More than one roo; is it possible?

[Midnight]

I have 15 chickens and the flock is now 20 weeks old. I have a Silver Seabright rooster that has been king of the roost since he was 3 months. A couple of weeks ago, one of the silkies started crowing and this week another. That will make three roosters. The rest are female (I have two EE, 5 Marans, 2 Wyn., and 2 seabrights and possibly a female silkie ...hopefully, as she is not crowing....) Is it possible to keep that many roosters? I can't imagine giving any of them away. All of them follow me everywhere. The silkies are bigger than the seabright, but seem to back off if he rushes them. No eggs yet and I haven't seen any one getting "frisky"...at least I don't think so. The males do circle the females if they think they are out of line, but the marans just rear up real big and peck back. What do y'all think, can three males get along? Will the girls suffer? They have a huge coop and range freely in the yard.

 

[silkiechicken]

Hmm... if they are in a yard, unless you have a half acre yard, your roo's may peck each other insane and your hens may go bald. I have kept high ratio of young roosters but they all eventually go to soup. It is possible but you may have to make a batchlor pad for the reject boys to sleep in at night. In my main coop, I have one rooster and 10 hens.... and I still have two bald hens!

They even get to free range with no fences all day!!!

Your best bet is to just keep one.

 

[peeps7]

I have 3 roosters with 13 hens right now. One of them is sterile and doesn't breed. The pecking order is, 1.silkie/cochin rooster
2.Old sterile EE
3. young EE
The young EE breeds with some of the girls when he gets the chance, they don't like him so most of them run away when he tries to mate. All my hens love the silkie/cochin roo because he is the smallest and he doesn't just hop on, he flirts. My old EE just hangs in the background, my silkie hen loves him and will follow him around anywhere. Mine do fine so maybe you just need to wait and see.

 

[Midnight]

I am hoping they will get along. Only the SS rooster can get up as high as the girls at night in the coop. The silkies can't seem to manage, so I have a lower roost for them with a ramp to help them get up. Maybe that will keep them from harming the girls at night.

 

[wynedot55]

when you have 3 roos with 12 hens your gonna have a war.the roos love to fight.an they will fight for the top roo position.an they will wear your hens out.id cull 2 of the roos if it was me.

 

[rooster-red]

I have 3 roo's and 13 hens.
I keep my barred rock in with the hens, he's the Alpha roo.
The other 2 have a bachler pad for the RIR & BO roo in a run next to the main flock.
These 2 don't fight with each other at all.
If they are let out to free range with the flock they want to fight with the barred rock, and if I don't intervine the barred rock will kill them.
He's almost killed them a couple of times, I had a hard time getting the bleeding to stop on the BO and we almost lost him.

Now they are not allowed to free range at the same time.

It depends on the individual roo.

 

[rooster-red]

Quote:
I'd say that statement is true at least 75% of the time, but you don't know until you introduce them to one another.

These 2 roo's get along fine.

 

[chickenwoods]

Rooster-red,is that a Rhode island red rooster??? in your avitar and in that pic..he sure is a tough looking dude..i cant wait till my Rir roo grows up hes 3 months.

 

[rooster-red]

Quote:
Thats the one in my avitar.

This is the barred rock who'd kill the other 2 if he gets the chance.
He's a great protector and not aggresive toward humans, great to the hens.

 

[FLchook]

Ive always seemed to have multiple roos, and have never had a problem. Right now I have 2 with 10 hens. Everyone gets along fine. They were not raised together either. Before the coon attack I had 5 roosters to 20 girls. (just couldnt give my pretty boys away) All got along fine. The boys on the lower end of the totem pole were always last to go in the coop, but each had thier job and were all great to the ladies. Over all I think it depends on the roosters, and the girls.

Good luck!
Shannon