Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[Kev]

Very VERY helpful. So, would it be reasonable to have one flock rooster and then keep two (or three) in a bachelor pad together (away from flock), so I don't have only one rooster that a hawk to take out and leave me without any roosters? (Of course, these have all been raised together... and I would have to watch carefully.) Or should each boy have his own place to live form the start until breeding time? And if I want to breed with a different rooster, is it ok to swap him out in the coop with the flock rooster (who would get a vacation on his own)? (Rather than relocating the girls?) (I would also maybe try smaller numbers of hens in with a rooster in a breeding pen for specific goals, I'm just wondering about options). I have a little time on this, but this helps me know the choices I'm going to have to make - it's so hard, I have such nice pretty cockerels!

- Ant Farm

Welcome to chicken math lol I constantly have the same problem. Positives about this bird... also about this bird... oh yeah that one has xyz.....

I agree best not to whittle down to only one rooster.

as to keep together or separate, that is up to you and how the boys are with each other. I very rarely separate the chick.. mine don't exhibit that behavior so early though.

It is a very good question whether to keep all the breeder hens together or end up doing separate pairings.

If color will never be an important factor, maybe that is your answer(one big pen with all the girls in it and either switch the roosters around or whatever). But if you get more specific ideas and some of the hens happen not to be suitable for it... like you brought up the rose comb boy and big black pullet.... you will need to either accept putting him over all of the hens and hope some of the eggs are hers, or make accodomations to separate them for a while.

You can switch the roosters around without much issues in the hen pen. However the rooster being returned to the bachelor pen after weeks of being with the hens might either stir things up or get ganged up on by the established group... to be honest, this can get very ugly.

Two roosters is possible IF there is plenty of room and escapes and they appear to get along with each other pretty well- either by being buddies or not friendly but respectful. It's not the best thing though, if they get along well except the other tries to knock off the breeding rooster from a hen. The hen can get hurt in this process.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

The truth is.... ALL responses as to roosters are correct.

It's because none of them are same.

Some roosters can tolerate other roosters, from extremely well(buddies for life) to not buddies but as long as the pecking order is stable... all the way to can tolerate, but do get annoying with interrupting matings etc...

Also, some can tolerate only to end up intolerant. Some are best buds, then get in a quarrelsome phase... then it all calms down again.

Some rooster just plain cannot tolerate any other rooster, no matter what the situation.

It is due to a combination of genetics and environment. Example, clutch-raiseds that tolerate each other very well but are intolerant of/aggressive to any non-clutchmates. If you had two roosters from this kind of "line" but raised them seperately, it would be too easy to think this line throws roosters that are very intolerant of other roosters... missing out on the clutch-mate compatible possibility.

Even so, the same 'line' can still throw roosters with varying degrees of tolerance. Out of a clutch of 5, you could get one that simply has to kill every other rooster including his 'brothers', one that does not really want to kill but would much prefer to be the only one/tries to keep all others away from his girls, two that might be best buds and get on well and maybe the fifth is pretty mellow.

It is possible to make reasonable guesses if you are familiar with a line. I have some lines I never worry about, just raise them all together in the same pen for years, no matter the number of boys.. they do settle a rank between them, obvious only at feeding time- the dominant one will tell the other boys to get out of his way with a single peck and the others immediately retreat.

The other quirk is it can be possible for otherwise very mellow rooster to have an intense dislike for a specific rooster. He has no aggression problems with ANY other rooster placed with him.. but that one,, oh that one just has to push up daisies. He presses all his buttons, whatever they are.

As for number of hens per rooster, again this wildly varies. Some roosters do need many hens for the hen's sake. Some roosters will just target one or two hens to the point of making them bare and the 11 other hens can be in perfect feather.

On the other end of spectrum, some roosters can have just one hen and not a single feather will be ruffled on her.

This is why there's almost always disagreements whenever the rooster topic comes up. Some will swear by "this" because of their experience(which was true) and another can tell a different story(which also is true). I've seen had all sorts of roosters so all of you are right, just not in it being a universally true statement is all.

This is helpful, because it helps a lot to think of all the possibilities to be aware of (and related housing that might be needed) as they develop and as I watch them - I don't want to be caught by surprise if something doesn't work out. When I moved the New Hampshire boys, I was lucky that I had left that old short mini-run out in the yard, so I had a place to put them quickly.) Hopefully as my program evolves, I'll have more girls available to go around. Now that I have those new coop plans, I hope that will allow me to be more flexible in putting up and taking down housing as needed...

- Ant Farm

 

[Kev]

This is helpful, because it helps a lot to think of all the possibilities to be aware of (and related housing that might be needed) as they develop and as I watch them - I don't want to be caught by surprise if something doesn't work out. When I moved the New Hampshire boys, I was lucky that I had left that old short mini-run out in the yard, so I had a place to put them quickly.) Hopefully as my program evolves, I'll have more girls available to go around. Now that I have those new coop plans, I hope that will allow me to be more flexible in putting up and taking down housing as needed...

- Ant Farm

That's an excellent point not really brought up often enough- having a spare(that means empty lol) coop/run/pen can be really useful.

It's great for unforeseen events- unexpected things like the boys getting too rough, injured birds, mother hens with chicks etc.

I try to keep 2-3 empty spaces... but fully admit it gets hard sometimes especially when hatching lots of chicks....

