how many roosters?

[heidiinak]

Hi, I am curious how many of you have more than one rooster living together in the same coop and how well they get along? We have a GREAT rooster named Rudy who takes excellent care of his ladies and is a complete gentleman all the way around. We acquired him from a gentleman who had several roosters and Rudy was pretty much the low man on the totem pole, so to speak. He was getting beat up left and right while living there. Now since moving in with us he is all healed up and looking gorgeous! The problem is that a couple of months ago we added 3 adorable little hens to the coop and now one of those "hens" is a rooster! Of course, we want to keep this rooster if possible. He is quite hilarious and very entertaining, but if keeping him means a life of constant fighting between him and Rudy then it might not be possible. Of course we could just build a second coop...

 

[JodyJo]

are they fighting now? I have 3 but all were raised together...there is a possiblity I have another, I purchased 3 babies 5 weeks ago, and one is looking rooish...time will tell if they get aloong or not...yours "should" there will be a few squabbles, but one should come pout the victor and #1 roo...mine went through this and now they get along fine.

 

[Momagain1]

rule of thumb when keeping roos:

1 roo per 8-9 hens is the lowest ratio that I'd keep..

so you'll have 2 roos with just a handful of hens..you are gonna have unhappy hens and probably fighting roos..

 

[gryeyes]

Get more hens.

I have a large flock and <*cough*> several roosters. Only one fight and it was just to establish dominance - no injury occurred and the challenging roo acquiesced to the dominant rooster.

I've never added an adult roo to the flock, just the chicks which grew up to be cockerels, and eventually roosters.

Each grown rooster has his own small flockette within the main flock; Carl the dominant roo claims king's rights, but none of the other Roos are allowed to mate another Roo's ladies.

The flock ranges freely, so they are not at all crowded together.

Hope this reassures you about your second rooster. They often become the dominant rooster's second in command.

 

[Frenchchickens123]

Hi, I have a flock of about 30 and at least 10 are roos, 9 being added a couple of weeks ago. The first roo with the ladies is about a year old and a French copper maran. The added boys are his sons and are 20/30 weeks old. Since being put in there has been no injuries caused. They squabble and get chased or chase but no injuries. My maran cockeral is a sweetheart always lookin after the ladies amd their chicks he's a cockeral that likes to keep the peace in the flock and just ensures everyones happy. I believe it depends on you cockerals character, I would see how it goes but sounds like it shouldn't be a problem. If it does you will either have to add more hens or separate them. Only time will tell. Good luck hope it goes well

 

[heidiinak]

Thanks guys! So far the 2 roosters are not fighting, but the young one is only about 41/2 mos old. He hasn't even figured out how to crow yet (not that he hasn't tried!). Right now I have 12 hens along with these 2 roosters so maybe they will be ok. I also have a dozen eggs under 2 broody banties and we will be keeping all the females that hatch out from them. I'm thinking that if we just make their run bigger so they have space, maybe all will stay peaceful in the coop. Won't my husband be so happy to have another project to work on!

 

[janinepeters]

I think if they are in confinement most of the time (not free ranging), the hens are happier with only one rooster (or, even better, none). The problem I have had with more than 1 roo, even if roos get along with each other, is that they compete with each other by mating hens more often. Even if one roo is submissive, he sometimes sneak-mates a hen. The dominant one seems to "know" this, and mates the hens all the more frequently, to make sure his sperm and his genes get passed on. The result is bare backed hens.

When I had that situation in the past, things really calmed down when I reduced to one roo. I actually kept the dominant one, who, once the other one was gone, was no longer driven to mate so often. The result was happier, calmer hens, with feathers on their backs.

I would not keep more than one roo unless I had lots of hens in LOTS of space.