Conjugal visits?

[Sphinx]

I have 7 hens, and my next door neighbor just bought 8 pullets.

We've tossed around the idea of sharing a rooster between the two of us.

How much time would said rooster need to spend at each place to have enough time with all of the hens?

Is this even reasonable or practical?

The two chicken runs would be within 30 feet of each other, and we both free range our chickens during the day, so maybe just have him go home with each flock on alternating nights? So, it wouldn't be a huge trauma for him to go from one place to the other, at least, I wouldn't think so?

 

[emys]

OK, you will both share a rooster and both will free range. The chickens are all going to form one big flock - good luck getting "yours" and "hers" apart each night. Maybe you should just build a connecting tunnel between the two coops and alternate feeding chores?

 

[Sphinx]

love it!


I don't let them free range all day. Reading all the horror stories here has made me a bit of a hover mother, so I only let my chickens free range for a couple hours each day when the kids or I are able to supervise. My neighbor's chickens are too young to free range yet (only 6 weeks), so I don't know what kind of chicken mom she's going to be. Given how well she treats her other animals, she'll probably be even more vigilant than me.

 

[emys]

For 100% fertility among all the hens the best rotation would probably be every other day the rooster switches runs. In reality it might not be the best for all involved. Too much confusion - the obligation to make the switch daily and so on.

Hens can store sperm for later use for at least a week. So, if you want fertile eggs they need rooster time a minimum visit of once per week, for a few hours.

The rooster could live primarily with one group of hens but be let outside to free range (or perhaps free reign in this case) with the other group at least a couple times per week.

If you want to you will all work something out and and I'm sure the rooster will be happy to help.

 

[sourland]

Actually, hens can store sperm with high levels of fertility for two weeks, and it is not uncommon for a certain percentage of eggs to remain fertile up to 4 weeks after a rooster has been removed (% of fertility starts dropping off after 2+ weeks). Weekly shifts would probably meet the needs of both flocks.

 

[bryngyld]

I wonder if the rooster would "work" better if the hens moved and he had the same range area. He could also be in a pen and then hens brought to him there.