How many hens for two roosters

[Mrs. K]

Good luck

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

Good luck

Thanks

 

[The Henitentiary]

The more roosters you have, the greater the chance of it going wrong. If they are fighting, terrorizing the girls then adding more full grown hens might help, (adding chicks will do nothing) but there is a strong chance it won't help. Once bad behavior starts with cockerels, it is too late to adjust it, without culling. You could separate the boys and give them each their own flock, but that needs to be now, not wait for you to build it.

IMO - I would not keep two roosters unless I HAD (not going to get) 25-30 hens. There just really is no need for more than one rooster in a typical backyard flock. Do know that occasionally, or even regularly letting them out for a bit of time will not compensate for overcrowding in the coop/run. IMO roosters need more room than hens.

So if you cannot cull roosters ( a lot of people can't) hatching out chicks becomes problematic. If you hatch out eggs, well at least and probably slightly more that 50% will be cockerels. Eventually you will have to deal with excess roosters if you follow your plan.

Getting more hens in the future by raising up chicks now, does not fix the problem of too many roosters for your set up now. Always solve for peace in your flock.


Mrs K

I totally agree with you Mrs K, we currently have
4 rhode island reds
5 black australorp
4 cochin
2 sapphire gem
2 whiting true blue
2 whiting true green
2 mystic maran
2 lavender orpington
1 olive egger
1 blue red lace wyandotte
1 guinea hen
1 guinea rooster
1 rhode island red rooster
And that 1 rooster is plenty for those ladies, he does his job, looks over his ladies, and no over mating on any hen
The guinea roo and red rooster get along just chase each other now and again

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

Since this post I’ve had a dog attack and kill 3, hatched a few from my flock, adopted 10 (now 2) chickens, bought 6 (4 now) Guineas, had a coccidiosis outbreak, and had a still to this day unknown illness that took some out plus some have had heart attacks or other sudden deaths

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

This is my current flock

Chickens:


1 Barred Plymouth Rock hen, laying, Sarah, 89 weeks old,


1 Dominque hen, laying, Winifred, 89 weeks


1 Easter Egger hen, laying, Jelly Bean, 85 weeks old


1 Black copper Maran Hen, laying, Chungus, 92 weeks old


1 Buff Orpington Hen, laying, Mrs. Priss, 89 weeks





2nd GEN





1 Lavender x Buff Orpington Rooster, mating, Red, 46 weeks old


1 maran mix pullet, not laying, Chimkin, 43 weeks


1 maran lavender Orpington mix pullet, not laying, Dottie, 46 weeks


2 olive egger pullets, not laying, Crow and Olive, 38 weeks





Mystery chickens





1 black and brown Brahma mix pullet, not laying, Fredithy, 35 weeks


1 OEGB mix pullet, not laying, Cinnamon, 35 weeks








Free ranging Tic and rodent patrol





1 brown leghorn, mating, Pepè Le pew, 92 weeks


1 maran mix cockerel, mating, Shiner, 46 weeks





Guineas:




In the coop

2 lavender guineas 1 hen 1 possible Guinea cock, not mature, Smoky and Ash, 33 weeks


2 pearl guinea hens, not mature, Gramm and Cracker, 33 weeks