Do I have too many roosters?

[Ruby roost]

Oh cute. Honestly I bet the silkies will be fine together even with 4 of them roos

 

[Ruby roost]

You seem to have a great setup!
Since you have the space, if you do want to keep the roosters,
a bachelor pad would definitely be something to try
You could keep one with the girls, and keep the others in a separate coop+run;
That's also a good way to breed,
like if you want certain males to mate with certain females .
You're definitely gonna have some broodies with those silkies!
I wish you luck!

Thank you!

 

[Erineh]

Hi! I am curious as to if you are certain you have several roosters? They are all so little, still. A red comb doesn’t necessarily make a rooster. I’ve had chickens for 20+ years and have found a few ways to guess when they are young, but it’s still never a given till you see them trying to crow. (At several months of age.) Generally, even as chicks, roosters are a little bigger/heavier/taller than the female counterparts of the same breed. They also will dominate the food and act a bit more aware of their surroundings (such as looking up at you when people coming close) than the hens. The biggest tell comes when they are around 6 weeks, when you pick them up they make a different sound than the hens, louder and deeper. But puberty is the true defining time. It’s been my experience that having more than 2 roosters is problematic. As they mature, any time any rooster mates with any hen, the others line up behind him, and they all have a turn -trying to establish dominance. The hens egg sacks often get infected and even rupture from all of the action. In addition. Your once friendly roosters become more and more competitive with each other, and thus become more aggressive and much less friendly toward humans, especially young kids. In my opinion, one rooster is ideal, but you can occasionally find two roosters that get along, if one will allow the other to be the alpha. I wouldn’t get rid of any chickens before they start to try and crow though. Their personalities change a lot when they go through puberty and you might be surprised regarding which rooster you should keep, and who might not be a rooster after all. You will likely find a favorite. But the hens should like the rooster as well. You will notice which one as the hens usually pick a favorite and ignore/run from the others to him when the other start acting as if they want to mate. Good luck to you!!!

 

[Ruby roost]

Hi! I am curious as to if you are certain you have several roosters? They are all so little, still. A red comb doesn’t necessarily make a rooster. I’ve had chickens for 20+ years and have found a few ways to guess when they are young, but it’s still never a given till you see them trying to crow. (At several months of age.) Generally, even as chicks, roosters are a little bigger/heavier/taller than the female counterparts of the same breed. They also will dominate the food and act a bit more aware of their surroundings (such as looking up at you when people coming close) than the hens. The biggest tell comes when they are around 6 weeks, when you pick them up they make a different sound than the hens, louder and deeper. But puberty is the true defining time. It’s been my experience that having more than 2 roosters is problematic. As they mature, any time any rooster mates with any hen, the others line up behind him, and they all have a turn -trying to establish dominance. The hens egg sacks often get infected and even rupture from all of the action. In addition. Your once friendly roosters become more and more competitive with each other, and thus become more aggressive and much less friendly toward humans, especially young kids. In my opinion, one rooster is ideal, but you can occasionally find two roosters that get along, if one will allow the other to be the alpha. I wouldn’t get rid of any chickens before they start to try and crow though. Their personalities change a lot when they go through puberty and you might be surprised regarding which rooster you should keep, and who might not be a rooster after all. You will likely find a favorite. But the hens should like the rooster as well. You will notice which one as the hens usually pick a favorite and ignore/run from the others to him when the other start acting as if they want to mate. Good luck to you!!!

I am not 100% certain about the silkies, I keep reading that they are really hard to tell gender as they mature slower than other breeds but 4 of the 6 have large waddles and combs, my only reservation is that I believe they are mixed breed because they don’t have a lot of feathers on their feet and their combs are not walnut combs, they are straight combs.....I hope I’m wrong and they are just big girls I’m just going to wait it out and hope for the best