More then one rooster? Am I asking for trouble?

[donnaboydjones]

October of 2010 I became a crazy chicken lady.=) I was given 3 hens and a beautiful, docile , Americana rooster. I now have 6 hens and Henry the rooster is just the best husband. We live on 10 acres in Washington state where there are eagles, coyotes, hawks , owls and so forth. My flock is free range and Henry keeps his ladies safe all day. I help him at times when I see the eagles heading our way and I do have a dog who I tell that he has chicken watch duty, but he really just sleeps in the driveway.
I got 20 new chicks 8 weeks ago and one of them without a doubt is a rooster. The guy at the farmer supply store said I would need to have more then one rooster with the many hens I would have and that one rooster wasn't enough. I have to admit, I have reservations and fear that the young rooster, when old enough for my flocks to be merged will kill my rooster since he's so sweet or that there will just be hell to pay having two males. I have no idea how long Henry is suppose to live. He was about 6-8 mths when I got him. I guess my question is , should I add another rooster or not? The new little Roo is a speckled sussex and I have no knowledge of the breed. Thank you for help in advance.

 

[janelle18]

I'm not sure about the answer to your question, but am interested in the responses....
BUT i am in LOOVE with your roo!!!!!!! He is so handsome!!

 

[Lots A Cluckin]

I would, say they would be fine...they say 1 roo per 10 hens...if they are free range the 2 roos will have their own flocks...some of your new babies might go to the old roo and be part of his flock and some will stay with the new roo...but they might have their fight over who gets who..other than that I think they should live happily together

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Since you have one dominent roo he will maintain until the other rooster gains maturity...as long as there are enough hens I'd keep him. With all the predators you have I might keep more, sooner or later one will get nabbed and you won't have to decide. Meanwhile, you don't have to worry about it until it becomes a problem. Right?
PS Henry is sweet now right? Just wait till some roo pushes him, he won't look so sweet then..he looks like he can take care of it.

 

[Mrs. K]

I know exactly what you mean, I like my roo, and my flock has been safer with him..... but how long can you expect a roo to live? Often I would read where people have back up roos, and now I am beginning to think the same way. It would be nice to have a spare.

 

[Ridgerunner]

People have kept multiple roosters with flocks for thousands of years. Having more than one rooster is not an automatic death sentence for one of them.

The more roosters you have the more likely you are to have problems, so I generally advise to keep as few roosters as you can and meet your goals, but I don't go by any hard and fast numbers or ratios. That 10 to 1 ratio is what commercial operations use in pen breeding situations to insure fertility. They have found that due to the randomness of mating and the differences in the roosters they need about 20 roosters for 200 hens to make sure practically all the eggs are fertile. In a free range situation like you have, you'll find that an active rooster can and will keep many more than 10 hens fertile, but a rooster that is not that vigorous won’t be able to keep 10 hens fertile. When you are dealing with individuals, averages don't mean a lot.

With that many hens I do think you need a second rooster if you want fertile eggs. So if fertile eggs are your goal, I'd certainly keep the extra rooster.

One rooster will be dominant and one will not. Until the younger one matures, it will be the older. At some stage, they may fight about it. It depends on the personality of the two. If the older has a strong enough personality, he may easily stay in charge without a problem. But if the personalities are matched or the younger one is stronger, they could have some real battles. Sometimes these are fights to the death, but usually they reach an accommodation as to which is boss and the other becomes his able sidekick in taking care of the flock. It really helps if they are raised together, either as siblings or in a father-son relationship, which you will have.

How they will act when they reach this accommodation is not sure. Often they sort of divide the flock with each taking care of a portion of the hens. Either rooster may breed with any hen, even when they split the flock like this. Some people really get surprised about that when they hatch the eggs.

I have had two roosters that hung out with each other and not with any specific hens. All the eggs were fertile so they were doing their job, and there was no doubt which was the dominant, but they just liked hanging together. They are living animals. You really don’t know what they will do.

I’ve had my worst problems with overmating when I had one rooster and eight hens. I’ve had 3 roosters and 15 hens and 4 roosters with 9 hens and not had overmating or serious fighting problems. You just don’t know.

 

[donnaboydjones]

Thank you, I think he is gorgeous and I love to watch the sun light strike his feathers and see how they glimmer. This pic was taken last year and I personally think he's even more handsome now.=)

 

[donnaboydjones]

People have kept multiple roosters with flocks for thousands of years. Having more than one rooster is not an automatic death sentence for one of them.
The more roosters you have the more likely you are to have problems, so I generally advise to keep as few roosters as you can and meet your goals, but I don't go by any hard and fast numbers or ratios. That 10 to 1 ratio is what commercial operations use in pen breeding situations to insure fertility. They have found that due to the randomness of mating and the differences in the roosters they need about 20 roosters for 200 hens to make sure practically all the eggs are fertile. In a free range situation like you have, you'll find that an active rooster can and will keep many more than 10 hens fertile, but a rooster that is not that vigorous won’t be able to keep 10 hens fertile. When you are dealing with individuals, averages don't mean a lot.
With that many hens I do think you need a second rooster if you want fertile eggs. So if fertile eggs are your goal, I'd certainly keep the extra rooster.
One rooster will be dominant and one will not. Until the younger one matures, it will be the older. At some stage, they may fight about it. It depends on the personality of the two. If the older has a strong enough personality, he may easily stay in charge without a problem. But if the personalities are matched or the younger one is stronger, they could have some real battles. Sometimes these are fights to the death, but usually they reach an accommodation as to which is boss and the other becomes his able sidekick in taking care of the flock. It really helps if they are raised together, either as siblings or in a father-son relationship, which you will have.
How they will act when they reach this accommodation is not sure. Often they sort of divide the flock with each taking care of a portion of the hens. Either rooster may breed with any hen, even when they split the flock like this. Some people really get surprised about that when they hatch the eggs.
I have had two roosters that hung out with each other and not with any specific hens. All the eggs were fertile so they were doing their job, and there was no doubt which was the dominant, but they just liked hanging together. They are living animals. You really don’t know what they will do.
I’ve had my worst problems with overmating when I had one rooster and eight hens. I’ve had 3 roosters and 15 hens and 4 roosters with 9 hens and not had overmating or serious fighting problems. You just don’t know.

Thank you sooo much for all the information. I get the message about you just don't know and every situation is different. We custom built our chicken coop and there is a separate section for the babies until they can merge with the adults. There is even a separate door leading out to the the pen and there is a fence separating them. They can see each other, but can't get to one another. Both groups really don't pay any attention to the other. I also wont allow the babies to be free range with the adults until they are the same size. I just think for one they are too little to be left on their own defenses and Lord help me if I have to try and round up 20 , 8 week olds that are small enough to get into places that I can't reach.=)
At what age do you recommend them being merged? I was told 4mths.

 

[Ridgerunner]

A broody merges them at a couple of days old, but she is around to protect them so that doesn't count. I've had a broody wean her chick and leave them on their own with the flock at 3-1/2 weeks, but most wait until 4 to 9 weeks. So even broodies don't have a set answer for that. What chance do we have of agreeing?

My brooder is in the coop, so they see each other from the first. I house them in a grow-out pen from about 4 to 5 weeks until maybe 8 weeks. They are still right next to the adults. At about 8 weeks, I let them free range with the flock. The still sleep in the grow-out coop until they are maybe 12 weeks, then I usually move them onto the main coop if they haven't already moved on their own.