Keeping genders separately

[Japetus]

I have a friend who raises brahma chickens of several different colorations. He keeps the whole year the hens and the roosters separately in two large coops, and only twice a year, May and September, he joins the birds in several smaller coops by color, in order to get fertilized eggs and new chicks.
Is such an approach correct? He claims he can manage the flocks much easier and I was very intrigued to give this method a shot. Would such a practice work also on birds of different breeds of different sizes? I'm mainly concerned about the male flock and how the birds there will cope.

 

[iwltfum]

I've had good experiences segregating males out into a bachelor pad. They still establish a pecking order, but the lack of females to act as competition over seems to keep them calm for the most part.

One particular instance that I recall: I had a batch of Araucana's that ended up being mostly roosters. Once I was able to sex them, I put them in a pasture pen (completely visually separated from my free range laying flock) in order to grow them out for meat. I think it was 15 or 20 of them if I remember correctly. They all grew well and I never witnessed any evidence of fighting. I haven't ever raised males long term like you're describing though.

 

[Japetus]

I'm not sure how the pecking order will be easily reestablished after the mating periods.. I guess I will have to try it. Would the bachelor flock be distracted if located in close -hearing--distance with the females but visually isolated?

 

[iwltfum]

I'm not sure how the pecking order will be easily reestablished after the mating periods.. I guess I will have to try it. Would the bachelor flock be distracted if located in close -hearing--distance with the females but visually isolated?

Mine could hear each other and it didn't seem to bother either the flaying flock or the roo's. Can't say for certain though. It might even be breed dependent in that some breeds may be more attached audibly than others?

 

[Andrea4858]

This is super interesting. I’m trying to breed a few different species and would like to keep 4-5 roosters. I have an extra coop and was thinking I could house the boys in there for the winter - we have a lot of time that they can’t go outside here in Wisconsin. Then I thought I could keep my breeding groups in chicken tractors over the summer to keep them separate. Something to think about.