Pullet or Roo?

[donrae]

I don't have roosters but even if they have grown up together they will fight someday. You don't need to change his name if you already have a girl name, I had a bunch of male finches with girl names.

This is not true. I've had multiple roosters most of the last 20 years and have only had a few fight. Some were hatch mates, some were father/sons. I've never had rooters fight so much they drew bleed, even when they did squabble. Don't know what I do that's unusual. I give my birds lots of space and don't tolerate any human aggression and don't make my birds pets, that's about it.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

This is not true. I've had multiple roosters most of the last 20 years and have only had a few fight. Some were hatch mates, some were father/sons. I've never had rooters fight so much they drew bleed, even when they did squabble. Don't know what I do that's unusual. I give my birds lots of space and don't tolerate any human aggression and don't make my birds pets, that's about it.

I agree with donrae, they most likely will not fight enough to draw blood. They will likely spar each year, usually in the spring, fighting over who will be the Alpha. As long as there is enough room for the loser to run away, the winner will be satisfied with chasing them all over the place and then leaving them alone. The winner may chase the loser off for a couple of days after that, but then things will settle down and get back to normal for another year.

I've also never had roosters draw blood from each other, even when they spar. They do pull out feathers, though! We also have lots of hens per rooster, lots of room, and we do not allow any human aggression whatsoever, and we do not make pets of roosters, either.

We have.. um... (counts on fingers)--seven roosters right now. We've had as many as 16, but most of those were in a bachelor pad (meat pen) at the time. Again, no fights severe enough to draw blood. Ours are not all hatchmates or fathers/sons.

What may happen with your flock is that your hens will be stressed and over-mated because the ratio of roostersns is too high. This can impact their egg laying, behavior, and disease resistance. The usual recommendation of roostersns is 1:10 or so. You can get away with fewer when you just have one rooster in the flock, but the more hens you have when you have multiple roosters, the happier your flock will be.

 

[mi2bugz]

Well the coop we are building is suitable for 16 chickens. Our ratio will only be able to be 1:7 hope that's enough lol. The coop is 8x8 and the run will be at least that same size. Think that's enough room for 2 roosters?

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Well the coop we are building is suitable for 16 chickens. Our ratio will only be able to be 1:7 hope that's enough lol. The coop is 8x8 and the run will be at least that same size. Think that's enough room for 2 roosters?

To be blunt--no.

Your coop is the minimum size for 16 chickens and your run is not large enough--they're supposed to have minimum of 10sq. ft. per bird in the run. You'll have to watch very carefully for problem behaviors. The number one cause of pecking and cannibalism in chickens is overcrowding. This is going to be exacerbated by having too many males in that space.

Personally, I'd get rid of a roo, at the very least.

 

[mi2bugz]

Wow! I didn't realize 10 sq ft per bird. All my research said 2-3 in coop and 4 outside. Then again I wasn't planning on a roo in this house so didn't research Roos. Thank you for the advice!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Wow! I didn't realize 10 sq ft per bird. All my research said 2-3 in coop and 4 outside. Then again I wasn't planning on a roo in this house so didn't research Roos. Thank you for the advice!

That 10 sq. ft. is just a rule of thumb, of course. The more space you can give a chicken, the happier and healthier she'll be.

We were also "caught" when we researched coop space. By all accounts, especially older farming books, we only needed 1.5-2 sq. ft. per bird in the coop since they would be practically free range during the day. What we didn't count on was that the recommendation was for birds that were outside all the time. What it didn't account for was Ohio winters, when the birds would choose to be inside most of the time. We lost a pullet to cannibalism and had to put Peepers on the whole flock to stop the pecking. Then we had to reduce the flock. "By the book," our coop should hold 90 birds. In practice, I can keep 100 in there in the summer but only 75 there in the winter.

This was before we found BYC. Since then, many people have recommended a minimum of 2 sq. ft. per bird in the coop and 10 in the run. Although this contradicts some older poultry information, I do believe that it is correct based on my personal experience.

You could certainly try to keep your flock in your planned space. I'd just be watching very carefully and I would have a plan for how to reduce the flock quickly if need be. If you are in the midst of building, always plan for more space than you calculate that you need. Not only will the birds be happier, but chicken math catches up with us all, and then you'll have room to add those three gorgeous pullets or adorable new chicks that you'll just have to have next spring.

 

[mi2bugz]

We got 4 chicks and built a coop for 16. Thought I planned ahead until I now suspect 2 of the 4 are Roos lol! One most definitely, the other we aren't sure of sex just yet. Our goal was to start with a coop/run for pullets only and then build a second one for rooster and hens later if we decided to expand. Guess will figure something out. Will have to have a talk with a 7 yr old first .

 

[donrae]

I heartily second everything WalkingonSunshine has said here. More space is always better for flock management and is the key to keeping multiple roosters.

 

[mi2bugz]

I would love to free range them but everyday that we are outside building the coop I see at least 1 hawk flying over our pasture about 50 feet away. So with that being said it isn't advisable to free range is it?

 

[cafarmgirl]

I would love to free range them but everyday that we are outside building the coop I see at least 1 hawk flying over our pasture about 50 feet away. So with that being said it isn't advisable to free range is it?

All I can say is it just depends. I see hawks every single day, they hunt our alfalfa fields, especially when we irrigate. I have kept chickens for many years and the hawks have never shown any interest in my chickens who have access to an acre of pasture. I do have a good rooster and my birds are never far from the barn so those things help. Other people however have nothing but trouble with hawks.

I second everything said here already about run space. 8x8 is a very, very cramped space for a flock to spend it's days in, and with two roosters....I would not even consider it. I would enlarge that run as much as you possibly can and maybe even consider using portable fencing, like poultry netting, to maybe fence in an area around the coop where they could forage while still be kept close. Behavioral problems due to lack of space can be a real pain in the backside to deal with and sometimes you can never get them stopped once they start up. Much better to avoid the problem in the first place.