How many cocks/cockerels does everyone have?

[Hholly]

I have one silkie roo and one OEGB. There are with 11 hens in a 100sq. ft. coop and 300 sq. ft. run. It seem a little crowded and I'm thinking of culling the OEGB roo as he's more disruptive.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I have 10, but only 2 of them are in with my hens (they each have their own coop). 1 rooster (a Silkie) has 9 girls, the other (a Sizzle) has 5. 3 of them live in a bachelor pad set up (2 Silkies and a Sizzle) and 5 free range and live with my pigs, by their choosing (3 cuckoo Marans/EE mixes and 2 EEs).

 

[rebrascora]

12 adult cockerels in total plus 6 more juvenile that I didn't count when I voted because they are still young.
Two established cocks in with a large free range mixed flock including 15 mature hens, 5 point of lay pullets and 5 juvenile pullets.... and the 6 juvenile cockerels
Two in a breeding pen with 2 females.... I know this is not ideal and.one has to go but they get along ok and if not, the less dominant one gets kicked out by the other and then goes back in at night time.... mostly they get along fine. I confess the girls were a bit over bred last year but there were more of them then. The two girls are fully and beautifully feathered now and not being noticeably mated and they are mostly a happy group.... but I know all too well that there is one guy too many.... can't put him in the bachelor pad as the others would kill him, so just waiting for me to deal with him I guess.
Eight in the bachelor pad that will be processed in due course.... when I can pluck the courage up.

I've processed 9 this year but obviously there are more to do in the coming few months as the bachelor pad needs clearing out and those juveniles will be harassing my hens before I know it.

 

[Rewster]

I have one 2 month old Barred Rock roo currently in with his 13 pen mate BR's. In a couple of months I will mix him in with the other 18 girls who are Buff Orpingtons, Red sex links and a Blue Cochin.

I have ordered another male for pick up in April and may pick up another one or two when I go to the hatchery to pick them up.

This is the first year I have been able to have a roo as my wife and daughter did not want "fertilized" eggs.

BTW, my Roo's name is Rewster the Dudester!

 

[sdm111]

25 males, 20 females. Singles,pairs,&trios

 

[Ridgerunner]

What year? What time of year? The numbers change so much so often it’s hard to answer.

My main coop is 8’ x 12’ with a 12’ x 32’ run plus about 45’ x 90’ inside electric netting. I also have a 4’ x 8’ grow-out coop at the far end of the main run and another 4’ x 8’ coop sitting in the netting area. My main laying/breeding flock is one rooster with 6 to 8 hens. Currently I have 1 rooster, 6 hens and 2 POL pullets.

Last spring I brought in 18 cockerels with no pullets and raised them with the main flock to decide which would be this year’s flock master. I started putting the rejects in the freezer at 18 weeks and made my final decision and went to just one cockerel at 25 weeks. So one rooster, one fairly developed cockerel, and seven hens at that point.

A later hatch gave me 2 pullets and 7 cockerels that grew up with the flock. Those cockerels all made it to the freezer at about 25 weeks so I had the one rooster, the older cockerel, six hens at that time, plus the two pullets and 7 cockerels.

The previous year an incubator hatch gave me 14 pullets and 7 cockerels that were treated the same as the above. It varies tremendously year by year and by time of year, but the main flock is 1 adult rooster and 6 to 8 hens in a lot of room.

Since I moved here and got chickens in 2008 I’ve had three barebacked hens. I ate them and the problem went away. Yes, that reduced the hen to rooster ratio but the other hens did not develop bare backs. Their offspring did not either. When I have a problem I try to determine if it is a flock problem or an individual chicken problem before I treat the problem. I determined that was an individual chicken problem, brittle feathers in the hens probably because of a genetic inability to properly process certain nutrients, and removed the individuals in question before they could breed. It reoccurred once when I brought in a new rooster for genetic diversity.