 

[DesertChic]

If I got it right, your roosters only free-range together, but sleep separately with their own hens. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Again, if I got it right, I think that her first question was about keeping few roosters with the same flock of seven hens- I had a case with two roosters with 11 hens in the same space whole day.

I also had two flocks that were only free ranging together and it was functioning just right, like your flocks.

EDIT: Don't get me wrong, I was not trying to insult you in any way, I was just trying to justify my answer. Hope youwon't feel offended. I find online texting and writing very difficult especially in other language

Absolute no offense taken. I'd rather be questioned for clarification than mislead anyone or misunderstand what's being asked or stated.

And I think you're right about the original question.

Yes, they do all free range together and return to their individual flock pens at night, but....in only one case do I have a single rooster with a group of hens at night. My other pens have at least two roosters, usually in a ratio of 2:7+. In both cases where I keep more than one rooster with the hens, the cockerels were raised together and had formed a bond from hatching onward. I suspect that may make a difference.

Additionally, I have the advantage of owning a really fantastic rooster than behaves as the great uniter of all of my flocks. He's a very large Bielefelder and goes to great lengths to maintain peace in the chicken world. I'm consistently impressed by how he manages to keep the boys in line without being excessively aggressive, and he manages ALL of the flocks, not just his own. Without him, I sincerely doubt my yard would be as peaceful as it is.

 

[DesertChic]

That's an excellent point not really brought up often enough- having a spare(that means empty lol) coop/run/pen can be really useful.

It's great for unforeseen events- unexpected things like the boys getting too rough, injured birds, mother hens with chicks etc.

I try to keep 2-3 empty spaces... but fully admit it gets hard sometimes especially when hatching lots of chicks....

*Chuckle* I have an empty pen right now...so empty....I think it needs chickens in it....there's still plenty of breeds and breeding mixes I haven't tried....aaaahhhhh, chicken math!

 

[Phill98]

Absolute no offense taken. I'd rather be questioned for clarification than mislead anyone or misunderstand what's being asked or stated.   And I think you're right about the original question. 

Yes, they do all free range together and return to their individual flock pens at night, but....in only one case do I have a single rooster with a group of hens at night. My other pens have at least two roosters, usually in a ratio of 2:7+. In both cases where I keep more than one rooster with the hens, the cockerels were raised together and had formed a bond from hatching onward. I suspect that may make a difference.

Additionally, I have the advantage of owning a really fantastic rooster than behaves as the great uniter of all of my flocks. He's a very large Bielefelder and goes to great lengths to maintain peace in the chicken world. I'm consistently impressed by how he manages to keep the boys in line without being excessively aggressive, and he manages ALL of the flocks, not just his own. Without him, I sincerely doubt my yard would be as peaceful as it is. 

Glad you got it right!

Aand my bad about you having one roo with hens. So I guess I had a bad luck with my guys?!? But like you said, yours were raised together, so that's another story. I don't know, guess we all have to figure our way, just like with selecting the right breed. We all have different needs and possibilities.

You are lucky to have that rooster. But I think that if you haven't had this one, another one would take his role

 

[Phill98]

Since I will be re-doing my flock next year (my hens stopped laying eggs in August and haven't layed one egg since then and now they started to molt, I guess they are very old-got them from neighbour) I wonder how big outdoor space should be for one hen. They will be free ranging most of the time, but I need it to be big enough for them when they just can be outside(predator attack, stray dogs, holidays and vacations and I'd also like to close them few hours before dark like I do now.
Now I have a "run" that is around 17*26 and I want to know how many chickens to hold there so they will be happy and have some grass like they had this summer.

I will take pictures tommorow since it's almost 11 pm

 

[flower]

I have used Pinless Peepers and they do work. Initially the birds try to remove them but eventually adjust. Having enough room is very important but like Kev said some birds inherit the tendency to pick. I bought a trio of White Ameraucans, very pretty birds and prolific layers but all three were culled. The rooster killed another beautiful rooster when I was not quick enough separating them as they reached the heavy testosterone age. The hens lasted longer but I was not able to stop their bad habit of picking. They picked during the roosting time and my coop is big enough. It was sad. When I processed them I saw large amounts of eggs waiting to be matured.

 

[Kev]

*Chuckle* I have an empty pen right now...so empty....I think it needs chickens in it....there's still plenty of breeds and breeding mixes I haven't tried....aaaahhhhh, chicken math!

Oh no you have the same problem as I do! ahhhhhh is right!

 

[chickengr]

Since I will be re-doing my flock next year (my hens stopped laying eggs in August and haven't layed one egg since then and now they started to molt, I guess they are very old-got them from neighbour) I wonder how big outdoor space should be for one hen. They will be free ranging most of the time, but I need it to be big enough for them when they just can be outside(predator attack, stray dogs, holidays and vacations and I'd also like to close them few hours before dark like I do now.
Now I have a "run" that is around 17*26 and I want to know how many chickens to hold there so they will be happy and have some grass like they had this summer.

I will take pictures tommorow since it's almost 11 pm

they say 1 m2 per chicken. if you have more space, better.

brahma roosters tolerate each other better than other breeds. I have 2 brahma cross roos + 1 red sex link roo with 12 hens and 13 muscovy ducks. the 2nd brahma cross was to be rehomed but the lady had problems with dogs and cannot take him any more. that is how I ended up with too many roos. they chase each other but never fight. the first 2 share their hens and the last one has 4 hens which have totally been rejected by the other 2 roos.