I have a question about my two flocks free ranging together, can they?

[shannara200]

Hello everyone, I have two roosters one is the son of the other and Junior is going to be 1 year old in a few months. I want to get him his own flock since he is always trying to snag one of Poppas hens My father and I are building junior his on coop with run and I plan to get him 4 hens so he can have a flock of his own. My question is can both flocks free range at the same time without there being any issues?

Joe, the father rooster has 7 hens in his flock and Junior will have 4 hens in his. I own a lot of land but the coops are next to each other with the run area's bumping up against one wall which means they can see each other.

What would be the best way to handle this?

Thank you

 

[Jakk]

I doubt you will have any problems with ranging them together, however, unless the hens "choose" Junior as their man, they may take favor to Papa and stick around him. As far as fighting goes, Dad and Son may have a few squabbles but unless it becomes a major fight I would just leave them to it. I have multiple roosters and hens range all the time and never have a problem... granted, I don't re-separate them into different coops at night, they all go into their community coops together.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Hello everyone, I have two roosters ..... My question is can both flocks free range at the same time without there being any issues?

There is no right or wrong answer. What it really depends on is the libido of the roosters which is somewhat breed dependent. Then there is the libido of the 11 hens to consider. A young roo will definitely try and poach a hen or two from pappies harem and the old man will surely return the favor. More hens would help because if one or two hens in either flock goes broody it will upset the balance of power, and the balance of power is the only thing that a chicken rooster studies. I have seen some very pugnacious roosters walked or free ranged in close proximity to one another but each roo had in excess of a hundred hens to watch over and try to prevent from falling into the arms of a another rooster. The key is that every roo needs his own easily identifiable core range with its own roosting, loafing area, food and water source. In this situation any rooster is too preoccupied with keeping track of his own harem to pay much attention to other roosters or their hens. If one of your roosters and his ladies are always the last to roost in a common roost area, it is almost certain that that rooster and his flock is low man on the pecking order.

While we commonly see recommendations of 4 to 7 hens per rooster for hatching egg flocks, this ratio is to ensure good fertility in the eggs, it is not a recipe for perfect peace.

My recommendation is to use metal roofing on the common wall of the run so that neither rooster is able to see or visually challenge the other.

 

[Spangled]

I certainly don't have all the answers, but based on my experience, I would want to give jr and his little flock time to bond in their pen/run for up to a month if possible. However, if father and his flock is out of their pen/run free ranging, when it's time for jr to come out and free range there will be territory issues. I'd probably confine both flock for 3 weeks--giving the hens time to get attached to their respective roosters--and then let them all out. Just something to think about ... you know, the dynamics of it all.

 

[farmin4fun]

Hey Shannara,

Chickens will naturally try to establish "a pecking order" in any flock. Anyone who has ever added new chickens to an already existing flock can attest to this.

It sounds like your current flock already has an established "pecking order" where Junior defers to Joe, who as established himself as head rooster. If you were to separate the flocks and give Junior his own flock, I think that will upset the current "pecking order". I think Joe would become much more aggressive toward Joe and try to become head rooster whenever the two flocks were exposed to each other.

That being said, chickens are like people in that they do have varying personalities. So you could try experimenting with your flocks and see if you got lucky and defy the odds with two extremely docile roosters, but my guess is you will have a lot of aggression every time the roosters see each other.

If you really want to keep both roosters then I would suggest keeping the two flocks separate all the time. Another option would be to get another 20 hens, and keep them all together so the flock is big enough to support two roosters. Even then there will be probably some aggression, but it might be more manageable. I hope this was helpful and I wish you the best of luck!!!