I try to keep one dominant rooster with the flock at all times. When the cockerels mature to the point they start bothering the hens, the hens just run to the rooster. He sorts things out. I occasionally see a little feather loss in some of the hens but nothing approaching bare back status.

 

[lazy gardener]

I agree with you RR, re: the bare back issue possibly being one of genetics. However... a recent development in my flock has me scratching my head. Last year, I had 2 bare backs. The worst one was a Pioneer. I chalked it up to poor feather quality. Even her wing feathers were tattered, with some of them just being sparsely plumed shafts. My goal last season was to get as many chicks on the ground as reasonably possible. (I have a widely varied gene pool, with focus on breeding a small combed flock with varied egg color, non-feathered feet.) Because she was the first pullet to start laying, and she laid a large beautiful egg, I did not cull her.) She has done her winter molt, and has a beautiful set of feathers. So far, I see no signs of feather loss. So, the head scratcher is this: Was her issue last summer truly genetic, or was it perhaps related to excessive rooster wear (Jack LOVED her so VERY much last summer), or could the poor feather quality be related to her super laying ability just plain stripping nutrients from her feather ability??? Her daughters are also early layers, and so far, they have beautiful feathering. It will be interesting to see how this second generation performs. Also, I'll be watching the original Pioneer to see if her feathers stand the test of time this season.

 

[shortgrass]

I wonder if you're not on to something @lazy gardener... I have a Red Star that has looked shabby from day 1; not overmated, gets the same ration as the others, but her feather quality is just nowhere near my BRs and EEs. But she lays HUGE eggs, every day, even now in winter.

I thought maybe it was genetic, or nutritional... But if she's using more nutrients and energy to produce those big beautiful eggs, then her feathers may be suffering the consequences of it.

I don't want to cull her because she's such a good layer, but I sure do hope her spring molt finds her a little more pleasing to the eye lol

 

[lazy gardener]

I wonder if you're not on to something @lazy gardener ... I have a Red Star that has looked shabby from day 1; not overmated, gets the same ration as the others, but her feather quality is just nowhere near my BRs and EEs. But she lays HUGE eggs, every day, even now in winter.

I thought maybe it was genetic, or nutritional... But if she's using more nutrients and energy to produce those big beautiful eggs, then her feathers may be suffering the consequences of it.

I don't want to cull her because she's such a good layer, but I sure do hope her spring molt finds her a little more pleasing to the eye lol

One thing I've started to do is take a hand full of cat food out into the coop on a regular basis. Some of my girls tend to hang back in the coop. They get the extra protein from the cat food, while the rest of the flock is out ranging. I'm thinking that this extra protein snack will help those gals who are pouring so much effort into those eggs! Egg size has certainly picked up! The old timers always said that the best layers had the shabbiest feathers. Those nice sleek hens? They're more apt to be slackers! But, with the advantage of FF, as well as the elevation of chickens from livestock animals to the status of pets, we've come to expect more from them, and become concerned if they look tattered. (I know that I do! I tend to think that I'm missing the boat somewhere if my hens don't look nice and sleek and shiny!)

 

[Ridgerunner]

I had not considered egg size and feather quality. Eggs are mostly protein, feathers are mostly protein. If you feed a higher protein diet egg size increases. But once feathers are grown, they are grown. I don’t see how more or less protein will affect them until the molt or they lose the feather and regrow it. The amount of oil or whatever might help maintain luster and flexibility though. That’s a trick show breeders use, trickle a little mineral or vegetable oil on the feed to keep feathers shiny.

The type of feather loss I’m talking about is not just that they get scruffy, all mine do before the molt. I’m sure my barebacked hens come from the rooster treading the hen, but no matter how good his technique, brittle feathers break. They can get dangerously bare where his feet go. And since the shaft stays in that feather does not regrow until the molt.

I’m not saying that brittle fathers is the only cause of this. Over-mating or bad technique can cause feather loss, enough to cause a bare backed hen. But my experience has been what I think are brittle feathers, not just bad technique. It’s also quite possible it could be due in part to both.