Rooster to hens ?

[Backyardhomestead921]

How many hens to a rooster? I have herd that you need 15 hens to a roo, and then as little as 2-3 hens per roo. So I was just wondering what y’all’s opinion on that was .

 

[Compton Chickens]

I have 9 hens and one roo, and it works out just fine.

 

[Yardmom]

The reason you hear different things is because space, rooster personality, and human tolerance is all different. What are your purposes for your roosters? How much space do your birds have? I personally have 4 roos in my flock of 30 and counting. In my smaller flock I have 2 roos. I currently only have 3 hens with them, but there are several chicks growing out in that flock My birds are free range and only shut in at night.

 

[Folly's place]

There are no magic ratios!
It's about how your goals as flock owner, space available, and personalities of the birds involved all mesh. Zero roosters might be the right number, or one, or multiple, as long as the flock is healthy and peaceful.
Mary

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

There are no magic ratios!
It's about how your goals as flock owner, space available, and personalities of the birds involved all mesh. Zero roosters might be the right number, or one, or multiple, as long as the flock is healthy and peaceful.
Mary

Yup

 

[Backyardhomestead921]

The reason you hear different things is because space, rooster personality, and human tolerance is all different. What are your purposes for your roosters? How much space do your birds have? I personally have 4 roos in my flock of 30 and counting. In my smaller flock I have 2 roos. I currently only have 3 hens with them, but there are several chicks growing out in that flock My birds are free range and only shut in at night.

Okay, thanks. My birds free range . And the purpose for my Roos are to breed , and also flock protectors .

 

[nuthatched]

Okay, thanks. My birds free range . And the purpose for my Roos are to breed , and also flock protectors .

Roosters protect the flock by distracting the attacker so everyone else can get away. They often loose their lives. depending on your predator load, you could be going through roosters often.

 

[Ridgerunner]

On this type of thing I generally say to go by what you see, not what some stranger over the internet like me says you will see.

I don't believe in ratios. I believe it is more about individual personality (boys and girls), the level of maturity, how much room they have, your tolerances and expectations, and several other things. Each flock is going to have its own dynamics. We all get different results because we are all different. If you are dealing with juveniles things can change as they mature.

Have a plan if it doesn't work out. That generally means have a place to isolate one or some chickens (usually a boy) if it goes sour on you. If you need a place like that you generally need it pretty quickly. Hopefully you won't need that.

Good luck!

 

[Kaiser Fertilizer]

How many hens to a rooster? I have herd that you need 15 hens to a roo, and then as little as 2-3 hens per roo. So I was just wondering what y’all’s opinion on that was .

I'm pretty new, but from what I've heard it's 7 hens (at least) per rooster. It also may depend on the breed, and even the individual roosters themselves. Some roosters may be rougher on the chickens than others. I think the main thing to look out for is that if all your hens have been loosing their back feathers badly due to mating, that might mean you need more. I think a major reason why you need a certain amount is to keep the rooster from overmating with them. Roosters will often have a favorite hen, so they'll get pretty bad mating damage on their backs, but I would say if they all have that problem with equal severity, you don't have enough hens for that rooster.

 

[Chicken poppy]

It all verys. The rooster itself, the breed, and the space, like everyone said, is such a important role.

Let me just say this. The more hens, the better. The more hens you can have is great and the less roosters there are the better. Someone had 23 hens to 1 rooster and thats amazing. But thats something not everyone can do, maybe your trying to breed them or have a limit of how many you can have. Thats okay. But, i do recommend this: say you have a silkie rooster. That silkie rooster is probably smaller compared to other chicken breeds, so maybe you have big chickens, like brahmas for hens. But only one bantam cochin/other silkie.

Your silkie roo is probably going to abuse that smaller hen because thats easier to mate. My point is, i like having them in similar size range to avoid mating issues, because i had a hedemora rooster and my hens were a lot bigger except one. He only could mate the small bantam cochin, so thats all that got mated.

Lets also say you don’t free range your chickens and your chickens are in a coop that can only hold 13 chickens. Your usually better off with about 7 hens and 1 rooster. Or thats what i would do anyway.

Everyone has different opinions. I had a roo with 3 hens and it didn’t really work out, so i would recommend more.