Is 1 Roster enough?

[UBkevy]

Hi all,

I have been reading this forum for a few weeks and it convinced me to get some birds. I wanted what seems to be the basic birds Barred Rocks, Australorps, Ameraucanas (great- grandpa had these) and Buff Orpingtons. I looked around and TSC only had Red sex-links and 10 black cochins 1 time (I kinda like them now). But to make a long story short I have 6 Golden comets and 6 red-sex links that are 3-4weeks old and just got 3 Barred Rocks and 3 Partridge Rocks that are 4 days old.


Say 1 out of these is a roster is he enough to fertilize the eggs if i choose to let some hatch, well i should say if they go broody. Or is 2 safer? Well what are the chances that 2 rosters, of the breeds I have now kill each other?

 

[RHewitt]

Some may say 1 roo is not enough but my RIR keeps my 14 hens producing fertile eggs with no problem. I know this becasue I have hatched three times this spring and have only discarded one or two eggs out of 70 that where not fertile. He is THE MAN!

 

[UBkevy]

what would be the ideal number?

 

[Jeff9118]

I have always used 1 roo for every 10-12 hens and have had great hatch rates. I have 3 roos over about 25 hens. The only reason I have 3 is because one roo is a super weenie.

 

[Ridgerunner]

As RHewitt shows, one might be enough, especially if it is a bantam. I've seen the recommendation as 10 to 12 for full-sized fowl like yours but 12 to 15 for bantams. Like almost everything else, it depends on the individual chicken. There are exceptions to all the rules and a rooster that can handle 14 hens deserves to hava a son follow in his footsteps.

I'm not sure how many hens you will wind up with out of that group, but in my opinion, two roosters are safer. It's not just that you have a better chance of all the eggs being fertile. You also have a back-up in case something happens to one rooster.

As far as one killing the other. It is possible but not likely, especially if they grow up together. What will probably happen is that there will be some dominance fights, they will determine who is top rooster, and the other becomes the able assistant. They work as a team protecting the flock. Both will get their share of the hens, but the dominant rooster gets first pick. It is possible that both have too much spirit to accept the assistant position, then they might fight to the death, but I would not expect that with your breeds.

 

[jwoodall]

I adopted two roosters that were brothers more or less (raised from birth) and they had 8 hens to share but one always beat up the other till blood was pouring. Finally had to get rid of the weaker one.