Roo to hen ratio

chickencheeper

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Jun 4, 2017
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hi everyone, I was just daydreaming about chickens(as we do) and was wondering if there is a minimum amount of hens to roosters. We have 6 hens( 3 Plymouth barred rocks, 1 bo, 1 rir, 1 slw) and I want to know if I were to aquire a bo rooster would it be ok with only 1 bo hen? Or would we have to get a barred rock rooster since we have 3 of those, or would it breed with all of them?
 
What's your goal? To split them all up into breeding groups? Or get one rooster to go over all your hens? If you just want a rooster for flock protection then any breed will do, it doesn't matter which. Roosters are not picky about breed when it comes to mating. With six hens total a rooster might be okay with just them, but generally speaking the best ratio is ten hens per rooster. If you have a pretty laidback rooster that's easy on the hens and takes no for an answer when it comes to mating, then you can get away with less. I personally would never keep less than five hens per rooster for the hens' well-beings.
 
The rooster won't care what breed the hens are and they won't care what breed he is so you can get whichever breed or any breed rooster you want.
It depends more on the rooster and the hens personalities whether it works out with the rooster to hen ratio.
I break a lot of rules with roosters. Just today I had to up the hens from 12 to 15 because I have one rooster that has to have a lot of hens unless I want them all bare backed.
Most will say that 1 rooster to 12 to 15 hens is the minimum or at least the normal.
I say he is a rare rooster in my experience. I have had so many breeding pens with pairs or trios that worked without issues.
I've also had pens with 2 roosters and anywhere from 6 to 12 hens without issue as long as the roosters always stay together usually. I have found that many times if I remove one for even a day they can not go back together peacefully.
Others I have split up for months or released both with the big flock but later put them back without issues.
There's a lot of ideas out there about what will and won't work. I've found you never know sometimes until you try.
 

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