Rooster to hen ratio

[nhorrin]

I have 1 rooster and 5 Dominque hens that are about 5 months old. Is this a good ratio for hatching some chicks in the spring?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

It depends. you'll want to keep an eye on them though and make sure none are being overbred

 

[DobieLover]

It depends. you'll want to keep an eye on them though and make sure none are being overbred

Agreed. Except the rooster/cockerel will always have his favorites and they will show it.
I have 1 LF rooster in a flock of 24 hens/pullets. Two of my hens must be very sexy because they have bare backs.

 

[Sally PB]

I have one cockerel and three pullets. It is working out so far. Looking at the girls' backs, he spreads his attentions out evenly. Looking for signs of fertility in the eggs I get says the same thing.

 

[Mrs. K]

If fertility is what is worrying you, keep a tally sheet on your kitchen counter. As you cook with eggs, check for the bulls eye - showing a fertilized egg. If you don't know what it looks like, search it on here. If above 95% of your eggs are fertilized, you can set with confidence. With a young rooster, I would expect 100% in the ratio you have.

As for the health of your flock, a lot will depend on the said rooster, but also, the amount of space you have, and how you set it up, and the genetic influence of the hens for feather quality. Some hens get bare backs very, very easily. Don't hatch their eggs if you can determine it.

Mrs K

 

[Izzy Dietzler]

We have a trio together and they are fine. We also have 2 roosters in with 6 hens and they are fine. There are a few breeds that are more rough with hens than others and it also depends on the roosters personality. As a breeder all of the roosters that are mean to people or rough with the hens go to freezer camp. we never want to breed that trait forward and we dont want our flock or kids to be stressed out by the mean rooster.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not sure what you are asking? What is your specific concern? Is it fertility, behaviors, or something else? If I knew your specific concern I could better address it. Are you seeing something that concerns you?

Fertility should be great but each chicken is an individual. It's always possible one could have a problem.

Behaviors opens up a huge bunch of possibilities. At 5 months you do not have a rooster and hens, you have an immature cockerel and immature pullets. They will be more mature in the spring. Often behaviors change as they mature, usually for the better. Watching them go through puberty can be hard but if you can make it through that phase they usually get along great. But again each is an individual, some behave differently than others.

For what it is worth, my main laying/breeding flock is usually one mature rooster with maybe 6 and 8 mature hens. Even with six hens I almost never have issues. If they were a cockerel and pullets I easily could.

Are your pullets laying yet? When they first start pullet eggs are usually pretty small, for different reasons it's often recommended that you don't hatch those first pullet eggs. But as they lay the eggs get larger and are more suited to hatching. Your question was on "ratio" so this is not it. I don't know how far off your spring is but the eggs should be OK by then.

Did I answer your question or do you have a different concern?