Hen:rooster ratio

[ehoneybee]

I really only have room for 4 chickens in the coop I bought. So I'd have to get rid of the rooster or get another coop asap. I knew I should've gotten a bigger coop jic doh!

 

[lilmarie84]

Funny! When I talked to a rep from my pet chicken he said 10:1 is the ideal ratio

that is why I asked them about it my exact question was if 1 rooster would be too much for 6 hen and they told me no and explained to me that the general rule of thumb is 1 rooster for NO MORE than 10 hens meant 10 was the max hens pre rooster and that 6:1 would be fine

 

[ehoneybee]

that is why I asked them about it my exact question was if 1 rooster would be too much for 6 hen and they told me no and explained to me that the general rule of thumb is 1 rooster for NO MORE than 10 hens meant 10 was the max hens pre rooster and that 6:1 would be fine

Oh, interesting! Why no more than 10? Unless you want to make sure you get chicks?

 

[lilmarie84]

and I would assume that it would go the other way as well NO MORE than 1 rooster for that less than 10 hens

 

[chicmom]

So, the hens aren't laying yet and there's a rooster. I imagine he still tried to mount? Should I keep them separate?

You don't have to keep them separate. They're probably fine together. If you like hens with nice feathers, you should probably re-home the rooster because roosters can be very hard on hens. Sometimes the poor hens end up with a bare back, or lots of broken feathers from the mating. I had a rooster with eight or so hens. He had one hen in particular bare backed from mating. (I guess she was his favorite.) I put a cute hen saddle with a flower print on her to protect her back. LOL She looked adorable in it.

 

[lazy gardener]

I do not have pre existing birds. They are from my husband's co-worker. I honestly don't know too much just that they're obviously hardy to our zone and we have to take that damn rooster!

While the stipulation is that you have to take the cockerel, are they insisting that you provide a forever home for him? Unreasonable request, if that is so. But, IMO, once the bird belongs to you, you can do what you want to do with him, as long as it's an ethical solution. Keep him, rehome him, eat him. You own him, so you do with him what you want.

that is why I asked them about it my exact question was if 1 rooster would be too much for 6 hen and they told me no and explained to me that the general rule of thumb is 1 rooster for NO MORE than 10 hens meant 10 was the max hens pre rooster and that 6:1 would be fine

The hatcheries are in business to sell chicks... so they are going to sugar coat their advice. (you can call me a cynic.) My roo happily covers as many as 24 pullets/hens, and he'd gladly add a few more to his harem if he could find them. Fertility rate has been very good. So, when someone tells you that you need a roo to cover 10 hens, they are perhaps talking about expecting 100% fertility, or maybe talking about a lazy old geezer roo!!! Or maybe it's a hatchery rep who wants to sell more cockerels.

 

[lilmarie84]

The hatcheries are in business to sell chicks... so they are going to sugar coat their advice.

Or maybe it's a hatchery rep who wants to sell more roos.

If that was the case they weren't doing their job properly in my case because they knew off the back exactly what I wanted so they knew they didn't need to sell me the rooster but they could have tried to sell me more hens

 

[Birdsong 82]

I agree. Once the rooster is yours you can do what you want with him. The only problem is unless your ok with keeping or eating him it's not so easy to find a home for a rooster. People often will happily take a free hand but not so easy with res people often will happily take a free hand but not so easy with rooster. My rooster only had 2 hens before our flock grew and he was happy. Of course happier now with 8.

 

[coach723]

Honestly, every rooster is different, every flock is different. Some roo's are terribly rough and tear up the girls and some don't. Some are just sweethearts. Age can be a factor too, younger roo's tend to be a little rougher as their hormones surge. The 'math' is a guideline, not a set rule, you have to do what works in your flock. There are pluses and minuses to keeping roosters or not keeping them. If you take 4 or 5 birds from an established flock they are going to have to reset the pecking order in the new flock. You won't really know who's high or low until that happens and you won't know where they were in the other established flock. If you raise chicks, that happens gradually as they are all together from the beginning and it will be less 'dramatic'. It may go perfectly smoothly, but you will not know until you do it. If you think you want to have a rooster then take him and see how it goes. You can always remove him later if he's mean (I'd walk through his flock and pick up a hen or two and see how he reacts first - if he attacks you, then I would not take him. Period.). Also, IMHO pre-made coops usually are way too small for the amount of birds they say they will hold, enough space is very, very important and becomes more so with a rooster. Your hens need to have room to get away from him if they choose. Also having a roo comes with different possibilities and you need to be prepared for those. As previously said, it can be hard to re-home a roo, so you need to be prepared to do whatever needs to be done if you decide you don't want him or can't keep him. If you don't want a rooster or are not sure, then I would pass on it. Keep some hens for a while and see how you feel about it, or raise your own chicks, you can always add a rooster later if it's something you decide you want to do (if you add chicks periodically then odds are you will eventually get an 'accidental' roo). I have 23 in my flock right now, two roo's, everybody is very happy and gets along, but I'm very choosy about what roo's I keep. I kept hens for several years before I started keeping roo's in my flock. Now I can't imagine not having them.

 

[ehoneybee]

Honestly, every rooster is different, every flock is different. Some roo's are terribly rough and tear up the girls and some don't. Some are just sweethearts. Age can be a factor too, younger roo's tend to be a little rougher as their hormones surge. The 'math' is a guideline, not a set rule, you have to do what works in your flock. There are pluses and minuses to keeping roosters or not keeping them. If you take 4 or 5 birds from an established flock they are going to have to reset the pecking order in the new flock. You won't really know who's high or low until that happens and you won't know where they were in the other established flock. If you raise chicks, that happens gradually as they are all together from the beginning and it will be less 'dramatic'. It may go perfectly smoothly, but you will not know until you do it. If you think you want to have a rooster then take him and see how it goes. You can always remove him later if he's mean (I'd walk through his flock and pick up a hen or two and see how he reacts first - if he attacks you, then I would not take him. Period.). Also, IMHO pre-made coops usually are way too small for the amount of birds they say they will hold, enough space is very, very important and becomes more so with a rooster. Your hens need to have room to get away from him if they choose. Also having a roo comes with different possibilities and you need to be prepared for those. As previously said, it can be hard to re-home a roo, so you need to be prepared to do whatever needs to be done if you decide you don't want him or can't keep him. If you don't want a rooster or are not sure, then I would pass on it. Keep some hens for a while and see how you feel about it, or raise your own chicks, you can always add a rooster later if it's something you decide you want to do (if you add chicks periodically then odds are you will eventually get an 'accidental' roo). I have 23 in my flock right now, two roo's, everybody is very happy and gets along, but I'm very choosy about what roo's I keep. I kept hens for several years before I started keeping roo's in my flock. Now I can't imagine not having them.

For roosters, he has 4 month olds, 1+ year olds, and 3+ year olds. He wants the younger ones taken so no chance in getting one who might not be as amorous. Right now he has 25 hens and 5 roosters so that's 5:1. I'm planning to take the 4 month old hens and rooster from same brood but maybe I should switch it up and take the year old hens and rooster? Btw, they're all mutts but he says they're all very friendly and beautiful, the roos, too, so I don't know what I'm going to get.