question about roosters

[Mountain Peeps]

Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

The above posters have given you good advice.

 

[appps]

Ask the hens how they like it!  A rooster can handle 10 hens, so if you keep both, you need a busload of girls.  Otherwise your hens will be overbred to the point of damage and worse.  

Yes, so don't just watch your boys for problems keep an eye on your girls for injuries and feather damage/loss. If they are being constantly overbred it could also affect your egg production as a stressed or injured hen won't lay as well as a content one.

A happy flock with two roosters would have 20ish hens.

 

[Michael OShay]

Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. The other members have given you some good advice regarding that 10 to 1, hen to rooster ratio. Too many roosters (2 in your case) will become very hard on your hens physically as they mature; over-breeding them, biting and plucking the feathers from their necks and backs, battering them, and potentially, serious injuring them. Even if you decide to keep one rooster, I would get a few more hens to go along with them. The only real reason you need a rooster is to fertilize eggs for hatching. I currently have 25 hens and no roosters, and I get loads of eggs without all the aggression, fights, feeding of non-productive mouths, crowing in the middle of the night, feather plucking, and over-breeding and battering of hens that goes along with having roosters (especially too many). My hens are stress free and enjoying life without a rooster around. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Whatever you decide to do about your roosters, good luck.