I'm new, how many roosters?

[FriendlyFlyer]

Hello! I hear there are sooo many people joining this forum every day, well I'm another one! I'm so glad to be a part of this site, I have learned so many things from it. I figured I might as well join and learn about all things poultry!

I just started my flock of chickens this year, after seeing one of my friends' coops and birds, I was hooked! I have 6 Golden Comets and 3 Black Stars (I think, they were supposed to be Barred Rocks but clearly aren't). I guess this will be my first question:

1. I have 9 birds that are all about 5 weeks old. It is difficult to tell what gender they are but I was wondering, if any are roosters, how many should I keep? I hear that one rooster should have about 10 hens to watch over so...

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Cadjien_De_Louisiane]

I would say only one.

 

[Cadjien_De_Louisiane]

and welcome to BYC

 

[dawg53]

Welcome to BYC. You are correct, one rooster per 10 hens.

 

[guinea fowl galore]

One will be all you need. Otherwise the hens get a little 'over loved'.
And

 

[Imp]

Imp

 

[FarmCoe]

Trust me, you only need one rooster

 

[Ridgerunner]

That 10 to 1 ratio is what commercial operations that provide hatching eggs use to assure fertility of the eggs. Ity has nothing to do with roosters fighting and practically nothing to do with barebacked hens or anything like that. It has nothing to do with roosters becoming aggressive toward humans. It is purely for fertility in a pen breeding situation. It is not a magic number that solves all your problems. Many people keep one rooster with one or two hens and don't have those problems.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=250327

Some people have one rooster with more than 20 hens and do have problems with barebacked hens or aggressive roosters.

It is not a bad ratio to shoot for, but regardless of how many you have or what ratios you have, there are no guarantees that you will or will not have problems. The more roosters you have, the more likely you are to have problems. That is why I suggest you keep as few as you can and still meet your goals. Best I can tell from your post, that means one rooster for you.

How old are your chicks? The golden comets are red sex links. The boys have yellow down and the girls have reddish down. If you got them and they are supposed to be girls, they almost certainly are girls. If you got Barred Rocks, they will look pretty solid black for a while with just a white spot on their head. The barring doesn't show up until they do some feathering out. Not knowing the ages, I'm not sure why you are convinced they are not Barred Rocks. If they are solid black with no white spot on the head, then you are correct. They are not Barred Rocks. I don't mean to sound patronizing so I apologize if I do. I'm just not sure why you are convinced they are not Barred Rocks.

 

[FriendlyFlyer]

Thank you so much ridgrunner for all your advice, it's great!! The reason I'm convinced they are not Barred Rocks is because they have never had a white spot on their head and all feathered all black with what I would call a gold laced neck. Maybe the gold will go away but I'm pretty sure Barred Rocks never have gold on them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That sounds like a black sex link pullet. I think you are going to wind up with all girls. That's a huge benefit of the sex links.