How do you house 3 roosters????

[nellynelly]

i had 2 roosters with 30 hens. they were raised together. at first they were fine, but one day, they started fighting. the weaker one needed to be removed (he was not allowed to do anything b the dominant roo).

good luck.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: I think they were referring to breeds expected to be aggressive or to fighting/game breeds. Which can also be as docile as the next. He/she also mentioned 'blooded' birds, which I would guess might mean the same as a blooded hunting dog --- it's killed before.

Quote: This will solve your problems if you only ever want one roo. But one roo can't tend 20 hens or be relied on to fertilize that many eggs. So you have roosterless hens in your flock, no matter his greediness. He had no need to stop the other roo doing anything, he couldn't do it all himself anyway.

But now you're removed the other, that's how people end up with one violent and intolerant roo with too many hens. It's fine if you don't breed them, but if you do, it's trouble waiting to happen. Best wishes with that.

Personally I would have either let them sort it out, or removed the aggressor. The other one wasn't necessarily 'weaker' for being less aggressive. Possibly just 'saner'. It's unreasonable in my book for one rooster to try to have so many hens to himself. He was likely just bent on being aggressive since it's not likely he can even mate with them all every day or often enough to ensure fertility. Some roosters can have 100 hens and not be able to fertilize more than 5 hen's eggs but will kill any other rooster they can get at. It's an attitude that represents imbalance, not a sign of good genes or superiority. The sane rooster doesn't want to fight to the death and he's often the one that gets killed so an insanely violent rooster can pass on his genes and attitude.

But each to their own. Whatever works for you.

 

[nellynelly]

he is a good roo. great with his ladies and not aggressive with people. plus, he is a lot better looking (the one in the front of picture below) than the weaker one and yes, i am that shallow. so even if he was nasty to his hatchmate, i wanted to keep him. if i was able to free range, i think that the second roo could have found a place, but in the run, he was a sitting duck.

when it is time to collect eggs for hatching, i plan on putting him in a pen with 6-10 hens.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: It certainly is different if you're not free ranging them. Best wishes with your breeding program. Non aggression to humans and good treatment of hen are very important criteria for my roosters but I have to free range them for a few reasons so I must have only males who can sort out their differences and get along. They can manage when caged too, so far there have been no issues, but I need them to be reliable in all circumstances.

Random note: the black hen with the red on her throat who is facing the camera seems to have incorrect leg scaling. Not an issue if you're willing to help spraddled chicks and intend to eat them all. But if you're trying for better stock, it's a big issue, something best solved by culling. I have some hens I use to brood or lay who aren't breedable, and others who brood and lay and are breedable too, so it's not like culling has to mean killing, just not breeding. But it depends on what you expect from them as breeders, or more to the point what you intend to do with the offspring.