- Jun 15, 2008
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It's going to depend on the roo. Some roos will over mate the hens and cause bald torn up hens if you have too few. Some roos do fine with only 1 hen. I have a japanese bantam roo and hen in one pen and another jap roo with 3 hens in another pen. They are extremely nice to the hens and take care of them. Sometimes you can have 5 roos together without problems. I have 2 in the coop now. They've divided the hens up so the jap roo out there gets the jap hen and 3 EEs and the standard roo takes the other 6 standard hens. They sleep in the same coop and when let out to free range wander around in seperate groups. Some roos will kill every other roo that sets foot in the yard or coop without question. Breed will have an effect. Some breeds are known more for aggressive or easy going roos than others. The japs seem on the extreme end of easy going. I had all 3 roos together until I seperated out a breeding group and the last hen suffered an injury while out with the standards so I seperated her and then added the roo for company.
It is a good idea to have a backup roo if you can. Otherwise should something happen to your roo you'll either have to try to hatch another or find another somewhere.
It is a good idea to have a backup roo if you can. Otherwise should something happen to your roo you'll either have to try to hatch another or find another somewhere.
