Is it ok to have 2 roosters with 7 hens?

[Lorcanfeely]

We recently purchased 3 ayam cemani chicks to add to our flock out of these three, 2 are Roos. They’ve been kept with the one girl and are now 2 months old and they seem fine will they be ok when there adults in the 7 hen flock?

 

[aart]

No way to tell until they reach mating age.
Have a place ready to separate them if need be.
You may have to choose one and get rid of the other.

 

[Knobby]

We recently purchased 3 ayam cemani chicks to add to our flock out of these three, 2 are Roos. They’ve been kept with the one girl and are now 2 months old and they seem fine will they be ok when there adults in the 7 hen flock?

I just introduced a second rooster to a flock that includes 8 hens this morning. As aart pointed out, have a means to separate them if they decide to get aggressive with one another. Prior to introducing the new rooster to the flock, I kept him in a run so both roosters became aware of one another. They were munching at a chance to get at each other. Took about a week, before they settled down, so I am monitoring how it goes.

 

[PrettyCoolChicks]

I recommend getting some chicken saddles. If they continue getting along well and there are no aggeession issues, they will likely overmate the hens, which causes feather damage. Saddles protect your hens back from going bald from mating.

I would intergate them with the older hens as soon as they start puberty, because it might be a problem for a single pullet to deal with both cockerells. He hens could at least teach them some manners while they finish maturing.

I've kept 2 roos with 3 hens, it can be a bit much for the girls. So I got 3 more hens but also hatched a cockerell and kept him instead of one of the roos. Basically, I'm in the same boat as you now: keeping an eye on them to see if the new pair works out.

As aart said, there is no way of knowing if they work out until they are over puberty at least.

 

[SamLockwood]

First off, ask yourself if you really want any roosters? Unless you're free-ranging or you want to breed your own chickens you really don't need any.

If you have any small children (under the age of 12), I'd strongly recommend against having roosters. The antics of small children tend to freak them out, which will make your flock stressed out and may preciptate an attack if the rooster is in the more aggressive / protective end of the spectrum.

Cockerels are very low maintenance until their hormones kick in . What happens next depends on how you integrate them. If you keep them with the lone pullet, she will probably get beaten up. Both of them will try to mate her whether she wants it or not, and pullets that age will either only run away or submit.

It's a little better if you have them integrated with the mature hens by this time, as the older hens will usually beat good manners into the boys.

From my experience you're probably going to have to re-home or cull one of them in the long run. With that low a hen-to-rooster ratio even mature roosters will tend to over-mate the hens and spar with each other frequently. I've heard of people getting away with as few as 2 hens per rooster, but in my experience with a free-range flock it seems like 5 is the minimum for relative harmony.

You also won't know exactly what you've got with a rooster until he's at least a year old. I've had some that stayed pretty consistent with temperament until maturity, and others that changed radically. In all cases they were quite a handful during their "tween" months (4 to 8 months old).

 

[orelsi]

Even if they get along they are too much for 7 hens. Your girls will suffer.