I need advice from experienced chicken owners. I got bantams this spring and I'm a first time chicken owner. I got impatient, and instead of ordering, I picked out 5 chicks from the farm and garden store hoping I would have more hens than roosters. Well, turns out I had 3 roosters and 2 hens. Then one of my girls got taken by a predator. So now I have 3 roosters and 1 girl. And now they are mating, which is violent - you all probably know this. What is interesting to me is that I have one lead rooster, and he's not the one mating with her - the other two roosters are; but he will help to hold her down. I think one good thing for Carlita, the hen, is that when one gets on her, she does stop struggling and lets him do his thing rather than just fight to get away. So at this point, I THINK she's safe, but I don't really know. So that's one question - Can one hen be safe with 3 roosters? Is it possible in some scenarios? Also, I want to get more hens, but not a lot more. And I need to build a better pen first. So if a get 2 or 3 more girls would that be enough? I'm reading about rooster to hen ratios such as 1:10. I really don't know if keeping 3 roosters will work. They have little scuffles, but very short-lived. Nothing that looks dangerous at this point. Are there any chicken owners out there who do well with an equal number of roosters and hens?
You need to get rid of two of the roosters. It's just not fair to her to be jumped all day long. I feel bad for her, not much of a life even for a chicken.
I would separate the roosters from the hen if you can. She is being stressed and over mated. This can cause decreased egg laying, and possibly an inability to eat or drink if the roosters keep after her. You will still have too many roosters if you get 2 or 3 more hens. They will fight more as they get older. For a while, there will be an alpha rooster but one of the others will decide to challenge him from time to time, and it can get ugly. If you want to keep all 3 roosters, build them a bachelor pen so your hens can be happy.
Three cockrels in a pen together might work, but NOT with only one pullet!!! You can have a separate pen for males only, and get more pullets, or get more pullets and only keep one of the cockrels. Usually eight to ten hens per rooster, with plenty of space or separate pens, is minimum. At least three or four hens with one remaining cock. Your poor pullet is being abused. Mary
NEVER! NO your pullet is NOT safe housed with 3 cockerels on her own. No, not even 3 or 4 pullets are not safe with 3 cockerels. You need to get rid of at least 2 if not all your males and locate some females to keep your poor pullet company. Or build a bachelor pad for the males. You need to do something about this ASAP for that poor pullet or you may lose your sole egg layer.
