Does hen rooster ratio matter as much for free range chickens?

[cflory]

I’m wondering if roosters pester hens less when there is no confinement. I read that in the wild, red jungle fowl males split off from the flock to form all male groups kinda like deer do, and the alpha runs with the hens. So theoretically does anyone know if this would work on a homestead? Obviously it’s not as much space as in the wild and not as many trees to escape to etc. but if anyone has experience with this, I’d be pleased to hear from you. I like the idea of getting some straight run bantam breeds that are agile and good at free ranging similar to the concept of almost feral chickens you’d see in villages in some parts of the world

 

[Debbie292d]

As far as silkies go, they can't fly but gosh can they run! It makes no difference, the roosters will still run like heck to catch the hens.

The older rooster has his own hens and they follow him around or he follows them and there isn't any chasing.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I had over 20 hens, a dominant rooster and a nice cockerel coming up. All was well for a good while, or so I thought. Toby, the Dominique cockerel, was trying to build his own "tribe," as @Shadrach, one of our rooster experts, calls it. We have about three acres here where the chickens free range most of the day. I guess he was doomed to fail, as everybody roosts in the same coop at night. There's a large run, about half an acre, where they all are until about 9 a.m. Like I said, I thought it was going to work. I never saw any battles. Toby was careful to stay out of Rojo's way. And then one day I heard Rojo crowing and crowing ... and I went out and found Toby lying there dead.

As far as this goes:

I’m wondering if roosters pester hens less when there is no confinement

-- if we're talking about cockerels, confinement has little to do with it IME. A randy cockerel will chase a pullet mercilessly, regardless of the space available. Cockerels need to be confined until their hormones settle down - or a trip to the freezer cools them down for good.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

To clarify, it could probably work where there is LOTS of room and each tribe has sufficient space. My three acres and community coop is not adequate for success.

 

[Perris]

I’m wondering if roosters pester hens less when there is no confinement.

They are not confined here, but that doesn't give me a reference point to gauge what you mean by 'less' in this context.

if anyone has experience with this, I’d be pleased to hear from you.

I have currently 4 roo/cockerels, 18 hens/pullets and 5 chicks, all large fowl but of Mediterranean-type build (fast and agile, not heavy and docile) living as 1 flock in about 1 unbounded acre.

They roost in 4 Nestera coops (designed just to roost and lay eggs in) which are moved regularly but always positioned near in a village/ street/ wagon-train type arrangement, and they each chose where and with whom to roost each night. They mix things up more than they keep things firm.

The chief pester session is on opening the coops at dawn. The roos are out fast and will try to catch passing hens/ pullets to mate them en route to breakfast. The older, wiser hens wait in the coops till the main action is over, before they do a zig-zag run to the feed station to get their brekkies. The dom meanwhile tends to get preoccupied with keeping an eye on or pursuing his immediate subordinate, so that's 2 roos busy with each other . That just involves a bit of chasing and crowing normally, to establish anew each day who's boss and who's not.

The rest of the day is pretty calm. A hen may whizz past a window with roo/ cockerel in hot pursuit at random times during the day, but whether or not he catches her depends on her and his ability to secure their aims. The garden has lots of cover and shrub borders where the pursued can often evade or shake off a pursuer (or predator). It is not the space per se or trees that matter; it is the maze of routes and tangle of branches that offers hens escape and refuge from over-amorous roos.

All the boys here learn quite quickly to tidbit and be nice if they want to mate frequently because, I think, the hens do usually escape a roo behaving badly (as when in the jerk cockerel phase).

 

[PatriciafromCO]

Think space is a positive, lets the lower roo's stay away from the stronger roo. I have 4 roo's to 10 hens. What ever their pecking order is they can all find their own space away from each other.

 

[aart]

They roost in 4 Nestera coops (designed just to roost and lay eggs in) which are moved regularly but always positioned near in a village/ street/ wagon-train type arrangement, and they each chose where and with whom to roost each night. They mix things up more than they keep things firm.

Does more than one male ever roost in the same coop?

 

[Perris]

Does more than one male ever roost in the same coop?

yes, frequently. And in no particular pattern.

 

[PatriciafromCO]

Yes also for my roo groups over the years to roost in the same barn. Its a large barn plenty of space if they want it. Only infighting I see happen is between the turkeys or the ducks with a roo or a chicken and again with endless space to leave the area when they done having their spat or avoid that other bird completely.

 

[cflory]

I had over 20 hens, a dominant rooster and a nice cockerel coming up. All was well for a good while, or so I thought. Toby, the Dominique cockerel, was trying to build his own "tribe," as @Shadrach, one of our rooster experts, calls it. We have about three acres here where the chickens free range most of the day. I guess he was doomed to fail, as everybody roosts in the same coop at night. There's a large run, about half an acre, where they all are until about 9 a.m. Like I said, I thought it was going to work. I never saw any battles. Toby was careful to stay out of Rojo's way. And then one day I heard Rojo crowing and crowing ... and I went out and found Toby lying there dead.

As far as this goes:


-- if we're talking about cockerels, confinement has little to do with it IME. A randy cockerel will chase a pullet mercilessly, regardless of the space available. Cockerels need to be confined until their hormones settle down - or a trip to the freezer cools them down for good.

I Like your idea of keeping the cockerels separate until they mature. I remember my cockerels getting pretty violent before I separated them