More than one rooster ok?

[mychookau]

Does it matter how many roosters there are? I'm planning a flock of 6-8 hens. The lady I am getting them from, gives her roosters away. They are really beautiful and I would like to take 3 of them off her hands. She said they are fine together. They don't fight and it doesn't matter how many there are compared to number of hens. Would you agree with this statement?

 

[seminolewind]

I don"t think there's enough girls to go around for 3 boys. Sooner or later there may be a problem

 

[klpenny]

Roosters are noisy. When you get more than one they compete vocally and physically They fight amongst each other and can pick on the girls. We have a big flock where I keep my horse and at one point there were about 7 roosters and 20 hens. The roosters went away and peace and hapiness ensued. I have chickens at home with one rooster we love him to pieces but he is quite enough thank you.

 

[devora]

She said they are fine together. They don't fight and it doesn't matter how many there are compared to number of hens. Would you agree with this statement?

No, I would not agree! You may well have bare-backed hens w/ that ratio. Not fun for the girls at all.

 

[Illia]

More than one rooster is perfectly fine especially if you're using a smart breed in which males quickly learn their place, BUT -

6-8 hens is waaay too few girls for more than one male. You will quickly get stressed, bare backed, possibly injured hens from excessive breeding and competition.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not as negative to the idea as some others, but I would not recommend you try it. I'm not a believer in the ratio of roosters to hens that you often see on here, both because of what people I trust on this forum have said and what I have seen in my own flock. There is no magic ratio where you are guaranteed problems or guaranteed no problems. There are just too many factors involved and you are dealing with living animals. You cannot really predict what will happen.

The more roosters you have the more likely you are to have problems, regardless of the number of hens you have. That's why I recommend you keep as few roosters as you can and still reach your goals. And it really helps if both the hens and roosters are mature. Adolescent pullets and cockerels very often don't have their act together. If you can get them past that adolescent phase you are much less likely to have problems.

I currently have four roosters (3 of them adolescent) and 9 hens (3 of those adolescent) and don't have problems. But I will soon change that to one rooster and seven hens. Mine were raised together, male and female, and they have lots of space. I think both of those factors help. Plus I think having a mature rooster in the flock helps keep it calm.

You can try it and it might work fine, but if you do try it, I strongly recommend you have a back-up plan ready. And try to get mature roosters.

 

[ChickenPrnces]

I personally have 6 roosters and 9 hens in my big house right now and they get long great! No bare backs and no problems at all!

 

[mychookau]

Thank you very much for your input. Considering my experience with chooks - ZERO - I think I will start with just the one rooster. While I plan to let the free roam, they will be locked up at night time, I'll play it safe with just the one boy.

 

[NYRIR]

Thank you very much for your input. Considering my experience with chooks - ZERO - I think I will start with just the one rooster. While I plan to let the free roam, they will be locked up at night time, I'll play it safe with just the one boy.

Sounds smart! Then later when chicken math kicks in good, you'll NEED another roo

 

[Blue]

I used to tell people that 10 to 1 was the general ratio, 1 rooster to every 10 hens. However, experience has taught me that's not always true. I bought a couple batches of chicks last year and wound up with 8 roosters and 16 hens. I got that batch down to 4 roosters (1 bantam and 3 standards) and 16 hens (1 bantam and 15 standards), and they got along fine. Then, one day while they were out free-ranging, one of my bantam roosters from a different coop decided he was going to move in with the new ladies and those other 4 roosters, and he declared himself the big man on campus. lol! So far, he's maintained his position as king with none of the other roosters challenging him, but I'm not sure how long he'll reign. Either way, they're all getting along fine right now, and there are no bare-backed hens. I'm pretty sure little Edgar is the only one who gets to do much lovin' in the coop and run, but I've noticed when they free range they tend to break off into groups, with the hens spread among the roosters. The run is also fairly large (50ft. x 50ft.), so they have room to get away from each other, which may aid in their tolerance of each other.