I have 3 Black Bantam Cochin hens and a Rooster.Is this OK for the fertility?How many Hens could i keep with a single male.Same is the case with my Blue Rose Combs.1 Male and 3 females.
For flock harmony, especially with multiple roosters, the standard is at least 10 hens/ rooster, regardless of whether they are LF or bantam. For breeding purposes, like if you are separating out one rooster and a little harem and you plan to hatch the eggs and want to guarantee fertility, they say 5-6 hens/rooster. With three hens and one rooster, keep an eye out for over breeding, loss of feathers on the back, or the rooster harassing them. But if they're getting along, don't worry about it.
Thank you all for the reply.So it means let him enjoy the trio and hatchability will not be disturbed.
My Silkie roo has 5 ladies, 4 other Silkies and a Cochin. He's only breeding 2 of them though, bc they're the only ones laying. They have all of their feathers, and he's happy too Nikki
It really depends on the rooster. I like a 1/12 ratio. But may increase or decrease it based on the rooster and results. If the hens are loosing back feathers your rooster needs more hens. If the rooster isn't keeping everyone covered then it is too much.
My large bird have way more hens per roo, but I also had a seperate pen of bantam cochins for brooding, and had a roo there. He was fine with two hens, no overmating or anything. I hatched out some of their eggs, he then had four hens and things were still fine. It's one of those things where you just have to keep an eye on your hens and make sure they're not getting overmated or stressed. I think a very young roo is at a disadvantage here, he wants to mate more. A roo over a year old is more likely to be better with fewer hens.
It was always recommended to me that a rooster would service 8-10 hens without any problems. I never seen a formula but through observation, this number has worked for us.
