Rooster spacing, flock division

[Folly's place]

cmom, beautiful birds!!!
Mary

 

[Criticalicious]

I keep 2 pens - one for girls, one for boys. The boys are happier without girls to fight over. Each group free ranges separately, although they can see each other through a fence. Sometimes when a girl gets close to the boys pen, one will try dancing at her but since they haven't claimed anybody, I don't see serious fighting. The four boys grew up together.

 

[cmom]

cmom, beautiful birds!!!
Mary

That is an old picture of my Rhode Island Whites. I had the electric wire up, but since I made the pens 10 feet deeper, covered the pens with netting and planted trees in each pen.

 

[aart]

I have about 30 roosters (4 or 5 generations) right now and for the most part they all get along. Once and a while a couple of teens will tie up but it seldom last more than a minute before one of the older ones comes over and breaks it up....

How are these birds 'kept'... housing-wise?

 

[Headhen3]

Right now I have 6 roosters and not by choice, the batch of chicks I started this spring was supposed to be all female but so how I have a lilac or lavender rooster. Only 16 weeks old but I’m pretty sure it’s a roo. I have over 100 birds so all the guys have their own flocks. I think the multigenerational thing makes a lot of drfference. The hierarchy changes but I don’t see any damage from fighting so I’m just going with the flow. I have 20 acres and everyone is free to range all day. I do start to do a lockdown in late fall because that’s when the local pack of coyotes seem to be in my area. Right now I think Mick Jagger the white leghorn is top bird.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If so, how far?

@centrarchid does this all the time. He may be able to give you some pretty good pointers. Not sure what your goals are though or why you want to do this. I generally suggest you keep as few males as you can and still meet your goals. That's not because you are guaranteed problems with more roosters, just that problems are more likely. But you are asking the right kind of question to make these problems less likely.

@Shadrach could be another good source with experience. He typically only has three hens with each rooster which kind of blows the theory that you have to have a lot of hens per rooster out of the water. Centrarchid typically has more hens per rooster but not always.

Some of this depends on the personality of the individual birds. There are times two or more can stay in a relatively small place with females and get along. What is more normal is that each rooster sets up his own territory so the males can avoid each other. They attract their own harem and protect their borders from other roosters. They may occasionally try to make incursions on another roosters territory to spread their genetics, the hens are not always that faithful to their roosters. So there can be conflict but it's usually not too bad. The main thing is that it really helps your odds if they can get out of sight of each other. I think to a point it's more sight lines than distance so it's not as simple as saying a certain minimum distance.

There is always the chance you will not get purebred eggs to hatch if you have different flocks free ranging at the same time. I don't know if that is important to you. Having them sleep in separate quarters should help keep things more peaceful than trying to sleep them all together. So should giving the hens two separate places to lay eggs.

 

[NHMountainMan]

Thanks for all of the feedback. I think my biggest take away is that you never know with a cockerel / Roo and I should be prepared to adjust my plan on the fly as needed.
We have no little ones around yet though we are putting as much pressure as we can on the kids to give us some grandbabies! I would immediately cull a roo for any human aggression.
We have no nearby neighbors and our property would probably best be described as maybe a wilderness homestead. We have several cleared acres carved out in the woods abutting thousands of acres of forest. We're slowly and carefully clearing area for gardens, honeybees & chickens so far. My goal is ultimately to control our own food supply. As a recent cancer survivor, I just want to eat clean food that we've raised.
I started the chicks thinking I'd be ordering chicks every so often to fill the freezer and provide eggs. But I'm enjoying them way more than I expected. In the future, I may want a rooster to fertilize and we'd rear our own. But in the short term I find myself with 13 pullets from my first batch (20 weeks) and 3 pullets and 2 cockerel I inherited from my brother in law. They are 8 weeks old. We're will be sending some of originals to the freezer in a few weeks.
The cockerel are an EE & a SLW.
I do have the room to keep them some distance apart. I have a full coop /run in a 1/2 acre bee yard, surrounded by electric netting. I'm thinking of putting a second coop and run in the garden /orchard area, which also has an electric net set up.

The second set up will be about 1 1/2 acres from the first.

Given that - I'm thinking I'll keep the first group all pullets (13 will be culled to 8) by winter. The second group will be the 3 pullets and 2 cockerel. But I'll need to watch them as they mature. Cull as needed, or move one rooster in with the first group, and watch carefully.

Does that sound like a plan that is workable?

