How many chickens per rooster?

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hcrussow

hcrussow

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I have 1 buff rooster, 4 buff hens, 2 leghorn rooster, 2 leghorn hens and 5 plymouth rock hens. So, 3 roosters to 11 hens. Is that too many roosters? The leghorns are all 10 months old and all the rest are a year old. The roosters have been fighting a lot over the last couple of months. Blood baths a few times. The buff rooster never seems to have a drop of blood or even a scratch on him, hes the biggest. Do I need to thin down the rooster population?
 
Roosters can & will often fight to the death over hens. Rule of thumb is one rooster for 10 hens or so. So one guy would be very happy, the other two would be trying to dethrone him constantly. Also hens can be overbred (too many guys) to the point of damage and death. IF you don't need fertile eggs for hatching or sale, you don't even need a rooster. Hens will be happy to lay eggs (non fertile) without them.
 
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x2 on drumstickdiva's post
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to our flock. X3 on 10 hens for every 1 rooster. As they mature, too many roosters will become very hard physically on your hens, over-breeding them, biting and plucking the feathers from their necks and backs, battering them, and potentially, seriously injuring them. The only reason you need a rooster is to fertilize eggs for hatching, and 1 rooster can easily handle 10 hens in this regard. I currently have 25 hens and no roosters in my flock, and I get loads of eggs without all the aggression, fights, biting and feather plucking, feeding of non-productive mouths, crowing in the middle of the night, drop off in egg production due to stress, over-breeding and battering of hens due to having roosters (especially too many). My hens are stress free and enjoying life without a rooster around. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck in thinning out your roosters.
 
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I'm glad you joined us!

Sometimes, that many roosters can coexist together with only 11 hens (or no hens). However, the fact that your roosters are fighting proves that they can't. It would probably be better for both the roosters and the hens if you got rid of 1-2 of the roosters.
 
Welcome to BYC!
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I would thin the rooster population. Roosters should have at least ten hens each, to prevent fighting.

Good luck with your flock!
 

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