Keeping more than 1 roo

[johnsons-r-us]

I'm not there yet, but will be this summer. if I wanted to keep more than 1 adult roo, and somewhat conrol breeding, could the bachelors be housed together or would they fight. I'm thinking they would fight but I've been surpirsed by answers here before. I need some options for keeping two roos. Not going to cage them. I could alternate who free ranges together and who is in the coop?

If I didn't care about the breeding so much could two live peacefully with a flock of less than twenty total birds? Does free ranging help them get along, as they would all free range.

And, if I had a flock of just the girls, wanted to add an adult roo, are they easier to integrate than new chicks to a flock?

And this coming from someone who had no intention of keeping roos in the first place!

 

[AlienChick]

I'm not sure about keeping the roos penned up together.

I have four roosters who free range with the entire flock (16 hens).

I do not have any issues.

If you want to control breeding, you might want to pen up the hen(s) and introduce the roo.

 

[Avalon1984]

I am working on building a separate rooster area for all my guys. I have seen people do that with good success.

 

[newchick13]

I have 2 roo's in with my 11 ladies, with no problems right now. They share a 8x6 coop and a 15 x9 run. They are only 16 weeks, so I am wondering if there will be issues once the girls are laying.

 

[johnsons-r-us]

Quote:
That's great! How old are the roos?

 

[kari_dawn]

The wildlife center has new hampshire reds, and there is about twenty hens, and five roosters. They free range, and they do not have a problem....when you say pen the roosters together, do you mean pen them with the hens, or just the roosters by themselves?

 

[johnsons-r-us]

Quote:
How many? And how old? Do you mean the get along as long as there are no hens around? That's kind of what I was wondering about.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I love my roos!

If roosters are raised together there is a good chance that they can get along in a flock. My roosters who were hatched with 8 hens got along fine in the same coop with the hens, but we soon realized that there were too many roosters for the hens. We built a bachelor rooster coop for 4 of the roos. They free range at a different times than the hens and their lucky rooster and do fine in their run even when there is a hen just on the other side of the wire. One of the bachelor roos now fights through the wire with the rooster who got to stay with the hens.

 

[Avalon1984]

Quote:
How many? And how old? Do you mean the get along as long as there are no hens around? That's kind of what I was wondering about.

That is what I have heard and since I have many roos of different ages I will try it myself. But then again, all my roos are getting along already with hens around, I am doing this merely to give my hens a break. They seem to form buddy groups and hang out together like at the bar or a ball game