 

[Shadrach]

Thanks for all of the feedback. I think my biggest take away is that you never know with a cockerel / Roo and I should be prepared to adjust my plan on the fly as needed.
We have no little ones around yet though we are putting as much pressure as we can on the kids to give us some grandbabies! I would immediately cull a roo for any human aggression.
We have no nearby neighbors and our property would probably best be described as maybe a wilderness homestead. We have several cleared acres carved out in the woods abutting thousands of acres of forest. We're slowly and carefully clearing area for gardens, honeybees & chickens so far. My goal is ultimately to control our own food supply. As a recent cancer survivor, I just want to eat clean food that we've raised.
I started the chicks thinking I'd be ordering chicks every so often to fill the freezer and provide eggs. But I'm enjoying them way more than I expected. In the future, I may want a rooster to fertilize and we'd rear our own. But in the short term I find myself with 13 pullets from my first batch (20 weeks) and 3 pullets and 2 cockerel I inherited from my brother in law. They are 8 weeks old. We're will be sending some of originals to the freezer in a few weeks.
The cockerel are an EE & a SLW.
I do have the room to keep them some distance apart. I have a full coop /run in a 1/2 acre bee yard, surrounded by electric netting. I'm thinking of putting a second coop and run in the garden /orchard area, which also has an electric net set up.

The second set up will be about 1 1/2 acres from the first.

Given that - I'm thinking I'll keep the first group all pullets (13 will be culled to 8) by winter. The second group will be the 3 pullets and 2 cockerel. But I'll need to watch them as they mature. Cull as needed, or move one rooster in with the first group, and watch carefully.

Does that sound like a plan that is workable?

It does sound like a workable plan. The distance between the group coops is only a concern at roost time and at feeding times, particularly if you use food to encourage them into a coop at night.
Rather than type out a lot of stuff that may or may not be relevant I wrote this article based on what I've found in the keeping arrangements I have. From what I've read in your posts the arrangements would be similar.
The important difference is there were roosters (not cockerels) here when I developed the system I have here now. Having a rooster and senior hens teach the cockerels what is expected of them in the tribe makes a lot of difference.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/understanding-your-rooster.75056/

 

[NHMountainMan]

It does sound like a workable plan. The distance between the group coops is only a concern at roost time and at feeding times, particularly if you use food to encourage them into a coop at night.
Rather than type out a lot of stuff that may or may not be relevant I wrote this article based on what I've found in the keeping arrangements I have. From what I've read in your posts the arrangements would be similar.
The important difference is there were roosters (not cockerels) here when I developed the system I have here now. Having a rooster and senior hens teach the cockerels what is expected of them in the tribe makes a lot of difference.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/understanding-your-rooster.75056/

@Shadrach
Thank you for sending the link to your article. Fascinating! I find using the search function on BYC doesn't always provide the most accurate links.
Do you think climate / predator load world alter your research findings? We live at elevation, with wind and sub zero (f) temp. Snow cover pretty much from 12/1-4/1. While I'm hoping to free range, I'm still evaluating letting them range beyond the electric fence.

Particularly appreciate the rooster behavior section. I won't tolerate aggression towards humans - understanding aggression vs flock hierarchy will make me a better judge as I learn more about my chickens. Much appreciated!

 

[Shadrach]

@Shadrach
Thank you for sending the link to your article. Fascinating! I find using the search function on BYC doesn't always provide the most accurate links.
Do you think climate / predator load world alter your research findings? We live at elevation, with wind and sub zero (f) temp. Snow cover pretty much from 12/1-4/1. While I'm hoping to free range, I'm still evaluating letting them range beyond the electric fence.

Particularly appreciate the rooster behavior section. I won't tolerate aggression towards humans - understanding aggression vs flock hierarchy will make me a better judge as I learn more about my chickens. Much appreciated!

I'm pleased you found the article interesting.
Yes. There is one persistent daytime predator here called a Goshawk. I lose chickens every year to this hawk. We have weasels here hunting in the day. I've seen them try to tackle a fully grown chicken. They don't have the power to bring the chicken down it seems. This means only the bantams and chicks here are at any serious risk from the weasel.
If I had foxes hunting during the day or other large ground predators I would want at least an electric fence around as larger area as possible and I would want the fence to be movable to a new location.
There are people where I live (300 meters up a mountain) that keep feral flocks. They provide food and water, good quality feed from what I've heard and seen. It's the availability of quality nutrition that keeps the flock on the property.
While it freezes here it vary rarely gets below 20F, so I have no experience in snowy conditions.
I know someone who does though.
@BantyChooks