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

[cflory]

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

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).

Gosh it sounds like mornings can be hectic. You know, there’s a part of me that feels like I need to keep everything under control so no birds get hurt but then in nature, this is just how these birds function on a social level.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

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

In the deep South, gamefowl (fighting chickens) were traditionally kept free-range on large wooded properties. A dominant brood cock would keep about 20 hens with him and that formed a flock. Multiple separate flocks would inhabit a 100 acre stretch of woods. The dominant cocks would keep their core group of hens around water sources (natural ponds and swamps). The cocks would not invade each other’s territories. Hens would sometimes change groups. Young cockerels would live in bachelor groups in between the flocks. 1 rooster had no trouble servicing 20 hens. I’m sure cockerels bred some too on the edges of territories.

I try to keep similar ratios. 1 rooster per 12-20 hens on free range. But there’s always cockerels growing out and they do some breeding.

 

[cflory]

In the deep South, gamefowl (fighting chickens) were traditionally kept free-range on large wooded properties. A dominant brood cock would keep about 20 hens with him and that formed a flock. Multiple separate flocks would inhabit a 100 acre stretch of woods. The dominant cocks would keep their core group of hens around water sources (natural ponds and swamps). The cocks would not invade each other’s territories. Hens would sometimes change groups. Young cockerels would live in bachelor groups in between the flocks. 1 rooster had no trouble servicing 20 hens. I’m sure cockerels bred some too on the edges of territories.

I try to keep similar ratios. 1 rooster per 12-20 hens on free range. But there’s always cockerels growing out and they do some breeding.

I love this history! I had no idea that sort of naturalization happened in America. I’m not sure what kinda chicken predators there are in the South, but in my part of the Midwest, we have raccoons and hawks everywhere + all the other critters that like chicken, so free ranging is risky here. Do you cull your extra cockerels when they reach maturity or do they stay in their all male groups?

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I love this history! I had no idea that sort of naturalization happened in America. I’m not sure what kinda chicken predators there are in the South, but in my part of the Midwest, we have raccoons and hawks everywhere + all the other critters that like chicken, so free ranging is risky here. Do you cull your extra cockerels when they reach maturity or do they stay in their all male groups?

We have all of your predators and maybe more in the South, except we lack fishers, wolverines, and maybe some other odd ones in Florida (but we have weasels and mink). My farm has all of Florida’s native predators except panthers. The chickens are faster. That’s how they survive. Raccoons, coyotes, and hawks are nothing to them. Bobcat and fox are more serious but my dogs keep them under control and repulsed.

SE Asia is covered up in small and medium predators that fill the same niches as North American predators. Wild junglefowl thrive and are considered some of the most predator-resistant animals on earth. Its ironic we humans made modern domestic chickens so opposite. The more you get your chickens like junglefowl, the better they survive. The challenge is finding a balance between wild traits for survival and domestic traits for human usefulness.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Mine currently free range on 30 acres and from my experience yes and no. The dominant rooster takes his pick which usually consists of the more dominant hens . The next up rooster in the hierarchy takes the less dominant hens that are leftover. Usually the others as young cockerels act more like pests at first. Trying to get to the hens, occasionally getting to one, but in most cases getting kicked back by the other two roosters. When they get older though it seems to become more of a constant fight with the hierarchy being challenged more frequently. If I built coops on all four corners and they had their own castle to call home I think I could have 8 roosters total with two in the same vicinity of each with their own flock of hens, but I definitely could not have 8 roosters in the same few acres together. A recent example is I had someone visiting who was commenting on how it wasn’t fair that I had a pen full of roosters with no hens (10 roosters total in a 10x20’ coop with a 60x60’ run). They oh so kindly decided to open my rooster pen door when I was away and I came back to a blood bath. My hens are now all plucked up and the butcher roosters were bloodied by my dominant two that I keep out with my hens. I promise I am not an angry person it takes a lot to make me angry, but when we walked over to the barn and saw the mess my husband jokingly said “I should probably go hide the machete, shotgun and back hoe somewhere you can’t get to them.”

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Do you cull your extra cockerels when they reach maturity or do they stay in their all male groups?

In the past, I have aggressively culled cockerels so that my chosen brood cock remained the dominant source of genes for the next generation, and in that way I could genetically guide the flock as I will. However, that backfired on me when I allowed a rooster to breed that was prone to Marek’s. He passed the proclivity to Marek’s to the next generation and I had to let Marek’s burn through the flock and remove everything carrying that weakness. I believe I’m past that now, but in hindsight I should have let nature take its course. I bet another would have rose to the top, one stronger that wouldn’t have passed that weakness to Marek’s on. So this year and into next year I will let a lot of natural selection happen. There is one dominant cock out now, one bull stag, and maybe 30-40 young stags growing out. I will let them all sort themselves out as they mature.

 

[Perris]

Gosh it sounds like mornings can be hectic. You know, there’s a part of me that feels like I need to keep everything under control so no birds get hurt but then in nature, this is just how these birds function on a social level.

I wouldn't describe it as hectic, even for the few minutes immediately after coop opening; lively is the word I'd use And nobody gets hurt normally. It seems we have rather different conceptions of what's normal and natural. Sometimes there is benefit to the health and welfare of the birds in our surrender of control over them.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Mine currently free range on 30 acres and from my experience yes and no. The dominant rooster takes his pick which usually consists of the more dominant hens . The next up rooster in the hierarchy takes the less dominant hens that are leftover. Usually the others as young cockerels act more like pests at first. Trying to get to the hens, occasionally getting to one, but in most cases getting kicked back by the other two roosters. When they get older though it seems to become more of a constant fight with the hierarchy being challenged more frequently. If I built coops on all four corners and they had their own castle to call home I think I could have 8 roosters total with two in the same vicinity of each with their own flock of hens, but I definitely could not have 8 roosters in the same few acres together. A recent example is I had someone visiting who was commenting on how it wasn’t fair that I had a pen full of roosters with no hens (10 roosters total in a 10x20’ coop with a 60x60’ run). They oh so kindly decided to open my rooster pen door when I was away and I came back to a blood bath. My hens are now all plucked up and the butcher roosters were bloodied by my dominant two that I keep out with my hens. I promise I am not an angry person it takes a lot to make me angry, but when we walked over to the barn and saw the mess my husband jokingly said “I should probably go hide the machete, shotgun and back hoe somewhere you can’t get to them.”

Horrors! That person would not be welcome on my property again. Did they get to see the consequences of their actions?

 

[McChooky]

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

Bantams aren't good at fending for themselves like jungle fowl. If you want a flock to free range with minimal human intervention get jungle fowl.What works for jungle fowl won't work with others