Multiple roosters

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Chicken71137 said:
I have 3 rhode island red roosters and 5 Easter egged hens. Must I get rid of 2 roosters?
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What are your goals for chickens? Why do you want any roosters? How much room do they have? We all have different circumstances and goals so we might have different answers to many questions.

The only reason you need any roosters is if you want fertile eggs. You have to have a rooster for that. Anything else is personal preference. You can find a lot of people on this forum that have an all-hen flock and love it, even many that free range. A lot of people would not have a flock without a rooster, whether they free range or not. They all have their own reasons for their choices.

Some people keep multiple roosters, even with just a few hens. Sometimes that works out, sometimes it is a disaster. Some Rhode Island Reds are aggressive, some are not. Some Silkies, Orpington, or Polish and aggressive, some are not. When you deal with living animals about anything can happen. They are not programmed robots where you always get the same thing.

My general suggestion is to keep as few males as you can and meet your goals. That may be multiple boys, one, or zero. You are not guaranteed problems with more boys, but the more boys you have the more likely you are to have problems. That's why I suggest you keep as few as you can and still meet your goals.

I'm not a believer in ratios. Some flocks with one rooster and two hens do great. Some flocks with one rooster and over 20 hens have serious problems. A lot depends on the individual personalities or other characteristics. Some males have lousy techniques. They can injure a hen when mating, sometimes seriously. Some hens have "brittle feathers". Even if the male does everything perfectly their feathers can break or fall out and leave bare patches that can be cut with the claws when the male mounts them. I believe in making your decisions based on what you see, not what some stranger like me over the internet says you will see.

I do not suggest you get more girls to improve your ratios. If you want more girls for other reasons go for it but don't do it to think you have to get more to improve behaviors. Adding more just means you have to deal with an integration on top of everything else.

You may think I'm arguing for you to keep more boys. I'm not. I very much believe your perfect number of boys is either zero or one, depending on your goals. Your goals, not mine or anybody else's. What you want is what counts.

If you want to discuss what you might need to do to keep multiple boys we can discuss that. A lot will depend in how much room you have and what your actual goals are.
 
Ridgerunner said:
What are your goals for chickens? Why do you want any roosters? How much room do they have? We all have different circumstances and goals so we might have different answers to many questions.

The only reason you need any roosters is if you want fertile eggs. You have to have a rooster for that. Anything else is personal preference. You can find a lot of people on this forum that have an all-hen flock and love it, even many that free range. A lot of people would not have a flock without a rooster, whether they free range or not. They all have their own reasons for their choices.

Some people keep multiple roosters, even with just a few hens. Sometimes that works out, sometimes it is a disaster. Some Rhode Island Reds are aggressive, some are not. Some Silkies, Orpington, or Polish and aggressive, some are not. When you deal with living animals about anything can happen. They are not programmed robots where you always get the same thing.

My general suggestion is to keep as few males as you can and meet your goals. That may be multiple boys, one, or zero. You are not guaranteed problems with more boys, but the more boys you have the more likely you are to have problems. That's why I suggest you keep as few as you can and still meet your goals.

I'm not a believer in ratios. Some flocks with one rooster and two hens do great. Some flocks with one rooster and over 20 hens have serious problems. A lot depends on the individual personalities or other characteristics. Some males have lousy techniques. They can injure a hen when mating, sometimes seriously. Some hens have "brittle feathers". Even if the male does everything perfectly their feathers can break or fall out and leave bare patches that can be cut with the claws when the male mounts them. I believe in making your decisions based on what you see, not what some stranger like me over the internet says you will see.

I do not suggest you get more girls to improve your ratios. If you want more girls for other reasons go for it but don't do it to think you have to get more to improve behaviors. Adding more just means you have to deal with an integration on top of everything else.

You may think I'm arguing for you to keep more boys. I'm not. I very much believe your perfect number of boys is either zero or one, depending on your goals. Your goals, not mine or anybody else's. What you want is what counts.

If you want to discuss what you might need to do to keep multiple boys we can discuss that. A lot will depend in how much room you have and what your actual goals are.
Click to expand...
Not my thread but I love your response and have a similar situation. Can I message you for your POV?
 

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