How do you house 3 roosters????

I have a question on this topic. I have two bantam size roosters (and one standard but he has a home he is going to soon) My yard is larger for urban areas and a large part is fenced off for the chickens. Could I get away with letting the two bantam roosters just freely roam the yard (its all fenced in, and then the chicken area is double fenced if if you understand me)... I want to keep both boys we love them and they are sweet but we want to avoid issues. So can we get away with letting them roam the yard away from the girls?
 
Only if they're used to eachother and have settled their hierarchy. Otherwise they will fight but that's not usually the end of the world. Just something they have to sort. But why would you keep them separate from the hens? That will likely result in trouble.
 
I really dont want baby chicks all the time is why... I cant really find anything much on how often they mate and results in babies anyway so I dont have any clue. The roosters are all accidental they were supposed to be pullets and 100% so... ha ha ha but we love them all the same and they are very sweet and gentle with us and the kids. We want to be able to keep them and us all live in a happy fantasy land of my dreams lol!
 
They will mate all the time. If the roos and hens are fertile, the resulting eggs will be fertile laid for up to a month after the last mating. They won't result in chicks unless they're incubated for about 21 days under ideal conditions by either a broody hen (ideal) or in an incubator.
Even if a hen goes broody, if you take the eggs away = no chicks.
There's no difference in eggs fertile or infertile that the unenlightened would notice.
 
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So I wouldnt notice if I was eating a fertile egg?
Im assuming my cochin bantam hen would be the most likely to go broody from all that Ive read about her.
 
A hen who is strongly inclined to go broody will do so whether or not there are even eggs to brood, a lot of the time, it's just her seasonal cycle following its natural path. Pekins and Silkies and the likes are known to brood empty nests without ever having seen a rooster. Not having roosters, eggs, or ever mating will make no difference to the compulsive broodies, though less determined hens (i.e. intensive production layer breeds) will often remain unbroody without these stimuli to provoke the instinct and hormonal cycles that otherwise lie dormant.

In short you're going to have broody hens if you have broody-natured hens, having them enjoying a normal social life with males won't make the difference. You will only have babies if you let the eggs remain in the coop where the hens can set and brood them. If they're fertile and you keep taking them out of the nest and eating them daily, the whole issue is a non issue. Leaving fertile eggs sitting to be warmed for three or more days/nights, though, will see some slight development, though they're still fine to eat by that stage.

Keeping roosters as pets where they can see but not interact with hens can lead to frustrated outlets of instinctive behaviour. Some intensive production breed roosters are known to mate with other roosters or attempt to mate with humans, since in these abnormal environments instincts still seek their natural conclusion; needless to say a rooster who views humans as mates is potentially dangerous. Females will also mate with other females, and girl-only flocks can be just as bored and aggressive as boy-only flocks. The few times I've not had roosters the hens have gotten progressively more and more aggressive. With the opposite sex as part of the flock, instead of attacking one another they think more productive thoughts, so to speak.

If you want uninterrupted egg production, but don't want those rapidly burnt out commercial layer breeds, your best bet is to breed your hens as soon as they want to set eggs, and rear another generation, and keep the hens from that to add to your flock. These daughters will lay when their mothers are taking a seasonal break, whether broody, moulting, or just resting from laying; when the daughters are ready to take their break, their mothers will be taking up duties again. This way you will maintain your flock in healthy productive state for much longer than two-year-and-done type breeds which are only productive for the short term because their breed type doesn't rest, so burns out swiftly. I never run out of eggs no matter the season because I keep differently aged mix breed and mongrel hens, and my oldest girls are still laying regularly, well past the age the layer breeds reach in working condition.

I believe intensive layer breeds are often a false economy. Mine certainly were! They reached their cut off laying point at a very young age, got injured and ill more often, (weak structurally and immunologically) were socially both retarded and aggressive, ate more food than they needed for simply producing eggs or maintaining bodyweight (absolutely terrible feed to production conversion ratio, I can support two or more currently in-lay mix breed hens, or an adult turkey, or up to five roosters on the same amount of food a single commercial laying breed hen needs). And then they died prematurely aged at about three or four. (The last part I blame on the breeders culling their older breeding stock before they checked whether or not their strain can live beyond egg production cutoff point. Not that there is any financial reward to impel them to check that, I know... Anyway, these hens all self destructed at a certain age, and I don't doubt that's a serious future genetic issue waiting to cripple industry. They suddenly lost ability to synthesize vital nutrients, and suffered neurological damage which slowly killed them. I would have thought it was disease or poisoning but it happened only to hens of that breed, at that age, from that breeder, and not just to me but also to other people who'd bought hens from that company; the diets and environments and husbandry methods were entirely different between me and these other people, so that can't be it).

Fertile eggs are complete protein sources; infertile eggs have 20-odd component protein spectrum, but lack three or so which the rooster provides. You can't taste anything amiss or offputting, lol, all you will notice is healthier eggs. In my experience a truly healthy egg has a milder, cleaner, yet more subtly flavorful taste than the rank, overly smelly ones you buy from the shops. Though lately here they are selling free range organic fertilized eggs, so that's much better. I can't stand cage eggs. Hate the taste. They're the ones that make kids and dogs fart that awful smell, too. lol.
 
I should tell you I have 6 blooded Welsumers, cocks and cockerels, in the pen, with 3 half-Welsummer cross breeds. I don't know if this would work with hot-blooded birds.

I don't know either. But not to change the subject or anything. But you profile picture you have the same rooster as me.
 
