How many roosters?

[Harrelltn93]

Ok so I have 1 New Hamshire rooster who does an awesome job looking after the hens(8 of them). I got some chicks and it looks like I’m gonna end up with 2 more roosters. Is it possible to keep more than one rooster without them fighting or the hens being overbred? If not I plan on selling the extras. I’d love to keep them if possible because one is a silver spangled Hamburg and the other a BCM and they are gorgeous. Looking for other experiences with the situation and the outcome. Thanks!

 

[The Moonshiner]

How many hens will you have and how much space?

 

[1cock2hens]

yes it is possible but some will advise against it but each situation is different. I keep 3 roosters in my flock of 10 with no problem

 

[Harrelltn93]

How many hens will you have and how much space?

Well including the chicks, I’ll have a total of 11 hens and they free range on 4 acres. They roost at night in a 4x6x6 coop.

 

[Harrelltn93]

yes it is possible but some will advise against it but each situation is different. I keep 3 roosters in my flock of 10 with no problem

Do all of the roosters try to breed your hens or does the dominant one keep the other in check and only he breeds them?

 

[lazy gardener]

iT WILL BE FINE TILL IT'S NOT.

 

[Clemmy]

well- I don't have a rooster- but I know that you need LOTS of space for them and be aware of the large job of having them.

 

[1cock2hens]

I have one rooster who is a gimp(bad foot) and i never see him with girls. My main rooster has 4 that follow him everywhere that he takes care of and my other rooster has 3 girls that he takes care of. there is no visible feather damage // I actually dont even have fertile eggs out of my gamehens so i know not all my hens are even getting bred.

 

[Harrelltn93]

I have one rooster who is a gimp(bad foot) and i never see him with girls. My main rooster has 4 that follow him everywhere that he takes care of and my other rooster has 3 girls that he takes care of. there is no visible feather damage // I actually dont even have fertile eggs out of my gamehens so i know not all my hens are even getting bred.

Awesome thank you so much for your experience!

 

[Catfsm]

Roosters are fun to have. Some get along with others and some don't. At the moment I have four: One is the Alpha, and he is the large chickie boy shown in my photograph. He is a Cream Leghorn and his name is King Arthur. There is a small Red Cochin named The Red King that is strong and fiesty. The Cochin was there first among my hens, but, when King Arthur came in, they fought, The Red king decided to just let King Arthur run the coop. He does not even crow in the morning any more in order to avoid attracting King Arthur's attention. He still breeds with an occasional hen.

There is a third rooster which was my Alpha until he was wounded in battle. He is tall and strong: a fine specimen of a Rhode Island Red Rooster! He had superb lungs, and we could hear his singing for about 1/4 mile sometimes! His pitch was good and he said the lyrics of his song clearly (Cockadoodledoo). so I named him Placido Domingo after the Spanish opera tenor!

Until we sold him, we had a small rooster (Easter Egger) that was white with yellow, and green feet. He was named by a kid who said he looked like someone had poured vanilla all over him. So, we named him Vanilla. Well,when Vanilla grew into full maturity about 9 months, he hallenged Placido and there was a big fight. I got down to the pasture with a broom and pulled the two apart and treated their bloody wounds. Luckily, someone came a week or so later and purchased Vanilla. It was unexpected since people do not often pay for a rooster (50 dollars!) unless he is a special breed. There tends to be too many roosters in the world particularly for city dwellers who have to give them away since some people in cities find the beautiful rooster choir in the morning to be unpleasant. My neighbors and our family all LOVE the singing!

So, then Placido was recovering from his injuries, and we had a predator attack! A mink dug his way in. He went down below our buried wire that was slanting outward. He went down below that wire that was a foot deep. He went down under the wire we had around our big coop going 18 inches inward. He came out in the middle of the 12 by 20 foot coop and began to kill our hens. I awoke at 3 AM and said, "Something is not right". The hens were singing their terrible song of fear and pain! Placido was there when I ran down . I grabbed him while my friend got the mink to leave! My friend tried shooting our beebee pistol at the mink. It had worked find shooting at a can on a post, but now it would NOT work. The mink had strong survival instincts: Probably had kits down on the river bank and could not die leaving the babies alone!

I treated Placido's wounds with hydrogen peroxide and then vasoline to keep the peroxide on, and I put him in his own coop. I took King Arthur out and put him down in the main coop where is is now. Placido survived and began to sing again after a couple of months, but he is weaker now and not so arrogant and proud. He could never win a fight with King Arthur. He is semi retired! So we brought up 8 hens for him to have as company.

Last week, I got one more rooster making the current total 4. This one is a baby Silkie. He is pure white with a slight blue green coloring. He will never meet The Red King, Placido, or King Arthur. Never! He will be small and delicate all his life. His temporary name is Ferdinand. I got him to be the mate for a little female Silkie some one brought for us. She is a golden and white and we named her Isabel. I want to experiment with getting Silkie chicks!Will Isabel be a good mommy? We will find out when she and the new boy are old enough. The boy is about 3 months and Isabel is about 4 months old.

So, to conclude: I do NOT recommend more than one rooster, but if you do get more than one, have one be a lot bigger than the other. I have had little ones do fine with big ones more than once. Just watch them because you never know when the testosterone will kick in and they will fight.

Are my eggs fertile: Yes! They all breed a lot! Joke: They have not read the Bible and they do not know it is a sin to have more than one wife or to have babies out of wedlock!