range open run and have lots of places to run and hide or escape other birds/roosters. I feed in several locations. If I need to take roosters out of the main run they are able to be housed in one bachelor pad and coexist pretty well, even with the hens in sight and ear shot and walking their run fence. This is my personal flock though. I also integrate in young birds or allow them to hatch out inside the flock and their mother integrates them very nicely. If I hatch them they are housed in a run inside the main run and then after they are decent size I open the door one night and allow them to wake up all together but they still have an area their own for a while. I don't have issues. But I did have problems when I had a single rooster grow up with no other roosters in the flock to school him when I tried to introduce new Roosters if it was more then just one. Roosters work very nicely in pairs most of the time, one will assume top dog and the other is the right hand man per say. My multigenerational flock is really peaceful and has created smaller flocks inside the main flock that run together. The hens pick their roo and everyone is happy. I keep any where between 75-200 birds at one time.

 

[RememberTheWay]

But things like single roo to maturity vs multi generational multi rooster flocks and the breed, age, size of run, and number of feeders all should be taken into account when assessing whether it would work for you or not. It is also slightly easier to work with roosters that have been raised together but can still be done if they weren't IF they haven't been a single for too long. I've been able to integrate single mature roos before but haven't been able to with some.

 

[Shadrach]

I have 5 week-old South African indigenous layer chicks (not quite sure of the exact breed) that I got from a local farm. They weren’t able to sex the chicks when I got them but I just rolled with it without given it the consideration needed. I’m hearing that it may be difficult to keep a small flock with multiple roosters so I’m wanting to prepare myself. I’m finding it difficult to sex the chicks - not sure if feather sexing is accurate with this breed (wing feathers are all staggered lengths and growing at roughly the same rate) and am not certain when it comes to vent sexing.

How do I need to prepare myself if I end up with multiple roosters? Will I need to get rid of some? Will I be able to introduce additional hens later on?

Any help appreciated!

The problem will be how they are kept. If you intend to keep them in a coop and run the chances of success are minimal. If you have a few acres where they can free range and you're prepared to supply further coops when things get violent then you're in with a shout.

 

[RememberTheWay]

I probably wouldn't attempt to do a multi roo flock if I had a bunch of American game fowl because aggression has been bred into them. But I only have a few AGF hens in my flock. They are pretty feisty and I've been quite impressed but the breed over all unless they are mixed I wouldn't run those roos together. I don't have a ton of experience with them though. So maybe someone has been successful doing it with that breed?

 

[Mrs. K]

There is a huge difference in set ups, between back yards, and 200 head flocks.

Smaller flocks, the least number of roosters is best. In smaller set ups, no roosters is a good idea, especially for inexperienced people.