Question?

[Jenn_580]

Hello I'm new here! Also new to the chicken community! I got 3 baby chicks unexpectedly. An old friend moved houses and just left them there so he posted them for free so I decided to give them a great home I've ask on here about the breed and gender on them, so far I know I have 1 hen & 2 roosters. I have noticed that the bigger roo sometimes gets territorial over the hen and I know that's normal but I just feel so bad for him. Because everytime he gets close the bigger roo tries to back him away. So my question is should I get another hen that's around there age right now (3weeks or less) if I can find one or wait until they get older & she starts laying eggs for us then get another hen around there age then? I know it's a kinda dumb question but I'm new to all of this. Thank you for your help and time

 

[User395221]

Hi, welcome to the forum. I have no experience with roosters because I live in the city and I'm not allowed them in my area, but I don't think you can keep 2 roosters unless you've got a LOT of hens for each to have a group of girls for themselves. Even if you keep one of the boys, you'll need plenty for girls to "keep him busy". Someone with more experience will come along with an answer for you, in the meantime, I hope you like it here.

 

[centrarchid]

To keep things simple as you "chicken up," I suggest you re-home one of the roosters. Which is up to your personal preferences. You would have to add a lot of hens and likely have a lost of space before the second rooster would get his "fair share".

 

[Dmontgomery]

I've only been raising chickens a few years but my experience has been that 2 roosters in a confined area is too many, unless you have a really big coop/run. This winter we got rid of 6 roosters who were about 6 months old. We kept 2 roosters to go with our 30 or so hens. They free ranged over several acres all day and were only locked up together at night. They still fought every time they got near each other. Our coop/run is 16'x48'. We rehomed one of them and things got much calmer.
Right now we have about 70 chickens total. At least 2 of the new chicks are male. We will be getting rid of at least one of them when the time comes.
A 1 to 1 ratio of rooster to hens usually won't work. My opinion is to get several more hens and rehome one of the roosters. At only 3 weeks old, you still have a few months before any serious trouble starts though.
But there is a guy down the road with 4 huge roosters and 1 hen in a smallish chicken tractor. They seem to get along just fine. So you never know....

 

[andreanar]

If it were my situation, I would ditch both cockerals and get more pullet chicks. I would do this fast as it will be easier to integrate when they are so young. Just my opinion if it was me.

 

[centrarchid]

To keep from scaring @Jenn_580 off, I will say 1:1 sex ratio with work fine with a pair. I have done it many times with my "front porch" flocks and even the hens are as pretty as any chickens you will see anywhere. The even sex ratio gets you in trouble with larger social groupings where space is limiting. Several acres would be tight is each rooster setup up his own territory and if too many they do not yet you have frequent discord when males come together at key resource sites.