i want to keep all my roos... but how to manage the flock?

[technodoll]

I'm such a sucker... I love all my roos and just can't part with them!

How to manage a flock with too many roos for the hens?

Do you keep them in a pen separate from the girls?

Will they fight as they mature?

My flock is already split in two groups of laying girls, with a boy in each pen with them. Then I have my brooder boxes for the silkies, so the roos are with one or two girls each. I have 3 baby roos that are 4 weeks old, and an incubator with eggs due to hatch next week (up to 16 possible chicks coming)...

Space is tight, very tight!

What to do??

 

[cassie]

I would keep the roos separate because if you don't they will make life miserable for everyone, including each other, fighting over the hens.

 

[technodoll]

That's the plan, to keep most of them together in one pen with no hens... but will they still fight?

They will see and smell the hens, as my coop is too small to arrange it otherwise - I just don,t want crowing contests all day long, you know?

 

[Olive Hill]

Lots of times more than one roo can peacefully exist in one flock. You'll just have your alpha roo and your beta roo(s). That said, just as with hens some birds just don't get along and having testosterone tossed into the mix does increase the chances of that happening. If they don't get along you'll have to separate them in different pens.

All that said, being tight on space isn't happy or healthy for any bird so if space is an issue you might consider thinning the flock anyway.

 

[phoenixmama]

I currently have 2 roos in with my 15 or so hens. They are actually going to be butchered tonight.

They don't pester all the hens, but a handful of the more submissive hens are just getting torn apart by them. Two of them have had all their back feathers missing for a couple weeks. This morning one of them had blood all over her back.

Yep, they are done for. And I don't feel a bit sorry about it.

Moral of the story: I think every situation is different, and maybe your roosters will be better behaved then mine.

 

[technodoll]

Well, a major prerequisite is that the roos are both gentle with humans and the girls, fun and easy to handle.

I got rid of two roos because they were big and nasty, and I was happy to see them go (they both went back to their breeders).

So far so good... I want to keep them as they are such a joy (and not mutts, so they will be used for breeding at some point).

I wouldn't say my coop is small, but I like giving the flock lots of space to run around, in addition to the outside run. I don't want to add more pens to cut down all that free space, if that makes sense...

Now that the warm weather is upon us, I will start building tractors to house various birds in - Hope that'll work!

 

[Redhead Hen]

You need to have the room for them. You also need to keep the roo to hen ratio high enough that your hens are not getting abused by the roos. I had 2 RIR roos (brothers) that were absolutely awful to the hens. Both of them, it did not matter if one was alpha or not. Both roos were too aggressive and are no longer with us. Currently I have 2 silkie roos (once again brothers) and they are too nice. They are not top birds in my current flock. It all depends on the personalities of the birds and how they work out the pecking order. Also it really sounds like you need more room. If you can not give them more room, then it would be in everyone's best interest to re-home your excess roos. Your ultimate goal is to make them happy. If they are fighting and don't have sufficient room, then they are not 100% happy.

 

[technodoll]

I guess I will have to wait and see what happens...

My current adult roos are all fine with their girls & housing.

The three 4-week old roos are growing up together and should be fine for a while in their own chicken tractor by themselves (no hens), or so I hope...

prays for sweet gentle roos

 

[cluckcluck42]

I hope it works out! I just love roosters, they are just so pretty. How loud are your roos? I am getting another one and I am really wondering how loud I can expect them to be. They are housed in separate coops.

 

[technodoll]

I have 3 "quiet" roos (they crow but not too loud nor too often) and one "screamer" - a silkie, of all things! Screeches half the day, it's so annoying!