Cockerel / roosters

Date sort Score sort
To some extent we will have different experiences. A lot has to do with the individual bird(s). I appreciate all of your help.
 
I'll go through my standard spiel. What are your goals? Why do you want roosters? The only reason you need a rooster is if you want fertile eggs. Everything else is personal preference. Nothing wrong with personal preferences, they can be powerful. I try to suggest you keep the minimum number of roosters you can and still meet your goals. That's not because you are guaranteed problems with more roosters but that the more roosters you have the more likely you are to have problems.

Flock balance? There is no magical flock balance ratio that creates a chicken paradise. It's not breed dependent either. There are so many different variables in individual chicken personalities, how much room they have, climate, how we manage them, ages of the individuals, and yes our individual goals that what works for one will not work for another. There are people that keep one rooster with a very few hens, one rooster with 25 to 30 hens, no roosters, or multiple roosters with a varying number of hens.

Flock protection. Boy, can you get varying opinions here. Some people seem to feel that a rooster will fight off a grizzly bear, others of us feel that a good rooster is mainly an early warning system and not much use in actual protection. In my experience a rooster does spend a little more time looking around so he is more likely to spot a danger and give warning, but dominant hens in a flock with no dominant roosters often take on that role. If something is suspicious he tends to put himself between whatever it is and investigate, and I have seen a rooster keep crows from eating some of the flock's food so they will help a bit. Some people have seen them attack small hawks. But I've lost chickens to dogs, foxes, a hawk, and an owl. I've never lost the head rooster. I have seen my roosters leading the flock to safety instead of forming a rear guard. My basic feeling toward how much protection a rooster provides is not much.

At ten months yours should be acting like pretty mature chickens. Males and females mature at different rates and there can be a huge difference in behaviors depending on maturity levels. Since the two males are coexisting now it bodes fairly well for the future.

If you want purebred chicks of both breeds then you obviously need to keep both roosters and you will need a way to keep the two flocks separated as any rooster will breed with any hen of any breed. If purebred doesn't matter to you then this need goes way.

When they are pullets and cockerels they may not have the best mating techniques. Those techniques usually improve when they mature. It's not that unusual for a cockerel to cause feather loss during mating. Occasionally mature roosters do. That is often where his claws are standing on her. Sometimes that is the back of the head. He grabs here head as a signal for her to raise her tail out of the way to expose the target. If the spots are bare and the skin is exposed there is a possibility his claws could cut her but if they are not that bare that risk is pretty small. If the entire feather is gone the feather should grow back before too long but if part of the shaft is still in there the feather will not grow back until she molts.

I consider your space fairly small for two roosters. If you really want more hens you can try to add a few but I wouldn't in an effort to get a better flock balance. If it is working, it is working. Adding new hens may just give them something to fight over.
 
With your ratio, I'm sure the feather loss is from overmating. I have some of that going on.
Your terrain and housing configurations will make a difference too. Whether one tries to house all the birds together or have scattered housing options, each with their own flocks. In the latter case, they all tend to stay in their own territories.
Having too many roosters has another downside. I had one flock with more cockerels/roosters than females. They were so busy trying to mate the hens, they forgot their other primary job - predator protection. When there was one or two roosters with each group of hens, they spend their time scanning the skies. With males chasing and harassing the females, it leaves the birds open to hawk attack.
 
Last edited:
My initial want for multiple roosters was to control my flock needs for genetic diversity. If I wanted to breed pure (relative) I would have that option. If I needed to add some girls I also have that option. The cost is unjustified but I'm not concerned with cost. I can easily buy a $10.00 chick to add but I am more interested in the process and enjoyment off hatching my own if I choose to.

I chose to have roosters for some protection (early warning) and not that they could take on anything more than possibly a Copper's Hawk. Anything larger would be a waste of time or certain death. I do like the boys leading the girls to food and for the look. Our boys (IMO) are very attractive and the girls seem to rely on them, probably because that is all they have been around.

We do allow them to free range while we are outside for 3-4 hours 3-4 days per week. They usually range about an acre from their coop , going back to the coop (un-accompanied) to lay then back out to forage. I see more aggrieve behavior (chasing) when they are out free ranging.

Ridgerunner our climate will be close to yours maybe a little less humid but hot / humid Southeastern summers.

Our chickens are pets that lay eggs. We all interact with them on a daily basis and have bonded with each one which makes culling or re-homing hard.
 

Similar threads

redinator
    • Like
Rooster/cockerel crowing
2
Replies
12
Views
914
redinator
redinator
G
    • Like
Which rooster is dominant?
2
Replies
10
Views
510
Gee-Dan
G
whatbeginsabetnotthat
Older hens won’t forage with younger ones
Replies
3
Views
296
Perris
Perris
H
    • Like
Young rooster behavior help!
Replies
7
Views
357
BlindLemonChicken
BlindLemonChicken
Proxyn
    • Haha
    • Love
    • Like
3mo Pullet crowing solutions?
3 4 5
Replies
43
Views
5K
NetherLeeFarm
NetherLeeFarm

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom