My tiny flock...

[cabbageflower]

I have a backyard chicken tractor as we live in town where we are not on a farm. We have three hens in there currently. We originally had two Roos as we got them straight run but I gave one away. We kept one to try to help the hens with predators and keeping peace. They do spend a good bit of time running in the back yard when we are home, but I close them up when we leave or of course at night. We wanted to eventually have five laying hens and the Roos wasn't really part of the plan but we had actually gave him away also and we felt like the hens were divided. So after a two week time period we got him back and he seems to be doing pretty well with them. We will be getting two more hens eventually ( in a year or two) question is what next? Does he need a seperate pen for day or night or both? I'm a newbie and I don't know what to do. It seems from reading a rooster is a good idea but we have a small flock so how do I manage him so he doesn't over work my little girls?

 

[Mrs. K]

I think we need to have some more information. I am assuming that the whole group is the same age, and maybe quite young yet.

In the set up you describe, I would not have a rooster. Roosters are good protection, after they are a year old, for hawks and other wildlife. However in town, your most common predator is the neighborhood dog, and a roo can do nothing against that. For that you need a good fence. Roosters are quite noisy close to the house, and roosters can become aggressive.

If you are planning on separating your roo from the hens, you may as well get rid of him. He will not be able to protect any hen if he is locked up away from the hens, and if he is not locked up, he will be wearing your girls ragged, especially if he is young.

If people ask my advice, I really recommend just having hens when they first get started, or if they have a smaller area, or a smaller flock, or if they have children. I think roosters work best, when the flock free ranges in the prairie, when you have about a dozen birds or more, and not in the back yard.

Mrs K

 

[cabbageflower]

I realized the lacking details as I read your reply. They are young, about 5 months. We are in town but we live a good way from all our neighbors and we have raccoons, opossums, hawks, osprey, eagles, coyotes, feral cats, and the occasional black bear. We are in a small town near a reserve and near the coast. I am a stay at home mom and I homeschool our kids so we plan to let the chicks run around in the fenced yard unless we are going to be gone for a while (a few hours) or if we are out of town and of course not at night... So maybe that will clarify a little. I was kinda thinking if we were gone for a whole day or out of town we needed a seperate place for the too during the day only. Of course it would be senseless to have him locked up all the time. That was never the plan, I would love some further direction now that hopefully I have been more clear

 

[Mrs. K]

This is not a real good set up for the rooster. He will not be a protection for your hens until he is nearly a year old.

Young roos are intensely interested in whoopee. That is all he will want to do, all he will think of, and he will wear out your hens. You will need either more hens or less roo.

The rooster will want to be with his flock 24/7, and I think he will quickly get wise to your attempts to separate him from the hens. I don't think your plan will work out very well.

Mrs K

 

[donrae]

I would also not have the rooster. As the hens mature they'll establish a lead hen who will be a lookout for predators. Maybe not as dedicated as a rooster, but she'll alarm if a predator approaches. I think the best thing is to make sure your birds have hiding places, especially from aerial predators. And they'll work out their own squabbles, also.

If you want to keep the rooster, I do think you'll have to separate him at some point to keep from overmating the hens. If this means a few hours a day, or a few days at a time, that's just going to be up to you and your set up. Just keep in mind, especially when he's young, that when he's allowed access to the ladies again it may not be a pretty picture as he'll have a lot of pent up testosterone and will possibly just go from hen to hen over and over again and they may not like it much.