I thank Aart for the ages, that answered my first question. You do not have roosters and hens, you have cockerels and pullets. Cockerels and pullets and their behaviors are totally different from roosters and hens. The pullets are not close to being mature so they don’t know how to act in a mature way yet. The cockerels are still really young but their hormones have kicked in if they are after a pullet like that. I raise pullets and cockerels with the flock all the time. Sometimes it’s not too bad but sometimes the cockerels get so wild I lock them up away from the rest of the flock. I don’t give guarantees about chicken behaviors but I do give warnings. Your situation is likely to get a lot worse before it gets better. Do not expect their current behaviors to remain the same as they go through puberty.
The only reason you need a rooster is if you want fertile eggs. Every other reason is just personal preference. I do not believe in any rooster to hen ratios, I’ve seen too much to believe in them. However, I suggest you keep as few roosters as you can and still meet your goals. That’s not because you are guaranteed problems with more roosters, just that it is more likely to have problems. How much room you have factors into that too. Again I’m not talking about any ratio of square feet per chicken, I’m talking about can the adult roosters get out of sight of each other? The less space you have the more likely you are to have problems.
I don’t know what your personal goals are but I agree with the others, your correct number of cockerels and eventually roosters with those pullets and eventually hens is either zero or one. One may be a lot before they fully mature but with all adults one with five should be OK. If you want to keep all three of those cockerels your best bet is to put two or all three of them in a bachelor pad, no females allowed. If they can’t get to the females they obviously can’t bother them and if there are no females to fight over they typically don’t fight. But as I said, I don’t give guarantees, with living animals anything can happen.
The only reason you need a rooster is if you want fertile eggs. Every other reason is just personal preference. I do not believe in any rooster to hen ratios, I’ve seen too much to believe in them. However, I suggest you keep as few roosters as you can and still meet your goals. That’s not because you are guaranteed problems with more roosters, just that it is more likely to have problems. How much room you have factors into that too. Again I’m not talking about any ratio of square feet per chicken, I’m talking about can the adult roosters get out of sight of each other? The less space you have the more likely you are to have problems.
I don’t know what your personal goals are but I agree with the others, your correct number of cockerels and eventually roosters with those pullets and eventually hens is either zero or one. One may be a lot before they fully mature but with all adults one with five should be OK. If you want to keep all three of those cockerels your best bet is to put two or all three of them in a bachelor pad, no females allowed. If they can’t get to the females they obviously can’t bother them and if there are no females to fight over they typically don’t fight. But as I said, I don’t give guarantees, with living animals anything can happen.
...I agree...Too many Cockerels in your flock and they all like the same Pullet. Separate the Cockerels and pick out one that respects the ladies.
