One Pekin Bantam Rooster to 3 Pekin bantam hens

[MollyDog01]

Of the 4 Pekin bantam chicks we acquired at 4 days old, now at 7 weeks it is clear we have one little rooster. As you can see in the picture he takes very good care of his girls and keeps them well in line. My question is that will the 3 girls be enough for him, or can I expect to have to introduce more hens to the flock? They are very well handled, and just want to be held, or roost on my arm or shoulder. The rooster of course must always have the highest position...lol. But, he is the biggest baby of all! A couple of weeks ago, I tried to introduce 4 regular sized chicks which were 2 weeks younger, but they were having none of the intruders. One of the hens even holding one of them by the beak while she karate kicked it before I could stop her doing too much damage.

Do you think this small flock could possibly work?

 

[dheltzel]

3 hens is plenty. Enjoy the group you have. I have often kept single pairs together and that works fine, so 3 hens is just right for him. In larger flocks you will see recommendation for 8 - 10 hens per cock, but that is to ensure enough fertility. If your main goal is the most fertile eggs per $ of feed, you would use the fewest cocks possible, hence the recommendation. If you put more than 10 hens per cock, fertility may suffer.

 

[MollyDog01]

3 hens is plenty. Enjoy the group you have. I have often kept single pairs together and that works fine, so 3 hens is just right for him. In larger flocks you will see recommendation for 8 - 10 hens per cock, but that is to ensure enough fertility. If your main goal is the most fertile eggs per $ of feed, you would use the fewest cocks possible, hence the recommendation. If you put more than 10 hens per cock, fertility may suffer.

Thank you for your input. I have been quite worried about the dynamics of such a small group after reading many of the posts about the ratio of hen to rooster. They are very spoiled pets, who have the best of everything. We just want to make sure they are able to coexist in this group. They seem to be doing just fine at the moment and we are happy to leave them alone if this can work. You have set my mind more at ease now. Thank you.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

My flock is also small (4 hens, 1 roo) and they do great. That general 10:1 rule is more for those hormonally driven, overzealous teenage roosters that spend 99.9% of their time chasing down the ladies. My ornamental breeds (Silkies, Cochins, ECT) are much more laid back. My Silkie rooster has a difficult time keeping up with much more than he's got now.
Your little flock is adorable, enjoy them!

 

[MollyDog01]

My flock is also small (4 hens, 1 roo) and they do great. That general 10:1 rule is more for those hormonally driven, overzealous teenage roosters that spend 99.9% of their time chasing down the ladies. My ornamental breeds (Silkies, Cochins, ECT) are much more laid back. My Silkie rooster has a difficult time keeping up with much more than he's got now.
Your little flock is adorable, enjoy them!

Thank you for your comments. I do love my little flock and they are all so friendly. At 7 weeks, the little roo does his morning crow and awakens the world...lol. He is very attentive to the hens, always herding them out of any perceived danger. We have a small hen house and run but they free range around the yard only when we can watch them until they can get a bit bigger. The crows and magpies (in Australia) sit watching from the trees at the moment so we are very protective of them. We would love for them to increase the flock naturally at some point in the future, but if that never happens, they will certainly be very loved family pets!

 

[kpborkowski]

Sorry I'm not much help with your question about 3 hens to one rooster, but I just had to say I just love pekins too you have a lovely little flock there. We have 3 pekins in our flock of 9 and they are by far the friendliest. We have just discovered one of our baby pekins, 12 wks now is a rooster (we had our suspicions) but caught him crowing 2 mornings in a row - a very squeaky crow lol.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[MollyDog01]

Sorry I'm not much help with your question about 3 hens to one rooster, but I just had to say I just love pekins too

you have a lovely little flock there. We have 3 pekins in our flock of 9 and they are by far the friendliest. We have just discovered one of our baby pekins, 12 wks now is a rooster (we had our suspicions) but caught him crowing 2 mornings in a row - a very squeaky crow lol.

Good luck and enjoy!

Thank you for your comments, and YES they are just so friendly and interactive. Every time I let them have a free range they all end up perching on either my arm, leg or shoulder for 10 minutes each. They love to be stroked under and along their beaks. Very friendly little guys. The rooster even loves me to stroke his comb! Our little rooster developed early and started is crowing at 3 weeks! We could not believe it but when I questioned the farmer they came from he said he had one crow as early as 1 week. I would not believe it if I had not seen him do it in front of me. We have 2 regular point of lay hen but they are separate. I wish we could integrate them but both groups like their own space. Ours are 9 weeks old today, and we have had them since 4 days old. We would never give them up now.