Rooster spacing, flock division

[NHMountainMan]

I do maintain multiple free-ranging flocks over what is currently about 4 acres. Usually about six acres involved, but this year reduced production of young allowed leaving remainder unused by chickens. As of now three discrete flocks although 6 flocks fairly easy. I routinely manage plant community as found cover patches and forage patches can increase odds birds will more effectively use landscape with less discord. Impacts of those patches makes hard and fast rules difficult to come up with for me. The chickens I have appear capable of three social arrangements when comes to roosters. Sex ratio of all three can approach 1:1.

The first arrangement has several roosters and usually a larger number of hens having more or less overlapping home ranges where the entire group moves about together as a loose social unit. This arrangement seems to work when group size is larger and there is very little structure in the plant community (few cover patches). Roosters have a linear hierarchy and compete with each other over mating rights. Some of the competition involves who can mate the hens the most and can be hard on the hens. Roosters provide alarm calls but do not do a much for hens beyond occasional tid-biting that is more often than not a prelude to mating.

The second arrangement is with smaller numbers of birds on a more complex landscape. Social groupings form where a dominant rooster and sometimes satellite(s) (males that are adult and associate with group, but of lower status and usually operate as periphery of a given social group). Satellites mate with hens, but not as often. With this you can have social groups with overlapping home ranges, but two or more groups generally do not occur in same location at same time. Exception to this can be when feeding in a single area that all groups converge on. Discord can be expected with such interactions. Roosting in this arrangement can have have roosters and their respective families / harems / tribes sometimes within a few feet of each other, but usually no overlap on roost. Roosters invest more in hens and forming associations that persist through the day. Hens going broody stop interacting with respective group they are from. Roosters tidbit but very often without mating occurring shortly after. It appears to me that the families need to avoid site of each most of the time, otherwise conflicts will be too frequent and the first arrangement will prevail.

Third arrangement has social groupings where home ranges have little or no overlap. The home ranges are effectively territories where one social group will exclude other social groups. The defense from a distance appears to be mostly rooster actions but hens and even young birds can get involved. I have had 6 week old chicks successfully attack much older juveniles and young adults during confrontations. Satellites can be associated with this arrangement as well. Roosters like in arrangement above and also invest in chicks by helping them find eats and acting in their defense. Broody hens maintain relationship with respective social group and bring chicks into it within a few days of hatch. Integration of young smoothest with this arrangement. This arrangement involves the lowest density of birds and where feeding method does not promote groups coming together too often. When targeting this arrangement I like to load feeders, if they are be fed as all, early in morning before chickens come of the roost.

I assume the OP desires either the second or third type of arrangement. What does seem to work consistently is to have roost sites that are at least 50 yards apart. Again, closer can work, but not as reliably. Each social group then gets multiple cover patches and a well separated feeding station. You can get away with one waterer but it needs to be in a more or less neutral location.

There is a seasonal aspect to this whole mess. Once the heavy molt commences and chicks are no longer dependent on mommy, the social groupings become more fluid. Social groups "solidify" again once breeding season commence which for here is a month or two after winter solstice. It is at that time I have to watch for major battles between roosters that can require my intervention. Once social groupings are worked out, things work pretty good for balance of production season unless a couple satellites get into it over succession when a dominant rooster is drops out for some reason.

Setting up groups is made easier by confining them separately for a time. Watch for discord when they first come together upon release. Do not do this with fighting chickens unless a lot of land involved and you have a back up plan for isolating combatants.[/QUOTE

Thank you for the thoughtful response. In truth, I can envision any one of your scenarios. I'm in the process of planning how we are going to manage our homestead. Our home is situated on an exposed ridge (cold, high winds and major wind chill issues). One coop is within the 1.5 acre home site. At lower elevation we have 5 cleared 1/2 acre spaces, (better wind protection but much more snow as a result) each surrounded by trees. Think hub and spoke on a wagon wheel.
In one clearing we have gardens and a small orchard. I really I'd like to have a coop there, confined to the orchard to manage the bugs that attack the apple trees, but keep them out of the garden.
As I'm planning on 2 coops / flocks in the next year, and find myself with 2 cockerel, and I'm not worried about them destroying the gardens (hard freeze will happen in the next 3-4 weeks). If I let them free range, the coops would be 400 yards or so apart, but our home site would likely be overlapping range.
I've got about 3 or 4 weeks before I need to move them from my grow out pen. So I'm scrambling to place a coop, then decide how to surge divide the flock.
In still reading through the advice to make a decision on how I'm going to proceed.

Thank you again for taking the time to offer your experience to this newbie.

 

[NHMountainMan]

Thanks for taking the time to write that. Have you considered converting that into an article? I think it is worthy.

Agree - this would be a great reference article!

 

[NHMountainMan]

While I've never lived in an area like Shadrach's, I imagine the main difference is the cramped quarters they are confined to 24/7 for much of the year. (By cramped, I mean "less than an acre.") I find that the cold dampens their fighting urges by a lot, but if it's snowy and not cold wars do occasionally break out, mostly between cockerels. To avoid this, I try and give them multilevel roosts and blockades they can hide behind (with two escape routes.)
I keep my birds in a totally different situation, so it's hard to say if this or some other factor (breed of bird, weather) causes the differences I've seen between Shad's flock and my own.

Thank you for the insight. I think the winter is a complexity I'm going to need to watch.