Lost my whole flock to hawks....

[foodstr7]

A couple of years ago I had 25 Buff Orpingtons (all hens) in a free-range, 100' x 50' space. Those 'lovely' chicken hawks wound up getting the whole flock. I'm in the process of gathering the money to build a chicken-wire "tent" over their NOW 50' x 50' space, and getting a new flock next Spring.

This time around, I plan to get 25-30 birds and include at least one rooster to--hopefully--provide fertile eggs that I (or the chickens) can hatch.

I'm including pictures of my, now deceased, flock at feeding-time, and of their 'quonset hut' pen and roost.

(The wood planks around the pen is to stop dogs/coyotes/foxes from digging under.)

Can anyone tell me if one rooster is enough for 30 females, or--if 2 are needed--would they just wind up fighting?

 

[sylviethecochin]

One rooster is definitely not enough for thirty hens.

You'll probably want about three roosters for decent fertility--my young cockerels can handle about ten each, and I've never tried to have them cover more. Most people who sell hatching eggs have about a 1:5 ratio, I believe.

If you let the roosters together, they'll scratch out the pecking order on their lonesomes (Don't get a breed known for aggression, obviously) I happen to like leghorn roosters best of all I've had (but I've had a lot of RIRs and OEGBs, so take that with a grain of salt.) I'd get a few roosters more than you need, find out which ones you love and which ones you hate, and which ones get along best with the others, and then get rid of the ones you don't want.

My last pair were half-brothers (Dad was an EE.) They roosted together, ate together, patrolled together, and never fought, as far as I could see--but the leghorn cross was definitely in charge and the lighter game cross learned to behave himself. The leghorn called for his girls, did the mating dance, fed the chicks, and in general acted like a gentleman. The Game bird was a pain in my hens' collective butts.

And good luck!

 

[pennyJo1960]

first off glad you joined the world of chicken fun our bane is predators as you learned I am sorry to say it is awful tough.. most of us buried the hardware cloth about 6 or 8 inches deep at the bottom of our coops and runs to deter most predators and have covered our runs as you seem to doing now in some fashion... 30 2 or 3 cockerel I agree with Silvie

 

[foodstr7]

One rooster is definitely not enough for thirty hens.

You'll probably want about three roosters for decent fertility--my young cockerels can handle about ten each, and I've never tried to have them cover more. Most people who sell hatching eggs have about a 1:5 ratio, I believe.

If you let the roosters together, they'll scratch out the pecking order on their lonesomes (Don't get a breed known for aggression, obviously) I happen to like leghorn roosters best of all I've had (but I've had a lot of RIRs and OEGBs, so take that with a grain of salt.) I'd get a few roosters more than you need, find out which ones you love and which ones you hate, and which ones get along best with the others, and then get rid of the ones you don't want.

My last pair were half-brothers (Dad was an EE.) They roosted together, ate together, patrolled together, and never fought, as far as I could see--but the leghorn cross was definitely in charge and the lighter game cross learned to behave himself. The leghorn called for his girls, did the mating dance, fed the chicks, and in general acted like a gentleman. The Game bird was a pain in my hens' collective butts.

And good luck!

Thank you, Silvie, for your time and all the information! Sounds good! --Bruce

 

[foodstr7]

first off glad you joined the world of chicken fun our bane is predators as you learned I am sorry to say it is awful tough.. most of us buried the hardware cloth about 6 or 8 inches deep at the bottom of our coops and runs to deter most predators and have covered our runs as you seem to doing now in some fashion... 30 2 or 3 cockerel I agree with Silvie

Thanks!

 

[sylviethecochin]

Thank you, Silvie, for your time and all the information! Sounds good! --Bruce

You're welcome. Are you getting more Buffs? I've always wanted a flock of those...

 

[drumstick diva]

Generally a rooster can handle 10 hens, so for 30 hens you would want 3 roosters. If you get a bad one that abuses humans and/or the hens - dump him. There are many worthwhile roosters begging for a home since many areas prohibit them. It's a real buyers market. Never a good reason to keep a bad roo.

 

[Teila]

G’Day from down under foostr7 Welcome!

I am so very sorry to hear of your loss We recently relocated 1,800kms northward and our poor girls went from a hawk-free zone where they could free range all day to somewhere overflowing with Hawks and no more free range. They whinge about it occasionally but we have ensured that they have lots of room and things to keep them entertained.

 

[ronott1]

Welcome to BYC

You will need more roosters like was posted above.

For large covered runs many use netting to keep hawks out

 

[WildnCrazyChick]

Sorry you went through this, there was a red tailed hawk around here that were going after my parents cats, one days I walked outside and the hawk was on the roof of my house and flying low - he smelled the chickens - he then went to my neighbors farm and they saw him and that was the end of the hawk.....we are scared out of our pants to let the chickens out, but we have a good plan in place...I don't know anything about roosters or anything else..lol. Complete newbie, but my dad and his parents used to raise 3,000 chickens back in the day - so we get some tips from here are our fellow neighbors. Good luck to you!