oversexed rooster ?

[scottishgal]

I had 2 australorp roosters tending to 14 hens. Today my 2nd in command was sent to freezer camp due to biting and eating the crown off of the lead rooster while he was trying to mate the hens

, he runs from my lead guy at any other time

. My sister says that anything over 12 hens will cause a rooster to oversex himself into death,

while I am positive he would love to go out that way, I need to know if there is any truth to this statement . Please help me and my happy rooster.

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

No offense to your sister, but I think she is incorrect. The typical ratio is 10/12 hens per rooster, but I do not think an extra hen or two will hurt. Your fertility may go down a little if he can't make his "rounds" to everyone though, lol

I am sure he is a happy fella.

 

[CMV]

I have never heard of it. I have heard of drakes giving themselves prolapse problems from over-mating, but not chickens. I have 18 ladies for my one rooster and he's still kicking. I am pretty sure he is not servicing all the ladies, but it isn't from lack of trying.

 

[gryeyes]

Your sister, if you don't mind my saying so, doesn't know what she's talking about.

The more hens per roo, the less - usually - each HEN will have to bear the brunt of all the rooster's attention.

For fertility/hatching reasons, the general ratio of roo to hen is 1 per 10 or 12 or so. Some roosters are solo in flocks of 50 or more, but not all the hens get serviced. The other roosterly duties such as breaking up hen fights, warning the flock of dangers, etc., are handled perfectly well with a lot of hens and fewer Roos.

Yes, roosters are horny fellows, but it is highly unlikely one would breed himself to death. Too many roosters or too few hens means you may have some hens suffer feather loss on their backs due to being bred too much.

 

[scottishgal]

Thank you all for your answers

She was looking up ducks at the same time so I think she got the information confused

Big John will be very happy to rule the roost all alone

 

[woodmort]

I've got one rooster with 43 hens--he is very, very, very happy. BTW, haven't eaten an egg in the last month that hasn't had a bulls eye in it either so he's also very busy.

 

[sourland]

Reminds me of a honeymoon story. Your sister is incorrect about both roosters and drakes.

 

[gritsar]

My adult roo has 12 hens, my cockerel has 20 (give or take, still not sure on the silkies genders). The only eggs I am getting that are unfertilized are from my meatie pullets (belong to the cockerel). It's not from lack of trying on his part. He's just not big enough to complete the process on the meatie girls.

 

[HeatherLynn]

Maybe by over sex himself she means he will have so much of it he will drop dead a very happy bird? I do have one roo who died while actually covering the hens but I seriously think there was something more wrong. He was very young and its not like he was allowed even close to a hen all that often.