D'Uccle Rooster Behavior Questions

[makemineirish]

I am working on a chicken coop to be completed by spring and window shopping "pretty" and personable chicken breeds.

I live in town on an 0.8 acre fenced lot. The proposed chicken coop is sufficient to serve as the only space (42.25sqft hen house, 120.25sqft roofed run)....but sufficient is never my goal. I can add more run space or build an accompanying tractor, but would like to allow the chickens some semi-supervised free-range time if possible.

According to my city ordinance, roosters are not banned while noisy animals are. I have run into a couple of people on the annual Chicken Coop Tour that keep a rooster or two, but take them inside to sleep at night.

So to my questions....

IF I hatch chicks and wanted to hold onto a rooster or two....

Will a couple of roosters co-exist peacefully dependent on the number of ladies, or is it better to restrict myself to one?

If the answer is the former, how many hens are advisable per gent?

IF I choose to keep a rooster in my flock, is the bantam-sized crow unlikely to be heard by the neighbors...or does he get his own sleeping quarters in the garage?


P.S.- I am still deliberating my options but would appreciate any recommendations of breeders with especially gorgeous birds, particularly in Mille Fleur.


Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I have d'Uccles and 3 d'Uccle roos.

Here is the thing: they are quieter than a large fowl rooster, but they are still loud. Your neighbors will hear them during the day- so on one acre in the city I'd not keep a roo.

If you definitely want to try keeping a rooster, I'd keep only one since they do get into crowing contests with each other LOL.
My d'Uccle roos are very sweet and you may get attached to them if you have them- it will just about bring you to tears to get rid of them - they are THAT sweet.

So if you do have one boy, I'd have at least 5 girls in with him- the standard for chickens in general is usually one roo per 10 hens, but you can probably just wait and see if the hens get overbred or not with 5 of them. It depends on the rooster.

I bought mine from Welp Hatchery and you have to order 30 at a time- my Mille Fleurs are very pretty but I don't know the breed standard and can't judge them or anything. I love my d'Uccles! Welp carries self blue, white, black mottled, golden neck, mille fleur, and porcelain.

I think I have seen McMurray Hatchery and Meyer have mille fleur too!