hens attached to roos..if roos are gone will they adjust?

[JeninMN]

Hi,

We have 2 too many roosters..we have a 1 year old roo we are keeping and a 14 week old roo that I think we will also keep so we'll have about 32 hens and 2 roos.

As of now...they have their own little "clicks"! Each Roo has their own set of hens...they even cuddle together in different parts of the coop at night.... So...if we get rid of 2 roos will they all adjust to those roos being gone and all that? I don't want depressed chickens but at the same time we have too many roos, they have destroyed the feathers on our girls!

Thoughts on this??? They are from our original flock and they all grew up together so it makes me sad but...too many roos is too many roos.

Thanks

Jen

 

[crtrlovr]

can you not put saddles on your girls? If the roos aren't fighting each other and they enjoy & love their own set of girls, it seems such a shame to send two away. I think the ratio is 8-10 per roo; if that works out correctly, each roo would have 8 girls (give or take one or two, depending on how they're divided), wouldn't that work?

Then again, I'm not the best one to give advice on something like this -- my heart's bigger than my head (or my wallet).

 

[gritsar]

I'm confused. How many roosters do you have total? Two roosters to 32 hens, is that correct? That's not too many roosters at all.
You could do the saddles as crtrlover suggested.
If you do end up getting rid of the roos, the hens will adjust. There may be some fussing going on while they re-arrange the pecking order.

 

[JeninMN]

Well we had thought things would be fine but we'll actually end up with 4 roos now...I have heard that too many roos taking care of the hens can interrupt egg production and I'm wondering if that is true because we have 23 hens and we only get between 8 to 12 eggs a day...we sell the eggs and can't keep up with our orders!

the other thing is that we walk into the coop and 2 of the roos are getting more aggressive towards us so my hubby would prefer if we only have 2 total which means we have to get rid of 2 of them.

does anyone know if that is true that the roos if they are *bothering* the hens too much that it can interfere with egg laying?

 

[gritsar]

What breeds of hens do you have? Are they breeds known to be every day layers?

 

[JeninMN]

Quote:
We have buff orpingtons...we used to get 18 a day or so...but since we've noticed the roos being on them more the eggs haven't been coming as well.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
We have buff orpingtons...we used to get 18 a day or so...but since we've noticed the roos being on them more the eggs haven't been coming as well.

Could be stress, from adjusting to more roosters doing what roosters do.

You could probably get away with three roos, but would be better off with just two.
The rest of the flock will make the necessary adjustments in the pecking order in just a few days.