Roosters...how many is too many?

[Kayla_N]

Hello, I'm new here, and I only just began raising chickens in April. I currently have a small flock of 11 chickens, 5 are about 6 months old, 3 are around 5ish months, and 3 are about 2-3 months.

I'm unsure of the 3 youngest ones yet, as I don't quite know how to tell hen or roo apart until they are older, but from the 8 older ones, 4 of them are roosters. I currently have three laying hens, and I need to know what i should do about my roosters. I've tried rehoming one, but to no avail. If at all possible, I'd like to get rid of him without culling him. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Debbie292d]

Here is an article with about every idea we'd all have for what to do with our extra roosters.

As for how many roosters versus hens, the "rules" say between 5-10 hens for each rooster, but many like us run around 4-5 hens per rooster.

If we run low hens in a breeding pen and see one's getting battered, we either add more hens or put a saddle on her.

 

[Squawkers]

Hello, I'm new here, and I only just began raising chickens in April. I currently have a small flock of 11 chickens, 5 are about 6 months old, 3 are around 5ish months, and 3 are about 2-3 months.

I'm unsure of the 3 youngest ones yet, as I don't quite know how to tell hen or roo apart until they are older, but from the 8 older ones, 4 of them are roosters. I currently have three laying hens, and I need to know what i should do about my roosters. I've tried rehoming one, but to no avail. If at all possible, I'd like to get rid of him without culling him. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!

Feel free to post pictures of the 3 youngest! I'm sure you'll be able to figure out their genders here.

 

[Nomadicus]

It can also depend on the breed and age of the boys...

BTW, Welcome to BYC. We do have a new members thread here that you may like to post about yourself and chickens in.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/new-member-introductions.44/

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, Kayla. Welcome to the forum, glad you joined!

Where are you? This is one of the many things that knowing your area could help. If you are in Australia it doesn't do a lot of good to recommend something specific to the US. If you modify your profile to show your location like many of us have that information will always be available.

Debbie's article is great. Lots of good ideas.

If you are in the US you might call your county extension office and chat with them. They may know something that could help you. They are generally involved with 4-H and are often involved with people that keep chickens. You never know when you might strike gold.

I understand you want the boys to live but sometimes that is really hard. You might call a local zoo, animal rescue, or sanctuary to see if they need young roosters to feed their animals. At least they would be going to a good purpose.

You ask how many is too many. What are your goals for having chickens? Why do you want any roosters? The only reason you need a rooster at all is if you want fertile eggs. Anything else is personal preference. Nothing wrong with personal preferences (I have a few myself) but those are wants, not needs. Lots of people on this forum have all-girl flocks and are very happy. Others would not have a flock without a rooster, even if they never hatch an egg. It is your goals, wants, and desires that count for your flock, not mine or any else's.

Once you decide how many you have to look at how. They are living animals, no two are going to behave identically. Some people can keep multiple roosters together without incident but often there can be fighting and violence. They are going to know which one is boss. Sometimes that is determined by intimidation. Usually it involves fighting. That can be a fight to the death or one may decide it really isn't smart to keep fighting and run away. They may reach an accommodation on how to live together instead of one dying.

How much room you have is important. If one decides to run, he needs enough room to get away and probably stay away. Sometimes different roosters claim different territory and they each have their own harem. The girls decide which rooster they want to be with, by the way. Sometimes the boys can live together.

Sometimes you can make a bachelor pad. House the boys together separated from the girls. If there are no girls to fight over they often don't fight.

My general recommendation is to keep as few boys as you can and still meet your goals. For most of us that is probably zero or one boy though many of us have multiples.

Good luck with it. Giving up those boys can be really hard for some people.

 

[Kayla_N]

Hi, Kayla. Welcome to the forum, glad you joined!

Where are you? This is one of the many things that knowing your area could help. If you are in Australia it doesn't do a lot of good to recommend something specific to the US. If you modify your profile to show your location like many of us have that information will always be available.

Debbie's article is great. Lots of good ideas.

If you are in the US you might call your county extension office and chat with them. They may know something that could help you. They are generally involved with 4-H and are often involved with people that keep chickens. You never know when you might strike gold.

I understand you want the boys to live but sometimes that is really hard. You might call a local zoo, animal rescue, or sanctuary to see if they need young roosters to feed their animals. At least they would be going to a good purpose.

You ask how many is too many. What are your goals for having chickens? Why do you want any roosters? The only reason you need a rooster at all is if you want fertile eggs. Anything else is personal preference. Nothing wrong with personal preferences (I have a few myself) but those are wants, not needs. Lots of people on this forum have all-girl flocks and are very happy. Others would not have a flock without a rooster, even if they never hatch an egg. It is your goals, wants, and desires that count for your flock, not mine or any else's.

Once you decide how many you have to look at how. They are living animals, no two are going to behave identically. Some people can keep multiple roosters together without incident but often there can be fighting and violence. They are going to know which one is boss. Sometimes that is determined by intimidation. Usually it involves fighting. That can be a fight to the death or one may decide it really isn't smart to keep fighting and run away. They may reach an accommodation on how to live together instead of one dying.

