How many Hens

[austinm]

What is the ideal Rooster to Hen ratio to insure a good percentage of fertile eggs?

 

[sourland]

A lot depends upon the age and breed of rooster. Lighter, younger roosters can cover more hens than older heavier roosters. A general rule of thumb that many use Is 10 to 1.

 

[chooks4life]

As sourland said, and also it helps to find info on any breed you want to get. Some breeds are recommended to have no more than 5:1 ratios, and any bird from a severe inbreeding practicing breeder is likely to be very low fertility regardless of its breed's normal fertility, so beware of where you source your stock.

Healthy, fit, young to middle aged roosters can cover many dozens of hens but to be sure the ones you want are covered, lower rather than higher numbers of hens per rooster is a better bet.

 

[austinm]

Thanks, On our latest hatched chicks we bought a rooster from a hatchery as the rooster in charge and when the chicks are big enough we will take all brother roosters out of the family.
It's interesting you say 1:5 ratio On our test Hatch back in Dec. we started out with 30 eggs and 22 were viable and we have a 1:15 ratio. I will have my second test answers today, I have a friend that started to incubate 42 eggs and will be candling today to see the percentage of viable eggs.