Welcome to BYC! Glad you decided to join our flock. X2 on Australorps for all the reasons that TwoCrows gave, plus they are the best layers of the standard, brown egg laying breeds. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your flock.
Awww glad to hear that someone else has been impressed by them! I currently have the one cockerel I already mentioned and also 2 pullets and they are the definite calmest and sweetest of my flock so far. But they aren't timid at all, they love getting outside and always come running when they see me to see if I have treats
Thanks for the welcome! And thanks for mentioning the good laying qualities of the Australorps. I had originally only meant to have one Australorp hen in my flock, but picked 2 out to be safe at the farm when I picked out chicks...then when I got home I realized I had accidentally gotten 3. But, all three have turned into the sweetest flock members and the cockerel has been taking care of all the chicks since the very beginning and is amazing!
Thanks for the welcome!
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It's common for roosters to fight for dominance (sometimes even in the more docile breeds). You probably have too many roosters per hens. The recommended ratio of roosters to hens is 1 rooster for every 10 hens. Any more roosters than that can quickly lead to aggression, fights, feather plucking, and over-bred and battered hens. When you really get down to it, the only reason you really need a rooster is to fertilize eggs for hatching. I currently have 25 hens, no roosters, and I get loads of eggs without feeding any non-egg laying mouths, without the aggression, fights, crowing in the middle of the night, and over-bred and battered hens that frequently goes along with having roosters (especially too many of them). If you ratio is more than 1 rooster for every 10 hens, your flock will definitely be much better off if you trade those extra roosters in for some more hens.
Thanks for the cute welcome!!
