Do I need another rooster?

[chick2flick]

We have a mixed flock of 7 hens and 1 roo that are 1-3 years old. The roo has been doing his 'husbandly duties' with atleast 3 of the hens, that we know of. Yesterday I noticed one of the other hens mounting another. They are both definitely hens and sisters to boot. Both of these hens have not been 'serviced' by the roo that we are aware of. We thought one roo would be enough for this many hens, but do we really need to have a second roo and flock? We don't really want nor do we have the facilities for a second flock or roo. Of all the hens, only one is laying eggs at the moment.
What's going on and how do we fix it?

PS, we know that sometimes hens can crow & such like a rooster when there isn't one around. But, but, but...really??? Mounting?

 

[LRH97]

I've heard of hens doing crazy things to assert their dominance. This might be one of them. One roo for seven hens is fine; I have have 25 in one of my coops with only one roo and all is well. I wouldn't try to introduce two adult roos that haven't been raised together.

 

[chick2flick]

Thanks for the reply. I agree about not having 2 roosters together and the hen/roo ratio being fine.
We've had several different flocks over the last 5 years, but have never seen this behavior before. Neither of these two hens have ever shown any aggression or dominance behavior within the flock. In fact, they are the youngest and the rest of the flock treat them well and are usually protective of these two. This flock is actually made up from 3 separate flocks, intergrated together to make one flock. And that was done early this last summer. So they have all been together and worked out pecking order issues a long time ago.
I guess I'm not going to worry about it until there is something to worry about. Weird chickens!

 

[LRH97]

Glad I could help. I guess that's just part of the fun, chickens being just a tad strange.

All the best!