Is 5 roosters too many for my 25 hens?

[ShanaWray]

I was told my roosters are going to fight and kill each other because I have to many is this true? My roosters are Buff laced polish, rock partridge, speckled sussex and silver spangled hamburg. Also I was told to feed my chickens oatmeal in there food at two months to make them grow faster. I want them to be healthy chickens not fat so should I do this?Thank you

 

[BarredBuff]

Yes, 1 for every 11, thats what I do.

 

[Teach97]

depends more on more factors...how much space do they have...how long have they been together and such. The breeds you listed aren't really gamey breeds. Will there be a few fights and such...yes...will they likely be to the death...I doubt it. With plenty of room I wouldn't be that worried...what are your goals with the roos and hens? That will also play into you decision.

As far as the oatmeal goes...um...there are folks that believe many things and have plenty of "experience" to back it up. I don't do it. Doesn't mean some folks don't have great results doing it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I wrote the stuff in italics below for another thread a while back. I think it addresses your number of rooster concerns but it might read a bit funny as I was responding to a different post.

If you want to assure the eggs are most likely fertile, you need at least one full sized rooster for every 10 to 12 hens or at least one bantam for every 12 to 15 hens as long as they are reasonably young and energetic. It can vary some by rooster and by age. You can have lower hen to rooster ratios to be even more sure most eggs are fertile, but this increases the possiblility of other problems.

If your goals revolve around roosters are really neat loooking and have great, interesting personalities, then you can have more. Or if you just want a flock protector that helps keep his hens in line, you can have less. Having more comes with risks however.

You can have problems with more than one rooster. One of them will be dominant. They determine which one that will be by fighting. Sometimes they resolve the dominance issue without one getting seriously hurt and then form a good partnership taking care of the flock. Sometimes it is a fight to the death. It mainly depends on the personalities of the individual roosters but it can be influenced by different things. If the roosters are raised in the same flock it seems to increase the likelyhood they will work out their differences, whether this is brothers raised in the same brood or a male chick raised with the flock, but it is no guarantee there will not be bloodshed. The hen-rooster ratio has a part to play also. The more hens to share, the more likely they will work it out. There is no magic ratio of hens to roosters where there is a guarantee that there will not be a fight to the death. Same thing with space. Thge more room you have, the better the odds an accommodation can be worked out, but there is no magic number.

Another potential problem that more roosters can make worse is barebacked hens. When mating occurs, it is not all that unusual or all that bad for the hen to occasionally lose a feather. Whe this gets to the point that bare spots start showing up, it is getting serious and needs to be addressed. If it goes further and the hen gets wounded, it can be fatal. This can be a serious issue.

Again, there is no magic number where this is not a potential problem. A poster had 1 rooster with 18 hens and had some barebacked hens. Some roosters have rough techniques and long sharp spurs, so are more likely to injure a hen. Many times a rooster will pick out favorites and give them too much individual attention. A heavy rooster is more likely to cause this problem than a lighter one. Younger roosters are often harder on a hen than older more experienced roosters. Some hens resist the advances of a rooster. This increases the odds ofthem getting hurt.

I've seen a few posts on here where people have two roosters and two hens and do not have serious fighting or barebacked hens problems. I've seen posts where the hen to rooster ratio is much higher and they have serious problems. If you have more than one rooster, there will be fighting. The lower the hen to rooster ratio, the greater the likelyhood that you will have serious problems with either fighting or barebacked hens.

My personal advice is to keep as few roosters with your hens as you can to achieve your goals. The more hens per rooster, the greater the likelyhood of a peaceful content flock and flock owner.

This link does a pretty good job talking about chicken feed. I think it will help you.

Oregon State Feeding Chickens
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/html/pnw/pnw477/#anchor1132074

If you let your chickens roam so they can eat all the green stuff, seeds, and creepy crawlies they can find, what you feed them is not that critical. They'll eat a fairly balanced diet and you sure don't have control over exactly what they eat anyway. If you keep them in a run where almost everything they eat is what you give them, I'd give them a diet very heavy of the starter, grower, or layer that is right for their age since that contains a balanced diet. You can still give them treats just don't make treats a major part of their diet. The more you give them of one food, like oatmeal, the more unbalanced their diet will be. That doesn't mean you can't give them some; it means don't overdo it.

 

[Serrin]

I'm just going to speak to the oatmeal issue as I've never had a rooster and couldn't give you an informed opinion either way.....sooo.....

On the oatmeal issue: YES! Give them oatmeal! They love it!! I've been feeding it to my girls all winter long. If you're in a cold winter climate, then all the more reason to feed them a nice breakfast of cooked oatmeal. Here's my recipe: This serves 8 adult hens quite nicely....

1 cup oatmeal
1 - 1.5 cups milk
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables

Combine all ingredients in a small to medium bowl and stir till thoroughly mixed. Microwave on high for 3 and a half to 4 minutes depending on the power of your microwave. When done, remove from microwave, stir and check for hot spots.

If the mixture is still cooler than what you would feed to a small child, heat it some more. If too hot, allow it to cool just a bit.

If the outside temperatures are at, below or near freezing, there's not much worry about making it too hot. By the time you get it into their dish it will be cool enough.

I recommend a wide shallow disposable plastic or tin dish for this purpose. Take that out to your flock and be prepared to step several steps away from the dish. Once they figure out what this goody is all about, flying oatmeal is guaranteed to happen! Might I suggest you wear foul weather gear?

And don't worry about them putting on too much weight, especially in the winter time. They could really use the extra calories and carbs contained in this concoction.

Now, having said that, the only concern I would have is for what the age your chickens are at when you serve this to them. Because of the mixed veggies in the dish, there is the issue of causing diarrhea in chicks. If they're very young yet, say less than 4-5 weeks, you might want to give them just straight oatmeal. Otherwise, they might develop an issue with pasting up. But, when they're much older, they're going to love you for this wonderful warm morning treat! I know mine sure do!!

ETA: What Ridgerunner says makes perfect sense!

May I also make the amendment to my post that the oatmeal breakfast is just that...breakfast! My girls do receive a balanced ration throughout the day of layer formula, scratch toss, and free range time. All things in moderation makes for a very happy and healthy chicken!

 

[Kittymomma]

I have more roos then that--about 1/3.3 ratio and while they fight once in awhile they don't get crazy about it. They free range and have lots or room so I'm sure that helps.

I do need to send at least three of them to freezer camp though because they are just too hard on the hens. Everytime one roo tries to mate a hen at least two more run over to knock him off so they can do the job themselves. That wouldn't be so bad if they tried to pull the other roo off, but they grab the hen by her feathers and then try to shove the mating roo off while using their hold on the hen for leverage.

 

[txchickie]

My bantams free range 100% of the time and I have 1 rooster for every 6 hens and they are fine. They don't fight and have their own pecking order and their own "girls". They have tons of room and really have no reason to bicker.


If they are confined to a coop/run type situation it would probably NOT work.

 

[Chickenaddict]

IMO yes thats only 5 hens to one roo, that means those hens will be bare necked/backed in no time. If you free range them all year round the roos should get along ok but the hens will be worked over.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
That's a very common misconception on here. It certainly can be a problem, but you might check this thread to see others experience on this issue. I actually had fewer problems with barebacked hens when I had a ratio of 5 hens per rooster than when I had 7 hens per rooster. Personalities and flock dynamics vary so much.

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

 

[17roses]

Quote:
I have 5 roosters for around 20 hens and none of my hens looks like they are too worked over. None have missing feathers. I freerange and "arguments" between the roosters are very rare.