Can you have too many roosters?

[WickedChicksNH]

None of my cockerels/roosters were on purpose. Some I hatched and 2 were bantams so I didn't know . But it is what it is now

So I have
1 ,yr duccle bantam roo Bob.. hes the main roo

1yr buff brahma bantam roo. Jinx

5mo old lt brahma cockerel standard
Zeus, skiddish and friendly hasn't even crowed yet

3 mo old silkie cockerl . Picasso well hes a silkie and well they are just big fluff balls of love

4 mo old polish frizzle cockerel , floyd. Just hit puberty him and the other boys dont bother with each other but hes friendly

The silkie male is the only one not withh the flock yet

I have 8 hens/pullets.
So far everything is going fine my roos are friendly.

I still have 4 pullets and the 1 cockerel waiting to join the flock

So is it possible to have too many roos?
I have a large coop and large pen so space isn't an issue

Thanks

 

[DobieLover]

If you have that many roosters and cockerels in a confined space with that few hens and pullets, I think issues are inevitable. The hormones haven't really started to flow yet. Things will get really interesting really fast when that happens.

 

[Julesstarohio56]

I had 4 4 month old cockerels to ten hens. Nightmare for the hens. Now I have one Brahma rooster and peace in the family.

 

[Mrs. K]

Yeah, I agree with ^^^, this is a wreck waiting to happen. If you are totally free range, not just free range in a backyard, but rather a pasture with no fencing there is a small chance .... no, really I think it is not going to work as set up now.

You can have too many roosters very, very easily.

If this is your first time with chickens, I recommend no roosters. If you have a backyard 8-20 hens, one rooster, if you have a flock of 25-30 + then multiple roosters and not all of those will work. I have had the best luck with Father/son. Brother/brother or rather flock-mates, raised together - genearally at least one fight.

Roosters are where romance meets reality as AARt is fond of saying.... and it is true.

Mrs K

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Could work out since they're mostly bantams, but you have to be prepared if it doesn't.
If you have a separate pen, you could start a rooster-only flock. Here's an article about it: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/rooster-flocks.72998/

 

[WickedChicksNH]

Thanks all
I am trying to be hopeful but I know 5 is a lot of roos

I've had chickens for a few years but until last year I only had a couple and one was a total jerk batman roo.

So this is the largest flock I've had.

My neighbor has a few roos and they get along fine . But that doesn't mean mine will

My flock keeps in their own groups
Meaning when I get chickens i only get a couple at a time. So the ones that grow together create their own little group

Mazie my golden laced wyandotte seems to get along with all of them
She fits in with all the groups
She was raised with zeus my lt brahma cockerel..
My polish frizzle roo and polish pullet and silkie hang together

My newer 2 silkies ones a cockerel and another golden laced wyandotte hang together (they are not with the flock yet)

My smallet pullets dark brahma and barred rock hang

And my nh red was actually my first hen and my bantam roo Bob is always by her side

And jinx lonely jinx is Just looking for a place to fit in. I hatched him at the same time as bob

And none of my chickens or roos are related
My younger silkies could be I ordered them from meyer

Whew. So I am trying to prepare for if I need to get rid of any
Which I dont think I could part with my silkie roo, lt brahma or frizzle

 

[chrissynemetz]

Can you add more hens? That seems to be too many roosters for that few hens. And like someone mentioned earlier, you could always separate the boys into a bachelor flock

 

[Mrs. K]

With 5 roosters, I would think a flock of a over 100 hens.

 

[WickedChicksNH]

So interesting update
After I posted this I went out to the coop to close it up for the night

Well jinx my buff brahma bantam roo and bob duccle bantam roo
Are out of the pen fighting all the greenery (there is a bunch of trees and such behind their pen)
These two tiny roos managed to flatten it down all over from fighting

I managed to stop after few min. I couldn't get them

Bob who is the head roo was defeated he walked to the middle of the yard making a sad noise which made me sad, and he made himself look skinny

I opened the pen and he went in the coop jinx soon followed
I brought the two dog pens and they stayed in those in the coop for the rest of the night and all next day.

I decided the day after that i let them out
They started again in seconds I had to get to work (i work from home ) so i put jinx in a separate area of the pen and Bob for now stayed with the others

On my break later in went to bring my my 3 little ones out so I needed the area jinx was in
I put bob in the dog crate

Jinx I put with the rest later I sat out with them and it was the first time all the chickens and my polish cockerel and brahma cockerel were all in the same part of the pen usually they all of off in their little groups staying away from the other groups and being nervous

I sat there like wow this is awesome they are all peaceful

So i know what needs to be done

Thanks for all your input

 

[Mrs. K]

Once this happened to me, I was really not even aware of the tension, and I got hit by coon, took out several birds which of course was very sad.... but almost immediately I noticed a drop in the tension of the flock. And really it was a much more enjoyable flock.

That's when my mantra became, "Solve for peace in the flock." Once you recognize the tension in the flock, you never mistake it again. And really it affects even the birds not in the fight. There really ARE birds that don't fit, and there really IS too many for the set up.

Mrs K