I've read there is a ratio of roo's to hens. I have a youngish roo now, that just matured in the last month, and 12 hens. We just hatched out our first eggs, and we'd like to keep our first hatched chick. Wondering though, if I was to add another roo, how many hens should I have to keep the flock working ok...
they normally say 10 hens per roo will keep them from fighting each other. but ya thats alot of chickens If you have the space for them then, great!
So I would basically need to upsize to 20 before adding another roo? Anyone have experience having 2 roos with 14 or 15 hens?
Me. I have a really skewed ratio of roosters to hens. Mine don't fight. There was one bad roo which was permanently culled, but the rest all get along. There is a dominant rooster whom they all respect. Everybody's experience is different. But I'd go for it. All my roosters but 7 of 'em were those I hatched myself - or were hatched by broody hens - and I just couldn't get rid of any of 'em.
I have a free ranging flock that get locked in a coop at night. My flock at this moment consists of several different breeds, mixes and sizes, and right now I have 14 roos and 35 hens, and 8 guineas that I don't know about yet. Mine don't fight, but they are all relatively young yet. We do have a black cochin roo who is the "boss" but he is not mean, just firm. Eventually, some of the roos will be culled, but it is going to be difficult to decide who stays and who goes when the time comes.
That 10 to 1 ratio is for fertility only. That is what commercial operations that provide hatching eggs use in a pen breeding set-up to assure fertility. That ratio has absolutely nothing to do with roosters fighting and practically nothing to do with any bare backed hens or other overbreeding problems. Breeders often keep 1 rooster penned with 1 or 2 hens and usually don't have those overbreeding problems. Some people have problems with free ranging flocks with over 20 hens and only 1 rooster. Don't get too hung up on a ratio. Whether you have problems or not depends a lot more on the personality of your chickens than the ratio. This depends not only on the personality of the rooster but the hens too. I am a firm believer that the more room you give them the less likely you are to have problems, but even that is not a guarantee. The more roosters you have the more likely you are to have problems, so I recommend you keep as few roosters as you can and still meet your goals, but there is no magic ratio of hens to roosters that either guarantees you will have problems or that guarantees you will not have problems. From experience, I have had more problems with one rooster with 10 hens that I have with 3 roosters with 15 hens, and those 3 were highly sexed adolescents, which is where you are more likely to have problems. As long as you don't get ridiculous, from experience I've found that the ratio is not all that important. Will you have problems with 2 roosters and 12 hens? Maybe, but maybe not. I really don't know.
If they free range during the day, you may not have problems. If they're cooped up all time you might. It depends on personalities, and space. If you had raised them all up together the roosters find their own rank. They could also kill one another. Good luck. ps I'm planning a second coop--for similar reasons.
i have 13 hens and 2 roo's....they have a 20'x 50' run.... they have 2 coops but all of them only use the 1 small coop, 6x8, i don't understand why they pack into the smaller coop but that's what they do.. they do lay eggs in the bigger coop.. anyway #1 rooster is the boss and is #2's daddy, he usually chases the other roo a bit and harasses him some...every now n then theres a skirmish but it's over in a few seconds.... the #2 roo has eyes in the back of his head to always know where the boss is at...#2 mates when he can and seems fine with his #2 position in the flock..... here's the funny part... when it starts to get dark there seems to be a truce called because #1 lets #2 roost right next to him, i don't understand this because as soon as the sun comes up he gets run out of the coop... 1 other thing, when an eagle flew over #1 was sounding the alarm and had the entire flock, including #2 under a bush protecting them.... so i figure they've got it figured out pretty good, they all seem happy... it just seems more natural to me to have 2 roos.......
