He is the offspring of my main rooster and one of my hens, but he is now much bigger than both. Both parents are Easter Eggers. I have enough hens for two roosters and would like to keep both as I have too many hens for one roo to cover and want fertilized eggs. I am just not sure if he’s too big for the ladies.
Is this rooster too large for my hens?
- Thread starter Ais
- Start date
How many hens total?
Size isn't the issue so much as technique.
A hen will hunker down on the ground to brace herself,
the male can often just stand on the ground(rather than her back) and still hit the target.
Observe and adjust.
Size isn't the issue so much as technique.
A hen will hunker down on the ground to brace herself,
the male can often just stand on the ground(rather than her back) and still hit the target.
Observe and adjust.
- Thread starter
- #3
Currently 14 hens. (Plans to hatch more.) This roo is just starting to try mating… so far hasn’t been successful but doesn’t go overboard trying and lets the girls get away without much fuss. I just wasn’t sure if he would be too heavy standing on them…didn’t realize they may try without stepping on them. I will monitor this.
He's not too big, my roo is way chunkier than him and he mates with my small EE (she is smaller than a leghorn.) Like @aart said, it's more about how many hens he is housed with, not really about how big your rooster is 
There needs to be a proper ratio....The ratio is usually 10 hens to a rooster but you can also do 8 hens to a rooster as well. Right now my ratio in my biggest coop is 9 hens and a rooster.
Here is my Sapphire gem roo.
It looks to me that in the pictures that you provided, there are 8 hens with the roo. That should be good.
There needs to be a proper ratio....The ratio is usually 10 hens to a rooster but you can also do 8 hens to a rooster as well. Right now my ratio in my biggest coop is 9 hens and a rooster.Here is my Sapphire gem roo.
It looks to me that in the pictures that you provided, there are 8 hens with the roo. That should be good.
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Perfect. You even have more hens than the recommended ratio which is even better
It is normal for roosters to be larger than the hens. When they mate the hen squats. That gets her body on the ground so the rooster's weight goes through her body into the ground, not just through her legs. To an engineer those loads become area loads as opposed to point loads. Much less stressful. If you have bantams instead of dual purpose hens you might have a problem but I don't see anything to worry about with the hens you show in your photo.
When they mate the rooster grabs the back of the hen's head. Many people get upset when they see that, thinking he is being abusive. He is not. That head grab is nature's way of telling her to raise her tail out of the way so he can hit the target. There would be no fertile eggs without the head grab.
As @aart said technique plays a part. Sometimes with immature roosters the hens don't willingly squat so he will force them. Anytime force is involved there is a risk if injury but I've never had an injury from that behavior. With living animals you never know what will happen but I don't see any great risk for you from his size.
With two boys they will know which is the dominant rooster. Physical size isn't that important in determining that, it's the size of the spirit. It is not unusual for the smaller to be the dominant one. It is possible things will remain peaceful between them but it is also possible they will break into a serious fight as the younger one matures. I'd suggest having a place ready where you can isolate one on a moment's notice if the need arrives.
Dad kept a free ranging flock of between 25 and 30 hens with one dominant rooster. Practically all of the eggs were fertile. These magic numbers for ratios to get fertile eggs are from the way they are kept at the hatcheries, using the pen breeding method. Think 20 roosters in a pen with 200 hens. That is different in how we keep them. Each rooster and each hen is different. Not all roosters are going to be able to keep 25 hens laying fertile eggs, especially when they get older. There is nothing wrong with keeping an extra rooster in your situation as long as they don't regularly try to kill each other. It may actually help with fertile eggs but I'd doubt it is necessary. With living animals you don't get guarantees. But I'd be quite comfortable with one rooster in your situation.
Good luck!
When they mate the rooster grabs the back of the hen's head. Many people get upset when they see that, thinking he is being abusive. He is not. That head grab is nature's way of telling her to raise her tail out of the way so he can hit the target. There would be no fertile eggs without the head grab.
As @aart said technique plays a part. Sometimes with immature roosters the hens don't willingly squat so he will force them. Anytime force is involved there is a risk if injury but I've never had an injury from that behavior. With living animals you never know what will happen but I don't see any great risk for you from his size.
With two boys they will know which is the dominant rooster. Physical size isn't that important in determining that, it's the size of the spirit. It is not unusual for the smaller to be the dominant one. It is possible things will remain peaceful between them but it is also possible they will break into a serious fight as the younger one matures. I'd suggest having a place ready where you can isolate one on a moment's notice if the need arrives.
I would not count on him not standing on them as the hens are not bantam. In my opinion you are worrying about something that is not a problem. Nature took care of that when she set the hens up to squat during mating.
Dad kept a free ranging flock of between 25 and 30 hens with one dominant rooster. Practically all of the eggs were fertile. These magic numbers for ratios to get fertile eggs are from the way they are kept at the hatcheries, using the pen breeding method. Think 20 roosters in a pen with 200 hens. That is different in how we keep them. Each rooster and each hen is different. Not all roosters are going to be able to keep 25 hens laying fertile eggs, especially when they get older. There is nothing wrong with keeping an extra rooster in your situation as long as they don't regularly try to kill each other. It may actually help with fertile eggs but I'd doubt it is necessary. With living animals you don't get guarantees. But I'd be quite comfortable with one rooster in your situation.
Good luck!
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