New Chicken Owner with a Surprise (gender question)

[cherrynberry]

The run is 8'x6' completely enclosed and the coop is 6'x6'. They are go in and out of the coop and run freely, but are always enclosed (we have some nasty vultures around I am trying to get rid of.

The coop was originally made on the smaller size because we were only expecting hens. Looks like another larger coop is in our immediate future.

That is big enough for them. My boys do not fight since they grew up with eachother, but again, they have enough hens to share. It is important to understand that males want hens and will fight to protect them.

Your hen is going to be beaten up by the two. I would not worry about the boys as I will about the pullet.

 

[Poultry mum]

That is big enough for them. My boys do not fight since they grew up with eachother, but again, they have enough hens to share. It is important to understand that males want hens and will fight to protect them.

Your hen is going to be beaten up by the two. I would not worry about the boys as I will about the pullet.

Yes totally agree.. I did forget to add that more hens are definitely needed… I have 23ish girls with my 8 boys.. but in saying that only 4 of my boys are even remotely interested in mating… the others are more gentlemen like and if a girl “sits” for them then they will take the opportunity…. My twins on the other hand take whenever and whoever they want when they want…

 

[TheOddOneOut]

I kid you not, when I went to take some new photos the front one (formerly Princess Laya, now Cluck Norris) strode right up to me and crowed right in my face. It was quite amusing since he had never done that before.

Follow-up question then, they are in a smaller coop I made 55 sqft run and a 36 sqft covered section. Will it cause issues if there are two males in the space together?

I assume you only have one female? Yes, major issues. You need at least 15 hens for two males. The reccomended number for even just 1 male is 10 hens.

 

[Chickengirl2671]

I'm not trying to be negative, but I've had this happen and its very stressful on the hen when the roos start trying to mate with her. That hens back will be bare and bleeding if you don't get more to even out how often she is mounted.

 

[JedJackson]

I would add a few more hens and see how it goes. If worse comes to worse you can either separate them into different coops, if that is feasible, or re-home one of the boys. I don't think buying 20 hens to keep two roosters happy is a reasonable option for most people.

 

[NatJ]

I don't think buying 20 hens to keep two roosters happy is a reasonable option for most people.

Especially because it might not work anyway.

The ratio of one rooster to ten hens is based on large commercial flocks (hundreds of birds) when they want every egg to be fertile. More roosters eat more food, but less roosters means they get too many infertile eggs, so 1:10 is about the best ratio for most flocks of that type. It has nothing to do with keeping any of the birds "happy."

I agree that 2 males with one female is likely to cause trouble for the female.
Possible things to do:
Maybe put the two males in one coop, the hen in another coop, and get one more hen as a companion for her.
Or maybe rehome the hen, keeping just the two roosters as pets.
Or maybe rehome both roosters, and get one or more additional hens so the current hen won't be completely alone.
Or maybe rehome one rooster, and get some more hens to go with the one remaining rooster and the current hen.

There are lots of ways to make something work, depending on how many birds OP wants to have, and which of the current ones are the favorites.

 

[Poultry mum]

Especially because it might not work anyway.

The ratio of one rooster to ten hens is based on large commercial flocks (hundreds of birds) when they want every egg to be fertile. More roosters eat more food, but less roosters means they get too many infertile eggs, so 1:10 is about the best ratio for most flocks of that type. It has nothing to do with keeping any of the birds "happy."

I agree that 2 males with one female is likely to cause trouble for the female.
Possible things to do:
Maybe put the two males in one coop, the hen in another coop, and get one more hen as a companion for her.
Or maybe rehome the hen, keeping just the two roosters as pets.
Or maybe rehome both roosters, and get one or more additional hens so the current hen won't be completely alone.
Or maybe rehome one rooster, and get some more hens to go with the one remaining rooster and the current hen.

There are lots of ways to make something work, depending on how many birds OP wants to have, and which of the current ones are the favorites.

None of these options would work for me.. I love all my boys and my girls.. I’d be inclined to add more girls coz you can never have too many chickens lol and if you apply simple chicken maths then in the end you really don’t have any chickens at all

 

[CrazyCochin]

So I am a new chicken owner and was gifted three chickens and was assured they were hens. Well, fast forward 6 months and I think I have 2 Roosters and a hen.
I am very new to chickens, but one grew very quickly and has quite the comb. I am pretty sure he is a male, but I'm curious about the other. They are constantly squaring off with each other. The two in question are the red feathered birds. I know the one with yellow feathers is a hen (we get delicious eggs from her).

I am hoping to get some better photos shortly, but they aren't very photogenic yet. Also, I am pretty sure they are 'game breeds', but confirmation would be cool.

Two roosters, one hen.

 

[RedBaronFarm]

Wow, thanks everyone for your support and feedback. This community is already helping me out so much.
I have separated them from now (they were getting very fighty in a tight space.
I am working on getting some more hens for them. It was just a surprise to find out when I thought I had 3 hens.
Again, I am a noob when it comes to farm animals but I gotta start somewhere!

 

[Poultry mum]

Wow, thanks everyone for your support and feedback. This community is already helping me out so much.
I have separated them from now (they were getting very fighty in a tight space.
I am working on getting some more hens for them. It was just a surprise to find out when I thought I had 3 hens.
Again, I am a noob when it comes to farm animals but I gotta start somewhere!

We all started somewhere… lol I started with 1 muscovy drake and 3 sexlinks (isa brown) now I have 22? Girls 8 boys 2 drakes and 7 ducks and a heap of babies all of different ages…. And all of different breeds… once you get “chicken-need-more-Otis” it’s hard to go back…. There kinda like Pokémon… you just “gotta have them all”