Keeping a rooster in the same coop/run with hens? opinions/advise please.

[JanetLM]

I am new to chickens and have 9 total chickens- 2 turken hens, 2 jersey gaint hens, 2 barred rock hens, 1 dutch bantam rooster(just a pet), 2 barred rock roosters. The barred rocks will be 7 wks old this Wed...and I can very clearly tell they are roosters...I have had thems since hatch.

I already have a home for both the barred rock roosters..but have actually been thinking of keeping one with the girls & bantam rooster.

My concern is since they will spend a lot of their time in the coop/run would the rooster be too much for the hens full time? I do not want chicks just eggs. I would like to keep one of the roosters but not at the expense of my hens.

 

[Nocila]

You can definitely one rooster with six hens, but I probably wouldn't put two roosters with them. The roosters could start fighting over the hens, and either do damage to the hens, or one rooster could possibly maim/kill the other. You should try to keep 5-6 hens per rooster, but as long as there is enough space, and enough hens, there shouldn't be a problem with keeping roosters with your hens. (unless, of course, one of your roosters is overly aggressive...)

 

[JanetLM]

Thank you for your response. This is probably a weird question...but is would the bantam rooster be considered the 1 rooster? I was told that because he is so small & all my girls are full size that he wouldnt be a concern for them.

Would the little bantam and the barred rock fight over the hens?

 

[Nocila]

I think, with six hens, they probably would fight, yes.

I've had banty roosters with standard sized hens, and the roosters were able to breed with the standard hens. (I've had all the eggs from my younger standard sized hens be incubated, and only had two banty roosters).

If the roosters are raised together, they might not fight (I bought a flock from someone thinking it was made of two roosters and four hens, and ended up with four roosters and two hens, and the roosters from that flock don't really fight each other, even though at least two of them were breeding. The new birds fight my Mille Fleur roosters a bit (though the Milles quickly showed that they were top dog), but the Mille Fleurs don't fight each other, either.) I think that, when roosters are raised together, they don't really have to think about who is top dog, it is already established at a young age, but then again, my roosters that don't fight are all brothers, so maybe that also has an effect...

I probably wouldn't keep two roosters, even if one is a bantam, unless they've been raised together, and even then, I'd be cautious...

 

[Mrs. K]

I currently have two roosters with 7 hens, they are a father/son. The father is definitely the dominant roo..... and younger one does get chased off. But it is more posturing than anything serious, but they are nearly the same size.

I don't think the banty roo / full size roo will be a good combination. I think the younger roos will challenge him

Mrs K

 

[JanetLM]

The barred rock & banty roosters have been raised together they have all been in the same brooder since hatch...they all seem to get along now & have their pecking order in place. Of course they are only 7wks old today....so Im assumng when maturity hits this will change things?

My main concern after reading & researching & talking a couple chicken owners is my hens will be run ragged by the keeping 2(1 barred rock & 1 banty) roosters in the coop/run with them all the time.

It seems from what I have read after a rooster hits maturity he only has 1 main goal and my girls will only have a limited space to escape him if they want.

 

[Nocila]

That is a definite concern, though it will depend on your birds. I currently have six roosters to 22 hens (I was sold a flock of 4 hens and 2 roosters, but it turned out that there were 4 roosters, and 2 hens), and, though my boys fought pretty roughly when the birds were added, they all seem to be okay at the moment. I'm not planning on doing this long term, but it will work temporarily, until I can find homes for the boys I had before adding the birds to the coop.

When birds are raised together, they don't think of each other as a threat to the level they do when there is a new bird added to the flock, but you're right, if you have two roosters to that many hens long-term, it could do the hens some harm. If you can, I might get a few more hens (perhaps a few banties), if you want to keep both. You wouldn't need a lot, but enough to keep them both fairly occupied. I'd at least get two, but would suggest getting four to six banties, so that your two boys are happy.

 

[JanetLM]

I really think I'm just gonna keep the banty rooster & get rid of barred rocks( I actually already have potential homes for them where they will have their own flock & not have to share)...the girls are my main concern & I'm not wanting chicks just eggs.

Also, I'm thinking that since my hens are all standard size then if Little Pete(banty rooster) gets too aggressive they would be able to put him in his place easily or is that incorrect thinking on my part?

 

[Nocila]

I think, with banty roosters, the chances of the boys injuring hens is greatly diminished, as they don't have the weight to do much damage. Yes, they can still pull feathers out, but I don't think they can dislocate their legs, either (that was a big problem with one of our rhode island reds... He was too big for our standard sized hens, and ended up dislocating at least 3 of their legs, and possibly causing the death of one, so we had to put him down).

I think bantam boys over standard girls is probably the best way to go. All of my boys are bantams, but I have a mixture of standards and bantams for my hens, and it seems to work really well. I haven't had any dislocated legs since going with smaller boys, so that's a plus!