Is it true about roos...

[navasima]

I just want to double check my understanding.
Ratio of roos to hens is based on hens being overbred and roos fighting. 1 to 4 or 5 would be okay if the males ( in my case 2 cockerals and a roo) get along and the hens are treated well by the boys - right?
TIA

BTW: Do roos and cockerals often snuggle with each other?

 

[kari_dawn]

My friend has true free range chickens...they have no coop. They roost in a cedar tree at night. The hens occasionally get picked off by predators...her roos are not very good protectors

She has like 8 roosters to 15 hens. They do okay, but I am sure someone with more experience will pop by at any minute. I personally have little experience with roosters.

 

[navasima]

Thanks for responding!

I do appreciate it!

 

[aoxa]

If your hens are being treated well, and your boys don't fight, then there should be no issues at all.

My boys will sleep next to one another. One is a full grown rooster, and one is a cockerel. They get along fine.

Whatever works for you. There is no set number. It's just a guide.

 

[ChicKat]

It will be interesting to see what other replies you get to this post........

It seems that often, I see advertised 'breeding trio' that is one roo and two hens. Wonder how that compares to the 4-5 hens per rooster. I guess one approach is very selective and there is only 1 rooster in the pen.

 

[teach1rusl]

Oh yeah...if your hens aren't being constantly harrassed and your roos get along well, then all is good!

It's not even that all roos are rough (because many aren't), but if every time a hen turns around a roo is jumping her (even if they're gentlemanly), she's going to be stressed and probably feather worn.

 

[navasima]

Thanks for the input all! Just wanting to make sure that there's no other factor I wasn't aware of...

 

[darin367]

i have 2 roos, 13 hens.. 1 roo is the boss, the other roo keeps his distance... they have a 20 by 50 run, but get locked into their 10 by 10 run with 2 coops at dark.... it seems they call a truce at dark because they both sleep in the same coop..... the boss always chases no.2 off not allowing him to get to close but they never have anything more than a short tussle now n then... they seem to know their boundaries... no.2 has 2 or 3 hens that seem to like him, the rest like the boss.... it seems that if they have plenty of room to give eachother space they are fine.... i do have 2 hens that seem to take it for the team most of the time and have some balding on the back of their heads.. i guess they are the favorites... they all seem happy..... so if you have enough ranging space or a big enough run 2 roos will be fine..... now go eat some turkey!!

 

[galanie]

Generally thats way too many roos per hen. But like they said, if the guys get along ok and the girls aren't being.. umm.. overworked, then it's fine. Just watch them and be sure all is well.

 

[BooBear]

The general rule is 1 rooster to 10 hens.
Those boys can be pretty randy, so if the boys out number your girls the girls are going to look run down.

There are exceptions to the rule where folks have more than one boy in a mixed flock and each boy may have 1 or 2 favorite girls following him around. But this is an exception as normally the lead rooster won't wanna share his ladies.

I have 1 breeder rooster in a pen with 5 hens all to himself.

Lester is the main rooster in my layer flock and has a good sized harem. Cinnimon is the second in command and has a smaller loyal group of ladies to himself.
I have 1 bachlor left that does not have any ladies even though he does try. (The other bachlor has been prepped for diner.) The girls in my layer flock will only recognize their main rooster and tend to chase off the other roosters. Yep I have some feisty hens. The poor bachlors would get whooped by the ladies only to be whooped again by either Lester or Cinnimon for making the ladies mad.