I think I have a lot of roos in my 9 week old flock...will this be a problem?

[ldutch123]

I have 32.. 9 week old chicks 6 EE`s (2 roos) these will be moved to live eith the 35 hens I alrrady have that are 7 months and older. female tophats possibly 1 roo tophat. The rest of the flock are im think about half roos and half hens they are all bantams consisting of silkies, mottled Cochin, frizzle. What should I expect from these chicks when they get older and there being so many roos. Will they all continue to live well together our are they going to start fighting each other? I heard the silkies don't show much aggression at all

Any suggestions??? Any idea what to expect?

 

[Gofygure]

I'm having a hard time understanding the numbers of roosters to hens you are dealing with. Can you estimate the total numbers of each?

Some of those breeds are pretty docile but you're still going to have a lot of fighting on your hands and some very harassed hens if you have too many roosters. I personally would narrow it down to one rooster for every 6-10 hens.

 

[fried green eggs]

I had 4 EE roos last year. They were all raised together from chicks with pullets. I separated the roos from the hens because they started terorizing the hens and they were starting to fight each other. I culled one and then they seemed to be getting along better but it didn't last long. They ended up going to freezer camp.

 

[ldutch123]

I have 35 hens who are laying. I got chicks in feb and I planned to mix the EE's with the 35 girls. So there would be altogether 39 hens and 2 Roos. The rest of the bantam chicks will be in a seperated area from the full size chickens.

 

[Gofygure]

39 hens with 2 roos wouldn't be an issue at all. Thanks for clarifying!

 

[Ashburnham]

How big a freezer have you got? It's never a problem!

 

[sourland]

There should be no problems with the standards other than normal pecking order reshuffling - new birds will be picked on upon introduction. Half and half on the bantams is a lousy ratio, and there will be fighting and gang breeding of the hens - get rid of most of those cockerels.

 

[ldutch123]

How will I know which silkies are roosters? I can tell which of the other bantams are but not the silkies. It seems like when I ordered a straight run I ended up getting mostly roosters. I will have such a hard time picking who to keep and who to get rid of. Can one of the bantam roos live with the full size girls and the 2 full size roos that were all raised together?

 

[sourland]

It will be a while before you are able to sex the silkies; however, silkies are generally not real 'troublemakers' so this may not be a real problem. As for the bantam rooster in with the standards - a firm maybe on that. If he is quick and brazen enough, it may work.