Can I keep two silkie hens and one silkie rooster together?

[Scooter&Suzie]

I went to Pickering Valley Feed and took a risk by buying 3 unsexed silkies. I crossed my fingers, and hoped I wouldn't get more then one male silkie. I believe that I have 2 hens, and one rooster, but that's a big guess. Can I keep one silkie rooster with two silkie hens? Can you tell me if that is okay, and if not, how many? Also if I have multiple roosters, how many hens per rooster?

Thanks,
Rachel

 

[foxypoproxy]

Normally its 10 hens per roo (if you are going to keep more then one roo)
But if you have just one roo, i say 3-4 is about the least amount of hens.
Its not always a problem but sometimes if their are not enough hens, the roo will over-mate with them (so if you only want two hens, they may need chicken saddles).

 

[tsmith1499]

I have the same problem escept I bought my Silkies at an auction and they are still to young to worry about that. Well, my DW bought them. They are all in the same pen right now and everything seems okay as we are TRYING to get their coop built in the next week or 2. We also bought a gray or splash Silkie hen and roo and are looking for more, hens that is.

 

[kimice]

I had the same problem. I bought a rooster and got a hen with him. In reading this forum and asking questions I found out that you need multiple hens for one roo! Some one told me 12 hen to one roo! I thought omg my husband is going to kill me when I tell him that I have to get 11 more hens. Well, I wanted to keep my chickens happy, but I didn't buy 11 more hens. I bought 4 more hens. So now I have 5 hens to my one rooster and they are a super happy bunch!

I would say just from what I have read on here that 4-5 hens per rooster is the minimum. Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Yes. That's fine. I'll pair my birds up in pairs or trios during breeding season.

 

[Scooter&Suzie]

Okay, I think I will try the two, and get them a couple of saddles just in case. If I need to I will try to get a couple hens more for him. Anyone know what the saddle size would be for the silkies? I know they have a bantam size, but silkies are kinda big bantams, sooo.....

Off to e-bay world I go!

 

[foxypoproxy]

Scooter&Suzie :

Okay, I think I will try the two, and get them a couple of saddles just in case. If I need to I will try to get a couple hens more for him. Anyone know what the saddle size would be for the silkies? I know they have a bantam size, but silkies are kinda big bantams, sooo.....

Off to e-bay world I go!

Depends, some sites make smalls big enough for silkies, other sites say mediums would fit them.
I would contact the seller and ask before buying.​

 

[Scooter&Suzie]

Okay, thanks FoxyPopRoxy, SundownWaterfowl, Kimice, and tsmith1499!

 

[Lollipop]

Listen, you guys. There`s a lot of confusion about this. The 10/1 ratio is the recommended max for breeders. Some go up to 12-14, but 10 is a good number. The rub is that lotsa folks have young roosters that act like teenage boys and wear out the pullets. I`ve kept 1/1 ratio pairs for years with no problems. The trick is, if you have rooster trouble, as in overbreeding your pullets, seperate them until the lad gets a little maturity on him. Put them together only when you need fertile eggs, orrrr, just don`t worry about it..........Pop

 

[Scooter&Suzie]

Do you mean, lollipop, that if I have 10 roosters, I can have 10 hens? Or that I can have 1 rooster & 1 hen together? The problem about seperating them, is that in the winter where I am he would get frostbite and die in the winter. My friends used to have a rooster. He would annoy the hens, so one day the seperated him, and he got frostbite and died. They were very sad about loosing him, dispite all the trouble he was.

I think I should be fine with the 2 hens and one rooster, if they are trouble I can always add two. Found severl chicken saddles. I will get them when I order the fence I need for my chicken run. They have a run now, but I would like to give them fresh stuff to eat with a new run I can move around, since my mom put her foot down to me moving around the coop, and killing off grass (Which would be a cool trick, considering we have all moss, and wildflowers/weeds for our yard...)