Considering a second rooster

[MisaF]

Hi all!

I’ve had chickens for about 8 years now but I’ve always had hens. Six months ago I rescued a teeny mille de fleur rooster. He’s old and blind in one eye and as docile as a rooster could be. He’s scared to death of me. I have 11 hens of various breeds and sizes, most are rescues. I’m considering adding a mushy, sweet, silkie rooster to the flock. Is this a horrible idea?

My coop is 6 x 9. Roosting bars on both long sides that run the enter 9 feet. I have an enclosed run because we have A LOT of predators. The run is 900 sq feet (which is larger than apartments I’ve lived in ).

Am I dumb for thinking about adding another rooster to the mix? He would come with his own hen so he wouldn’t be added alone.

I’d love your advice! Thank you in advance!

 

[RubelliteRose]

No, it isn't dumb to want to add another rooster. I have 3 who get along very well.
BUT, I had to go through 8 boys to get the 3 that I have. The other 5 were either human aggressive, hen aggressive, or in the case of Ezra, my youngest, his brother tried to kill him while Ezra was being completely submissive.
You would need to introduce them very slowly and carefully. Also have a plan in case your older rooster is ousted from the flock or severely attacked as he is partially blind. The flock dynamics will change with the addition of another rooster!! I believe our set up works because we not only have 2 coops(the 2 older half brothers in one, younger rooster with the oldest girls in another) connected to a shared run, but we also have lots of hiding places within the runs. We also free range as much as possible. Here is a picture of our 3 boys with my favorite hen Torchic .

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Breed doesn’t guarantee a new guy will be docile. Even if he seems docile in his current flock, introducing a new rooster can bring out the innately competitive nature of roosters and your new guy might try to challenge your old blind one and win just by nature of being younger and more able. Your old rooster will defend his territory and you could wind up with an injured roo. More hens and more space would make it more likely to work.

I have over 20 hens, two coops and free range all day. My dominant rooster still goes after the subordinate one if he catches him mating with the hens or trying to eat before them. But because they are running around on two acres there are no longer any big fights or injuries—the subordinate just runs away. The transition, however, was brutal. They fought for a few days and the dominant one was pretty beat up. How he turned the tables I don’t know but they sleep separately and the hens choose which rooster they spend the night with.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Why do you want to add another rooster? You don't need to tell me, but try to understand why it is important to you. It sounds like you have a pretty calm peaceful set-up. Why do you want to risk that?

I agree, breed does not matter. You are dealing with living animals, you do not know how they will react. It is possible you could add the two new chickens without any drama but that's not what I'd expect. I think you'd be putting that old tiny half-blind scared rooster in danger. You have experience with rescues, you may be able to manage that. You might not even need to add a new coop and partition that run. When you deal with living animals you just don't know.

That is a huge run for that number of chickens. The coop is fairly small. Will that run even be available next winter or will snow and wind make it not available to them? You've been through several winters, how well does that work?

With my goals I would not try it. But your goals and desires are different, it may be worth the effort and risk to you. Good luck!