Intoducing new rooster.

[Nichole1984]

Hi,
I had a flock of 19 chickens and 1 rooster. Have just added another 8 chickens into the mix. My rooster is quite aggressive towards me. I hatched him, done everything wrong with him, was my first rooster, my fault he is the way he is. (Ive learnt how to deal with roosters since then) but he is amazing with his girls. Protects them like crazy. And he isnt nasty with them, yes he mates them, but is a kind rooster in that way...... Question i have, is should I be adding another rooster to the mix now I have so many hens. Or will he be able to look after them. I get heaps of birds of prey here, I have seen my rooster jump on them and scare them off, he is a great protector. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Personally I like having just one, he does not have a do every hen every day.
As long as he is number one leave him be but that is my personal view.

 

[Nichole1984]

Personally I like having just one, he does not have a do every hen every day.
As long as he is number one leave him be but that is my personal view.

Thank you for you response. Greatly appreciated. Just wasn't sure if so many hens was ok for him to protect. I do have horses that they run with so thats help too!!!

 

[pennyJo1960]

A rooster can see a threat usually a good one will take the job seriously.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I have 20 hens and two roosters. I like having a backup rooster and an older one to train the younger one.

 

[angc11]

I used to have 2 roosters for 17 hens and now I’m down to 1. He is doing very well on his own spotting predators and doing all the other good rooster jobs. But for a fully free ranging flock I did find it helpful to have 2, especially because my hens like to wander far off from the flock to lay eggs. With 2, they had a good system where one would collect a hen after she laid and the other would stay with the flock. Now that I’m down to 1, he tends to only collect a few of his favorite hens and leaves the rest to find their way back to the flock on their own. My hens are decently predator aware so it has worked out so far. That’s really the main thing I’ve noticed about having 1 vs 2 with my flock.

 

[Ridgerunner]

One problem I've seen with a flock of several hens and one rooster is that they do not always stay in a tight group. Often some will wander off on their own, well away from the rooster. Usually the same hens stay near the rooster and the same hens wander. Each flock is different but it is something I often observed.

Adding a second rooster should help with that. How much I don't know.