Rooster with bitties ?

[woods-n-water]

I have a game hen sitting on 10 eggs right now. Only her and the rooster are in the pin. It is 4wx8Lx6t, my ? is when she hatches off do i need to seperate the rooster from them or will they be ok in the same pin together.

 

[woods-n-water]

Anybody ???

 

[Opa]

Since they are the only two adult birds in the pen I would just leave him. You may want to watch him for a couple of days to insure they isn't a problem.

 

[centrarchid]

Generally, game roosters are model parents. Problem will be hen stressed a little by his presence causing her to step on bitties more than she would otherwise. Another concern is feed applied to rooster may not be optimal for chicks. My game chicks have been having crop impaction issues with my game bird mix so when chicks getting same supplemental food as adults, then I just use chick feed for whole lot.

No hard numbers to backup but seems like a hen that can raise 8 chicks when alone is kept in small pen with rooster, then only 4 or five are raised and leapers and laggers more common. This does not hold in free range setting.