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Jimmygreen

Chirping
Apr 1, 2024
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I have 3 phu phan roosters and 1 Rhode island red rooster how many hens do they each need .
I have 1 Ayam cemani hen , 1 phu phan hen , 3 hybrids hens which are leghorns x with Rhode island , and some more baby chicks leghorns I don't know the sex of yet
 
For 4 roosters you'll likely need at least 20 hens. Depending on the temperaments of your roosters you may need to add more hens or remove roosters as necessary. You could also set up a bachelor pad of just males.
 
There is no cut and dried answer to the “how many hens per rooster” question. There are so many factors at play. Are they penned or do they free range? How much space do they have during the day? What are the personalities of your roosters? Ages?

I currently have three roosters in a flock of about 25 chickens. The chickens are housed in two coops at night (one 8x8’, the other 7’x15’). During the day they free range. Each rooster has his own sub-flock of hens, and they all seem to have their territories. Big Red and Black Rooster sleep in the big coop with their harems, Ice Cream Scoop (named by my 6-year old grandson “Because he’s colorful like scoops of ice cream!”) live in the other coop. It worked this winter because it was a mild winter and the chickens could be out a lot. If they were cooped up for 6 months like last year, either Big Red or Black Rooster would have had to go.

Anyway, back to your question. Some people keep breeding pairs or trios without any problems whatsoever. Others can have a rooster with 20 hens, and still have one or two barebacked hens because they’re the rooster’s favorite. Getting more hens to keep a rooster from over breeding the current flock or to keep roosters from fighting over the hens isn’t necessarily the answer, either. That can sometimes cause more problems than it solves. You have to integrate new birds into your flock, which can lead to fighting, feather picking, maybe overcrowding, and you take the chance of introducing disease or parasites into your flock.

If you’re not interested in eggs, why not keep a rooster flock? Or, if you do want eggs, get a few hens, put one rooster with them, and keep the rest in a bachelor pen.
 

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