How many?

[charger pride]

How many roosters is too many

 

[sumi]

That depends on how many hens you have and the space you have available for them. Ideally you should have 10-15 hens for every roo in your flock and enough space for them to stay out of each other's way, each with it's own group of hens. If you do not have any hens for them to fight over you can keep any number of roos together.

 

[charger pride]

That depends on how many hens you have and the space you have available for them. Ideally you should have 10-15 hens for every roo in your flock and enough space for them to stay out of each other's way, each with it's own group of hens. If you do not have any hens for them to fight over you can keep any number of roos together. 

ok thanks

 

[farmin4fun]

Hey Charger,

I just wanted to add a little bit about my experiences with this question. I would not attempt to add a second rooster until you have 30 hens at least. I personally would wait till I had 40. I know roosters can vary a bit with their mating frequency and aggressiveness, but I usually run with 20-30 hens with 1 rooster and I still end up with a few bare-backed hens from over mating. My roosters seem to get less aggressive with this as they get older so age may be a variable.

Being I usually don't have more than 30 chickens at any one time, I always error on the side of too many hens because it seems to reduce stress level of the hens and I don't have to worry about cock fights all the time. If you have a larger flock then more roosters would be necessary to ensure egg fertility, but my smaller flock is almost always more peaceful and relaxed when I only have 1 roo.

All that being said, it is not "bad" to have more roosters. I'm just stating my reasons why I prefer the ratio above. That's just my 2 cents. I wish you the best of luck!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

That depends on how many hens you have and the space you have available for them. Ideally you should have 10-15 hens for every roo in your flock and enough space for them to stay out of each other's way, each with it's own group of hens. If you do not have any hens for them to fight over you can keep any number of roos together.

I agree with sumi wholeheartedly. We've kept up to four roosters together at a time, but we have a lot of room (including a 75' x 125' "run") and always have at least 60 hens. Right now we have two roosters and 75 hens and the poor guys are being overrun--they can't keep order.

Ours roost together, sometimes side-by-side, at night.

There is always some scrapping, especially in the spring or if I bring in new hens. But no blood, no foul.