Multiple roo's?

[tippyfarm]

Hello all, I'm very new and green on chicken raising. I want to order a few exotic breeds but they are only offering straight runs. I planned on only having hens but if I take a chance and order them and get multiple Roos how many could I have in the same pen? Thanks!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Expect to get AT LEAST 50% males in your straight run batch. My last batch of straight run birds, I got five pullets and eight cockerels. So when you say "take a chance," there's an almost zero chance you'll get all pullets.

As far as the roosters go, you can have quite a few. Some people on BYC have bachelor pens of all roosters. Then, it mostly depends on how well they get along. If you've got a troublemaker, he'll have to go.

If you keep them in with the hens, you can get some stress if you have too many roosters. The general rule of thumb is one rooster per every eight to ten hens. We keep three or four roosters in with 50-80 hens. At this number of roosters, not all our eggs are fertile so we separate off one rooster and some selected hens for three weeks before we gather eggs for hatching.

We have some fussing and fighting in the spring, but it's not too bad. Mostly some pulled feathers and marks on combs. No blood, no foul.