Need some advice with first ever roosters

[Camo chicken146]

So to make it as short as possible I'll just put it like this

we have 4 laying hens 2 are 5 years old and the other 2 are about 2
we got 10 chicks some at different times, (not to far apart) out of 10 chicks 2 are roosters.

the oldest roo is a little over 3 months by like a week or 2, and the other roo is about 3 months
and most of the young pullets are about 3 months but 4 of the youngest pullets are just shy of 3 months by maybe like 2 weeks.

Also all 10 youngsters have been living with the older hens since april 18 and one of our oldest girls doesn't put up with any bs from them she'll peck anyone that gets to close and occasionally charge (no chicks injured)

After sharing that info here are some of my questions

1) since the cockerels are a bit older than the youngest pullets will they need to be separated when they start maturing since the younger hens won't be quite ready to mate yet? (we have a separate place that would work if we did need to move them) I only plan on keeping one roo if my parents will allow it.

2) If I am able to keep whichever roo is better 12 girls for 1 roo should be a good ratio right?

3) I've done lots of research and It seems people say when the older girls kinda beat up on the young roos it teaches them how to be a gentlemen to the hens, If this is true that's great, but has anyone had a first hand experience with this, does it really work?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It's best to wait and see how it goes. If they start making trouble I remove them and pen them separate from the females for a while. I would also wait and see how they develop and interact with the hens later on before deciding if you want to keep two, one, or none. Every rooster is different, and cockerel can sometimes be trouble until they mature more.

 

[Camo chicken146]

@Mrs. K @FrostRanger

​

 

[Mrs. K]

Roosters are a crap shoot. I am slightly more on the side that cockerels raised under older birds are a bit better,BUT it is not fool proof, if one could come up with a set of rules as in if you do this, and don’t do that you will get a perfect rooster, well you would make a lot of people happy.

Often times when people come here with two or three rooster chicks, the plan is to keep one. Do know that neither of these might work. Do not keep a rotten too.

As your numbers, a rooster should fit in there well, however, what is your space? You have more than doubled your head count, and often times what is more g th ham enough room for chicks rapidly becomes not enough space with full size birds. Roosters need more room than a hen. They are bigger birds.

Your plan to separate the cockerels out if necessary is a good one. Have it set up and ready to go. You may not need it, but then again h y ou might.

Mrs K

 

[Camo chicken146]

As your numbers, a rooster should fit in there well, however, what is your space? You have more than doubled your head count, and often times what is more g th ham enough room for chicks rapidly becomes not enough space with full size birds. Roosters need more room than a hen. They are bigger birds.

They have a very large run, the length and width is 17 feet and it's about 8 feet tall

and we let them out to free range a lot too, usually every day.

 

[Mrs. K]

Definitely have space in the run, do use that vertical space with platforms, and roosts, cluttering it up really makes more interesting.

Depending where you are in the world, the coop size can be critical. If you are in the northern hemisphere the long nights of winter, or bad storms can be way too much time to be over crowded. For a bakers dozen, a walk in coop of 6x8, is what I have. What I have found is some flocks of 12-13 will fit in there, but some flocks won’t be peaceful. The head count/space really depends on the individual birds, if you notice tension or strife, remove some of the birds.

Mrs K

 

[Camo chicken146]

Definitely have space in the run, do use that vertical space with platforms, and roosts, cluttering it up really makes more interesting.

Depending where you are in the world, the coop size can be critical. If you are in the northern hemisphere the long nights of winter, or bad storms can be way too much time to be over crowded. For a bakers dozen, a walk in coop of 6x8, is what I have. What I have found is some flocks of 12-13 will fit in there, but some flocks won’t be peaceful. The head count/space really depends on the individual birds, if you notice tension or strife, remove some of the birds.

Mrs K

Thanks so much for the help!

 

[ChickQueen77]

you should put them in different pens if they are for show or you care much what they look like because the roosters will peck the hens head feathers out

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Glad you joined!

1) since the cockerels are a bit older than the youngest pullets will they need to be separated when they start maturing since the younger hens won't be quite ready to mate yet? (we have a separate place that would work if we did need to move them) I only plan on keeping one roo if my parents will allow it.

Many people keep them together with no issues, some have issues when they try that, and some never keep them together. Personally I keep them together until they show me they need to be separated. My threshold is higher than for some people. As long as no one is getting injured I'm OK with them interacting.

2) If I am able to keep whichever roo is better 12 girls for 1 roo should be a good ratio right?

I'm not a believer in magic ratios. I think the personality of the individual chickens (male and female) is much more important than the actual ratio. One rooster with 12 hens will make a very nice flock once they mature. It will probably work as they mature but more on that later.

3) I've done lots of research and It seems people say when the older girls kinda beat up on the young roos it teaches them how to be a gentlemen to the hens, If this is true that's great, but has anyone had a first hand experience with this, does it really work?

I've seen that a lot on here. I don't recall anyone ever saying it teaches the young pullets to be a lady if they get beat up by older hens, mature roosters, or young cockerels but I don't really expect to see that.

I raise cockerels and pullets with my flock every year. I typically have a mature rooster with the flock until the cockerel is about 5 months old, at which time the rooster is eaten. I also have 6 to 8 mature hens and a lot of immature cockerels and pullets of various ages.

I have an 8x12 main coop, two 4x8 shelters where some can sleep, a 12x32 main run, and over 2,000 square feet inside electric netting. A lot more room than you have, which I think helps me a lot.

Some years it is pretty peaceful. A few cockerels may fight, a few pullets may be chased, but not very bad. Very little interaction between the juveniles and adults.

Some years it is rougher. Cockerel fights are more intense, more pullets are chased and caught. Cockerels bother some mature hens, the mature rooster chases the cockerels away from his hens. Nobody gets hurt though so I'm OK with it. But some years it gets rough enough that I isolate some of the boys in a grow-out area where they are fenced away from the rest of the flock until they reach butcher age. This is maybe once every three or four years.

At around 5 months of age I've decided which cockerel I'm going to keep and have the rest in the freezer, along with the mature rooster. That leaves the one cockerel with the adult hens and pullets. Most years this is very peaceful, not that much chasing or violence between the hens and the cockerel or the pullets and anybody. With the mature rooster gone, one hen has become the dominant flock master. Often the cockerel takes over as flock master in a very peaceful takeover.

But I've seen a dominant hen that did not peacefully hand over being flock master. She had a strong personality and the cockerel's personality was kind of weak. He did not try to become flock master until he was 11 months old. Some of the other hens would allow him to mate but if the dominant hen saw it she would run to knock him off. She was not that brutal about it but she did let him know she was boss. When he finally matured to the point that he fought back instead of running away when she attacked him they fought and he won. For two days he would not allow her to rejoin the flock. It was pretty vicious but neither was injured.

I've tried to give you an idea of how varied my experiences have been. My facilities, flock make-up, and tolerances are different from yours. I do not know what you will see. If you can get through his immature hormone-driven cockerel phase you should do pretty well. Good luck!

 

[rural mouse]

This article was/is my best friend in dealing with roosters. Currently I have 4, with 27 hens in 1 large coop. They free range around my yard all day.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/understanding-your-rooster.75056/