Hen to Rooster?

[Quella]

"After a couple of years of trial and error we've settled on 8 hens and 2 roosters as the right sized flock for our household. The two roosters are important. While you don't need roosters for hens to lay eggs, they provide an important role in the social structure of the flock, and if you don't provide a rooster, one of the hens will stop laying, and start acting like one! Again, a commercial operation would cull her, and cull the next one that did it, on down the line. "
At this website--http://www.gatewaytovermont.com/thefarm/chickens.htm
Will the hens "become" roosters?

 

[the1much]

hahaha,,,, that happens very,, VERY few times lol,,, and only 8 hens for 2 roo's will cause you more problems then a "butchy" hen,, lol

 

[B. Saffles Farms]

Even if it did happen,

why 2 roos for 8 hens?

 

[Quella]

I have no idea. Just "chicken surfing", I guess, and that came on my computer. I thought it was 8-12 hens per rooster?

 

[B. Saffles Farms]

1 roo will take care of up to 10 to 12 hens on average. Some roos can handle much more than that. Some maybe a few less.

 

[Carolina Chicken Man]

I don't know about the hen acting like a rooster,never heard that. There always will be a "pecking order", so one hen will be the alpha. But, I've never heard that she will not lay eggs.

You would not need 2 roosters for 8 hens, only one. If you had more hens, I've alway heard that 3 roosters were better than two.

 

[bigzio]

I agree that 2 roo's will prolly become stressful on the 8 hens.

If the spring fights make your flock a nightmare, then it will be time to rethink the 2 roo theroy.

I prefer 1 to 14 ratio myself.

bigzio

 

[DTchickens]

Quote:
Bleh, you dont only need one rooster

you can have as many as you want. unless of course it starts to cause problems.. As for the not laying part im not sure on, i have 2 hens i know of now that crow every morning and hatch chicks off every year. have had more then that

 

[redhen]

okay, confused again here..so, then why do they sell mating trios? 2 hens and 1 roo? i may want to breed some day..but..i wont have room for a zillion more roos and hens...how can i do this safely for the hens then? thanks, Wendy

 

[B. Saffles Farms]

Redhen, I have mine seperated off in breeding pairs or trios. Thats fine. Its just when you have multiple roos, and not enough hens for both of then, they can fight and what not. I go with 1 roo to 1 to 12 hens, in most cases, just depends on the roo. Some roos may be able to handle more hens than 12 other may not.