A hen who is strongly inclined to go broody will do so whether or not there are even eggs to brood, a lot of the time, it's just her seasonal cycle following its natural path. Pekins and Silkies and the likes are known to brood empty nests without ever having seen a rooster. Not having roosters, eggs, or ever mating will make no difference to the compulsive broodies, though less determined hens (i.e. intensive production layer breeds) will often remain unbroody without these stimuli to provoke the instinct and hormonal cycles that otherwise lie dormant.

In short you're going to have broody hens if you have broody-natured hens, having them enjoying a normal social life with males won't make the difference. You will only have babies if you let the eggs remain in the coop where the hens can set and brood them. If they're fertile and you keep taking them out of the nest and eating them daily, the whole issue is a non issue. Leaving fertile eggs sitting to be warmed for three or more days/nights, though, will see some slight development, though they're still fine to eat by that stage.

Keeping roosters as pets where they can see but not interact with hens can lead to frustrated outlets of instinctive behaviour. Some intensive production breed roosters are known to mate with other roosters or attempt to mate with humans, since in these abnormal environments instincts still seek their natural conclusion; needless to say a rooster who views humans as mates is potentially dangerous. Females will also mate with other females, and girl-only flocks can be just as bored and aggressive as boy-only flocks. The few times I've not had roosters the hens have gotten progressively more and more aggressive. With the opposite sex as part of the flock, instead of attacking one another they think more productive thoughts, so to speak.

If you want uninterrupted egg production, but don't want those rapidly burnt out commercial layer breeds, your best bet is to breed your hens as soon as they want to set eggs, and rear another generation, and keep the hens from that to add to your flock. These daughters will lay when their mothers are taking a seasonal break, whether broody, moulting, or just resting from laying; when the daughters are ready to take their break, their mothers will be taking up duties again. This way you will maintain your flock in healthy productive state for much longer than two-year-and-done type breeds which are only productive for the short term because their breed type doesn't rest, so burns out swiftly. I never run out of eggs no matter the season because I keep differently aged mix breed and mongrel hens, and my oldest girls are still laying regularly, well past the age the layer breeds reach in working condition.

I believe intensive layer breeds are often a false economy. Mine certainly were! They reached their cut off laying point at a very young age, got injured and ill more often, (weak structurally and immunologically) were socially both retarded and aggressive, ate more food than they needed for simply producing eggs or maintaining bodyweight (absolutely terrible feed to production conversion ratio, I can support two or more currently in-lay mix breed hens, or an adult turkey, or up to five roosters on the same amount of food a single commercial laying breed hen needs). And then they died prematurely aged at about three or four. (The last part I blame on the breeders culling their older breeding stock before they checked whether or not their strain can live beyond egg production cutoff point. Not that there is any financial reward to impel them to check that, I know... Anyway, these hens all self destructed at a certain age, and I don't doubt that's a serious future genetic issue waiting to cripple industry. They suddenly lost ability to synthesize vital nutrients, and suffered neurological damage which slowly killed them. I would have thought it was disease or poisoning but it happened only to hens of that breed, at that age, from that breeder, and not just to me but also to other people who'd bought hens from that company; the diets and environments and husbandry methods were entirely different between me and these other people, so that can't be it).

Fertile eggs are complete protein sources; infertile eggs have 20-odd component protein spectrum, but lack three or so which the rooster provides. You can't taste anything amiss or offputting, lol, all you will notice is healthier eggs. In my experience a truly healthy egg has a milder, cleaner, yet more subtly flavorful taste than the rank, overly smelly ones you buy from the shops. Though lately here they are selling free range organic fertilized eggs, so that's much better. I can't stand cage eggs. Hate the taste. They're the ones that make kids and dogs fart that awful smell, too. lol.

But all of the hens were doing that
 
Quote: Doing what?

Sorry, lol, but you've quoted my entire post and I can't tell what part you're replying to... Better to cut and paste in quote the bit of my post you're replying to. ;)
 
Just keep them.   No need to worry about fixing a problem them may never be a problem.

I have 8 hens and 3 roosters and they are all fine......have even had more rooster than that, but re homed them with a hen each, as they were too noisy!!!

They never fought seriously with each other,., they had a pecking order like the hens.  The hens always were in good condition and lots of eggs... never any injuries or bald backs.

Just keep an eye on things,  and if, in the future something becomes a problem, then re homing some roosters will be your option (or eating some).


This. yes.

We have lots of roosters. I have 3 in the laying flock, which is only 5 hens. I had 3 SQ bantam Cochin hens but 5 SQ Cochin roosters. Lots of SFH roosters but not as many hens. The only group that is perhaps what is "recommended" is the Silkie group, and those roosters fight the most, lol.

I keep trying to add hens, but they are the ones that die or are eaten by a predator. I keep trying to get rid of roosters, but we hatch more. Even the groups of chicks I BUY have way more roosters than hens. We processed a whole bunch, and I'll do it again later.

Mine rarely fight -- they mostly grew up together or grew up where they could see each other -- and when they do it isn't to the death.

The hens are missing feathers, and I'm certainly not crazy about how they look, but they are OK.

I love having multiple roosters in a flock, and one or two can even be the ultimate bosses. We lost our two head honcho roosters over the weekend to a predator attack, and now it's a bit chaotic in the chicken yard as they sort it all out again. But you can see that the flocks that lost their boss are not as happy, and they aren't willing to accept a new guy. Those flocks didn't have any other roosters, so essentially, I am having to force one in a spot, and nobody is happy out there.

Some good advice I was given a long time ago is to always have a backup rooster.
 

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