Feral flock formation

[ezeo]

There are feral chickens where I live.

I often see single roosters on their own, or a single rooster with a single hen. The biggest "flock" I have ever seen is one rooster with 4 hens. Hens are alone if they have chicks. I have never seen a "bachelor flock".

There are many predators here so I am guessing it is dangerous for a flock to get too big. For those who have observed feral chickens, or free range a mixed flock, do the chickens follow the same grouping pattern?

 

[sourland]

The only place that I have observed feral chickens was in Hawaii and that was the general pattern. A rooster with one or two hens. I did see one flock of 2 roosters and 5 hens.

 

[Shadrach]

There are feral chickens where I live.

I often see single roosters on their own, or a single rooster with a single hen. The biggest "flock" I have ever seen is one rooster with 4 hens. Hens are alone if they have chicks. I have never seen a "bachelor flock".

There are many predators here so I am guessing it is dangerous for a flock to get too big. For those who have observed feral chickens, or free range a mixed flock, do the chickens follow the same grouping pattern?

Sounds about right.
One rooster to three hens works well here.
My most stable tribe is 3 roosters to 6 hens atm.
Most troublsome tribe is one senior rooster and his son and seven hens.
There are lots of reasons why 1:3 works which I wont go into here.

 

[PioneerChicks]

There are lots of reasons why 1:3 works which I wont go into here.

Have you posted about that in another thread? Now you've got me curious

 

[ezeo]

There are lots of reasons why 1:3 works which I wont go into here.

Please go into it elsewhere, and post a link. I would love to know the reasons :-D

 

[Shadrach]

Please go into it elsewhere, and post a link. I would love to know the reasons :-D

I have gone into it elsewhere but I have no idea where now.
If you're interested then reading these two articles will help you understand what free range roosters do.
Once you've understood this then it should be clear that a rooster can only do these things for a certain number of hens, just the logistics make it so. He can only be in one place at one time.
A rooster with no hens will activley seek hens out and that often means trying to attract hens from another group. This can end up in conflict with other roosters and that's to be avoided if possible.
One hen and when she's egg laying or sitting on eggs to hatch, in effect the rooster doesn't have any hens and he'll compete for other hens. This causes conflict.
If a rooster with a single hen loses that ehn through predation then he's back to square one again.
With two hens even if one is sitting he still has one to keep him company.
With three hens the rooster is always likely to have a hen as company and in the event that one gets predated he will still have two.
So, three is the keepers insurance number for minimum rooster conflict.
Four hens is possible but ime and in the experience of other multiple group keepers the rooster tends to have two or three favourites and the fourth gets neglected. It's the fourth hen that is most likely to be attracted to a rooster with less hens because she will get more attention from the rooster.
Ten hens, no way the rooster can look out for them all with the same attention. Sure he can mate with them but when it comes to escort duties or treat finding the junior hens are not likely to fare well.
With confined flocks not much of the above matters. The hens can't go far and the rooster doesn't have to do much to keep them. A rooster that doesn't look after his hens in a free range stting is likely to lose them to a more attentive rooster.
Bear in mind it's the hens that choose the rooster, not the other way around.
Anyway, these links will take you to a couple of relevant articles.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-not-about-the-egg-it’s-an-escort-call.74386/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/understanding-your-rooster.75056/

 

[PioneerChicks]

I have gone into it elsewhere but I have no idea where now.
If you're interested then reading these two articles will help you understand what free range roosters do.
Once you've understood this then it should be clear that a rooster can only do these things for a certain number of hens, just the logistics make it so. He can only be in one place at one time.
A rooster with no hens will activley seek hens out and that often means trying to attract hens from another group. This can end up in conflict with other roosters and that's to be avoided if possible.
One hen and when she's egg laying or sitting on eggs to hatch, in effect the rooster doesn't have any hens and he'll compete for other hens. This causes conflict.
If a rooster with a single hen loses that ehn through predation then he's back to square one again.
With two hens even if one is sitting he still has one to keep him company.
With three hens the rooster is always likely to have a hen as company and in the event that one gets predated he will still have two.
So, three is the keepers insurance number for minimum rooster conflict.
Four hens is possible but ime and in the experience of other multiple group keepers the rooster tends to have two or three favourites and the fourth gets neglected. It's the fourth hen that is most likely to be attracted to a rooster with less hens because she will get more attention from the rooster.
Ten hens, no way the rooster can look out for them all with the same attention. Sure he can mate with them but when it comes to escort duties or treat finding the junior hens are not likely to fare well.
With confined flocks not much of the above matters. The hens can't go far and the rooster doesn't have to do much to keep them. A rooster that doesn't look after his hens in a free range stting is likely to lose them to a more attentive rooster.
Bear in mind it's the hens that choose the rooster, not the other way around.
Anyway, these links will take you to a couple of relevant articles.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-egg-song-it’s-not-about-the-egg-it’s-an-escort-call.74386/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/understanding-your-rooster.75056/

That is facinating! Thank you so much for sharing, I bookmarked your post!