Rooster to Hen ratio

[freedomlady]

How many hens can a rooster successfully cover without wearing him out?

 

[sourland]

A general recommendation for maximum fertility is at least one rooster to ten hens, but it all depends upon the vitality of the rooster.

 

[A_Fowl_Guy]

A general recommendation for maximum fertility is at least one rooster to ten hens, but it all depends upon the vitality of the rooster.

X2
I have 3 roosters for 24 hens.

 

[The Phantom]

A general recommendation for maximum fertility is at least one rooster to ten hens, but it all depends upon the vitality of the rooster.

X3 I have 2 Roos to 18 hens

 

[freedomlady]

Thank you, I was thinking one rooster to 12 hens. So, I am close. I will be culling some hens in the next month.
Thank you again!

 

[Mrs. K]

Each animal is unique, but I would expect a fairly young rooster -1-3 years old would be able to cover 20 head, pretty consistently. To check - keep a note on your counter and as you cook, check each egg for fertility. If some come up blank, you need more roosters.

 

[centrarchid]

One could have fun with this, .........but will not this time. Just do not over work the poor boys. Most people already do not respect them, then we regard them only as sex objects.

 

[Ridgerunner]

How many hens can a rooster successfully cover without wearing him out?

Some of that depends on the individual chickens and some depends on how you manage them. Some roosters are more active than others and some hens are more willing. Bantam roosters tend to be more active than full sized fowl but there are always exceptions.

Dad kept one full-sized rooster with 25 to 30 full-sized hens and practically all the eggs were fertile. When a hen went broody I'd grab a dozen eggs off the top of the egg bucket, mark them, and put them under her. We got really good hatch rates. These were kept free-range on a small farm. Many hatcheries use the pen breeding method. They have learned that a ratio of about 10 hens for a full-sized rooster and 12-15 hens for a bantam rooster will keep practically all the eggs fertile. In the pen breeding method you might have 20 roosters in a pen with 200 to 300 hens with random breeding. These hatcheries do exactly what Mrs. K suggested. Check the eggs for fertility. If you are getting blanks you need more roosters, maybe younger roosters, or in your case maybe fewer hens.

I don't believe in magic numbers for much of anything to do with chickens. Each chicken is an individual, each flock has its own dynamics. We keep them in so many different conditions for so many different reasons that there is no one number that is perfect for all of us. I personally would not butcher hens to reach some mystical, mythical, magic number that probably doesn't apply to your situation anyway. I'd check eggs for fertility.

 

[sylviethecochin]

One could have fun with this, .........but will not this time. Just do not over work the poor boys. Most people already do not respect them, then we regard them only as sex objects.

But such handsome sex objects!

On a more serious note, do roosters wear themselves out while mating? I mean, between the sperm storage of nearly a month that hens have going, and the very little effort that actually seems to be involved (dance for hen, wait for acceptance, mount, dismount = ~1 min? tops?) he doesn't seem to have to put in much effort to keep them fertilised. Further, if he's getting tired, wouldn't he just stop? "I'm done for today," sort of thing. It's not like he has a checklist or a quota.

 

[centrarchid]

But such handsome sex objects!

On a more serious note, do roosters wear themselves out while mating? I mean, between the sperm storage of nearly a month that hens have going, and the very little effort that actually seems to be involved (dance for hen, wait for acceptance, mount, dismount = ~1 min? tops?) he doesn't seem to have to put in much effort to keep them fertilised. Further, if he's getting tired, wouldn't he just stop? "I'm done for today," sort of thing. It's not like he has a checklist or a quota.

I think under normal / natural conditions the demands of mating on the rooster are minimal. When the rooster is trying to cover many hens or competing with other roosters through a combination of aggression and sperm competition, then you get into the realm of chronic stress that is first evident in the roosters feathering. With animals I push through a greater range of sexxual activity, those that breed a lot do not live as long regardless of gender as the process is demanding.

My game roosters during peak of breeding season tend to be underweight when tending offspring so they are giving up on nutrition for sake of breeding effort. Hens also do some weight management during conflict with chick nutritional needs.