Rooster overeating hens

[Shamo Hybrid]

The thing is that unfortunately it can change so suddenly, one roo decides it is time to move up in the pecking order, and then you come home to a bloody mess. I have currently have 7 to 60 ratio of roos to hens, and they still occasionally fight, and they are all free ranging. I had one beautiful SL Wyandotte roo that was top, and when he lost that spot it was a mess and he never really recovered. We ended up putting him down and it was very sad.

You don't need an over-abundance of space if everyone gets along for the most part. I don't agree on the bare minimum requirement that everyone seems to go by, sure if you have more than enough room it would be nice.... but it's not necessary. Chickens do relatively well in confined spaces given they aren't cramped to the gills. It's only if no one got along and it's a fight every day that you will need 100 acres to a chicken or however much you guys seem to want for a chicken (which never seems enough) so that they can runaway from trouble. You just have to go by flock dynamic.

 

[roosterhavoc]

You don't need an over-abundance of space if everyone gets along for the most part. I don't agree on the bare minimum requirement that everyone seems to go by, sure if you have more than enough room it would be nice.... but it's not necessary. Chickens do well in confined spaces given they aren't cramped to the gills. It's only if no one got along and it's a fight every day that you will need 100 acres to a chicken or however much you guys seem to want for a chicken (which never seems enough) so that they can runaway from trouble. You just have to go by flock dynamic.

If you can’t provide the bare minimum space requirements that everyone seems to go by I’d love to see your chickens and how you keep them. Maybe I can learn something from you.

 

[aart]

Not what I wanted to hear but I appreciate everyone’s honesty.

How many Roos would be okay for 100 square feet run and 32 square foot coop?

Romance meets Reality...hard lessons of the Chicken Fad Movement.

There are no magic numbers, there are other variables when dealing with live animals.
More space is always better but it's not going to solve all problems, especially with multiple males. Even if you establish a nicely sized 'bachelor' coop/run, you may have to remove one or more males.

 

[Matilda Belle]

Looks like someone changed the name of my thread. I didn't know roosters could overeat hens. Lol

Anyway, I took everyone's advice. I was able to part with two roosters. It was the worst thing I've ever dealt with so far and I'm terribly sad, but I know it needed to be done. Now I'm down to four roosters.

I have two pens. One is to a 24 square foot coop and 100 square foot run. The other is a 32 square foot coop and 100 square foot run. Can I put two roosters in each pen? I plan on getting more hens. How many should I get?

 

[Redhead Rae]

Looks like someone changed the name of my thread. I didn't know roosters could overeat hens. Lol

My guess, it has always been messed up and you just noticed.

To fix this, go to your original post and see if you have the option to edit at the bottom of the post. When the edit window pops up, click "more options" at the bottom of the window and you should be able to change the title of your thread there.

If you don't have the option to edit your original post, click Report at the bottom of your original post and type in there that you would like the title of the thread changed and what you would like it changed to. Someone should be able to take care of that for you.

 

[Alaskan]

I have two pens. One is to a 24 square foot coop and 100 square foot run. The other is a 32 square foot coop and 100 square foot run. Can I put two roosters in each pen? I plan on getting more hens. How many should I get?

Well... the smaller coop should have 6 chickens in it at the most, the larger one should have 8 at most. And that is pushing the limit.

So... with those size restraints I would have 1 male and 4 females in the first coop, and 1 male and 6 females in the other (because I like extra room)


When keeping more than 1 male, if it works depends greatly on space as well as personality of the males.