How much room you have is important. If one decides to run, he needs enough room to get away and probably stay away. Sometimes different roosters claim different territory and they each have their own harem. The girls decide which rooster they want to be with, by the way. Sometimes the boys can live together.

Sometimes you can make a bachelor pad. House the boys together separated from the girls. If there are no girls to fight over they often don't fight.

My general recommendation is to keep as few boys as you can and still meet your goals. For most of us that is probably zero or one boy though many of us have multiples.

Good luck with it. Giving up those boys can be really hard for some people.

Thank you for your informative reply. I am in the US, in Oregon.

Ideally, I would like to have at least one rooster, because when I become more knowledgeable, I'd like to someday hatch my own chicks. I also plan to expand my flock by adding more hens.

I should have been more clear in my post by asking how many is too many for my flock lol with only 4 hens (and some unknown), I want to make sure that 4 roosters is okay, as I've never done this before, and jumped into it without a whole bunch of knowledge.

Thank you for your response!!

 

[Mrs. K]

Well, no, 4 roosters will more than likely not be ok. It is always so hard to believe, because nothing is as darling as rooster chicks. But if you do some research on this site, you will find countless posts where the darlings become the nightmares.

If this is your first year, I strongly recommend not keeping any. Roosters take some experience. Often times people do not recognize signs of aggression, until the attack. If you have children under the age of 6-7, these kids can take the attack in the face, and a rooster can knock them down. Rooster are opportunists, and tend to attack children first.

Not all roosters are aggressive, but a lot of them are. Especially if raised in a flock mate group without an older generation as in years, not months to be with them. Even then, they can be aggressive. It is really the luck of the draw.

I have a large set up with a 600 square foot run and 48 square foot coop, and a dozen +/- flock. I keep one rooster, I have kept two in this set up short term, but when I let one go, the relief in tension in the flock was surprising. I would not keep 4 roosters unless I had a flock of over 60.

The problem with hatching chicks, which I do, is that the rooster problem keeps getting compounded. Half the chicks you hatch will be roosters. What are you going to do?

This is why a lot of people only buy pullet chicks to add to their flocks, so they don't have to deal with extra roosters. If you can't, and a lot of people cannot cull birds, don't hatch.

The idea that you can get enough hens for roosters to all get along, and that they will wait, until you can get the hens is not going to work. Rooster really do not understand the idea of sharing. People with a lot of roosters almost alway have huge flocks, and huge pastures to let them run in. They lose birds to predators, but they can live with it.

What to do now, though? Find some other people in your area that are chicken people. They can help. We have all been where you are now, and truly understand how hard it can be. But roosters have ruined the whole chicken experience for a lot of people. Post roosters for free, and don't ask any questions.

Mrs K

 

[FrostRanger]

With only 4 pullets I wouldn't keep any roosters. Aside from what Mrs. K said, with so few girls, you're more likely to run into issues with overbreeding. Ideally I wouldn't keep any roosters with fewer than 6 hens. No, keeping fewer hens doesn't guaranteed that you will run into problems nor does having 6 or more guaranteed that you won't run into problems as every roo is a bit different and some are absolute gentlemen regardless of how few you have and others will be problems no matter what you do, but the fewer hens you have the more likely you are to run into issues with overbreeding. I also will echo that if you hatch you must be prepared to cull, statistically half your hatch will be roos and not many people want a roo and those that do generally only need one or 2. You're just not going to realistically find homes for all those boys, not to mention some of them may be aggressive even from a young age and it's downright irresponsible to rehome such a bird. If you're not prepared to cull extra cockerels, don't hatch

 

[McChooky]

EDIT:
I've never let any of my hens hatch their own chicks because I'd have to cull every cockerel that hatched. Its easier for me to buy a few pullets than cull every cockerel( it also allows me to keep a variety of purebred hens instead of having a mixed flock )I keep a single rooster in my flock of 13 hens so technically its still a sustainable flock.My rooster and all my brown egg layers are autosexing breeds so my chicks would be easier to sex

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Roosters...how many is too many?

The average correct ratio of males to female is 1:10, as most males will mate a lot every day and need a lot of females to keep them from damaging their skin and feathers. It also depends on the hormone level of the male. If he tends to mate a lot, then he needs a lot more than ten females. If he tends to mate rarely or not as much as average, then he can have five females.

I had a Polish rooster named Winter that thought about nothing but females all day and was almost constantly harassing them and forcing them to mate. That is obviously not correct male behavior－he was an example of a very high hormone male. I separated him after he made one of the Polish hens faint because he was pulling on her crest for minutes. He got rehomed.

I have an Old English Game Bantam/Dutch Bantam hybrid rooster named Jasper who has only two hens. He rarely mates and only seems to do so in the spring. He attacks me, but I do not mind it because he takes care of his hens so well. He is an example of a rooster who obviously can take on less than five hens with no problem.

Since all males are different with how many times they mate a day, you need to watch for their behavior to choose who you want to keep (because you currently have way too many males for the small amount of females you have). If anyone is gentle to the females and only mates a few times a day, or better yet rarely mates like Jasper, then that is the one you need to keep. If anyone is female-crazy like Winter, then definitely get rid of him.