Rooster to Hen Ratio?

[chookmummy]

Hi all.

We have a flock of mostly Ameraucanas. We have three roos, two Ameraucana purebreds and one Barnevelder purebred. Our hens consist of two purebred Opal Legbars and nine Ameraucana mixes. We want to make sure that there is no unneeded stress or heath issues with this ratio. Can any of you suggest anything to make this better? We are planning to buy more hens. How many do you think we need to make sure they are all happy. Do we need any more hens?

Thanks!

 

[NatJ]

If you really want the hens to not be stressed by roosters, then NO roosters is the perfect number.

If you want to be sure all the eggs are fertile, you usually want 10 hens per rooster, or maybe less than 10 hens per rooster.

If you want to have some roosters, have fertile eggs, and have the hens not be stressed--it really depends on the roosters and the hens, and you'll have to watch yours to see how they do.

Some people house their breeding chickens with one rooster to just one or two females, and sometimes those females are just fine. Others have a rooster with 20 hens and say the eggs are all fertile, and that some of the hens are getting over-mated (yes, roosters can have favorites.) So it really depends a lot on the individual chickens.

 

[chookmummy]

If you really want the hens to not be stressed by roosters, then NO roosters is the perfect number.

If you want to be sure all the eggs are fertile, you usually want 10 hens per rooster, or maybe less than 10 hens per rooster.

If you want to have some roosters, have fertile eggs, and have the hens not be stressed--it really depends on the roosters and the hens, and you'll have to watch yours to see how they do.

Some people house their breeding chickens with one rooster to just one or two females, and sometimes those females are just fine. Others have a rooster with 20 hens and say the eggs are all fertile, and that some of the hens are getting over-mated (yes, roosters can have favorites.) So it really depends a lot on the individual chickens.

Ah, ok. Thank you!

 

[Araucana Nest]

Depends on what you are breeding for and how they are kept I think. A breeding pen that aims to provide fertile eggs to sell, I keep the ratio low. 1:4-6 (all of mine are buidling up to that numer and I have as few as 2 hens per roo in some of my rare breed pens and they are okay) . A pen for eating eggs and to keep the rooster happy, I keep them at 1:6-10 depending on space available. If they free-range, you can increase the ratio. One of my roosters was very happy with 13 hens. It was a very happy flock. I didn't need fertile eggs from them; they were all for eating. I'd say my breeding pens are also filled with happy chickens. I don't keep roosters together though.

 

[chookmummy]

Depends on what you are breeding for and how they are kept I think. A breeding pen that aims to provide fertile eggs to sell, I keep the ratio low. 1:4-6 (all of mine are buidling up to that numer and I have as few as 2 hens per roo in some of my rare breed pens and they are okay) . A pen for eating eggs and to keep the rooster happy, I keep them at 1:6-10 depending on space available. If they free-range, you can increase the ratio. One of my roosters was very happy with 13 hens. It was a very happy flock. I didn't need fertile eggs from them; they were all for eating. I'd say my breeding pens are also filled with happy chickens. I don't keep roosters together though.

Ok. Thanks for the help! That really does clear some thing up.

 

[aart]

There are no magic numbers.

What are your goals?
Looks like you have no pure breed pairs, so I'd suggest you get rid of all but one male.
Multiple males creates an environment of competition, which can bring out the worst of all their behaviors...and a nightmare for the females.

 

[chookmummy]

There are no magic numbers.

What are your goals?
Looks like you have no pure breed pairs, so I'd suggest you get rid of all but one male.
Multiple males creates an environment of competition, which can bring out the worst of all their behaviors...and a nightmare for the females.

hm interesting. We are planning to get purebred hens for our roos and more hens but that is good to know. We will have to keep an eye out for their behaviour.

 

[aart]

We are planning to get purebred hens for our roos

If you are wanting pure breed birds, you'll have to keep the breeds separated for 3-4 weeks prior to gathering eggs for hatching.

Oh, and...gotta ask, are you sure you have pure breed Ameraucana's?
Hatchery labels are often not accurate, selling EE's as Am's.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You don't get guarantees with living animals and their behaviors. It just doesn't work that way. Each chicken is an individual with its own personality. Each flock has its own dynamics. Even in the same circumstances different birds will react different ways. The different personalities of the birds it is housed with will affect how it reacts. We don't house them all the same. How much room they have, how that room is laid out, and how they are managed can have a big effect. There can be a big difference due to maturity/age differences. For all these reasons there is not magic number for hen to rooster ratio.

That often quoted 10 hens per rooster comes from hatcheries that use the pen breeding method where they may have about 20 roosters in a pen with 200 hens. They have found that with full-sized fowl a ratio of approximately 10 to 1 pretty much assures fertility of all eggs. They don't blindly use that ratio, they monitor fertility and add another, usually younger, rooster if fertility drops. At some point they remove older roosters so they aren't paying to feed more roosters than they need to. With bantam flocks the right ratio for fertility may be between 12 to 15 hens per rooster, again they check fertility. Most of us don't use the pen breeding method therefore those ratios don't have much meaning for us. We manage them differently.

When I was growing up Dad had a free ranging flock of one rooster and around 25 to 30 hens. Practically every egg we put under a broody hen developed and hatched. The fertility rate was very good. But Dad replaced that rooster before he got too old, maybe 4 to 5 years of age. A younger rooster is usually more active than an old one. Some roosters are more active than others, some may only keep a half dozen hens fertile. Again, a lot of variables. You can check for fertility by cracking an egg and looking for the bull's eye. This thread shows you how. You may need to gently turn the egg over if the blastoderm is underneath.

Fertile Egg Photos

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/16008/how-to-tell-a-fertile-vs-infertile-egg-pictures

Sometimes you can keep a flock with multiple roosters and things work out fine. Sometimes the roosters will fight to the death over flock dominance. The number of hens doesn't matter. If they are going to fight over the girls they will fight whether there is one or twenty. Adding more girls won't change that, you just have the added problem of integrating new chickens. How much room they have can play a big part in how they interact, the more room the better. Immature pullets and cockerels often behave quite differently than mature hens and roosters. If you can get them through the juvenile phase and provide a lot of room your odds of it working increase. But even if they totally free range with no fences and separate coops you might still have problems. Probably not but could.

We want to make sure that there is no unneeded stress or heath issues with this ratio. Can any of you suggest anything to make this better? We are planning to buy more hens. How many do you think we need to make sure they are all happy. Do we need any more hens?

This is your question. The reason you may need more hens has nothing to do with making them happy, it depends on your goals. If you need more or certain breeds to meet your goals that would be a legitimate reason to add more hens.

I don't know how old yours are right now, how you have them housed, or how they are behaving. The best thing you can do for behavioral issues and health reasons is to give them as much room as you can. The smaller the space the heavier the poop load which can cause health issues. Poop management is important. The more room you can give them the less likely you will have to deal with behavioral issues. Packing them tightly makes any behavioral issues worse.

Again, not sure how old they are or how they are behaving. Especially if they are still fairly young I'd strongly suggest you prepare an area where you can isolate one or more of those boys. If they haven't made it through puberty things can go pretty wild pretty fast. If you plan on breeding them you will need breeding pens anyway as Aart mentioned.

 

[Mrs. K]

Thing is, rooster do NOT understand sharing. And if you have 3 roosters and 30 hens, they will not split them up, allowing this rooster to have these, and that rooster to have those. Each rooster will want ALL of the hens for himself... and that can lead to fighting.

Roosters are a crap shoot, and even though they are perfect, friendly gentlemen right now that seem to adore you... it can and often time does change. So ALWAYS have a plan B. A place to separate roosters, and it should be set up and ready to go. They call it rooster fighting for a reason. Some fight once, some fight to the death, and some fight somewhere in between.

As Awakening Forest put it, she/he has several different groups of roosters and hens. She keeps them separate. If you have that many pens, well then you are probably going to do fine, for the most part.

Some new people come on here and think everyone will just get along if there are enough hens, and that is not how it works. They won't all just be nice. A lot of roosters can be VERY mean.

Mrs K