Should I get more hens for my rooster?

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William1hens

William1hens

In the Brooder
5 Years
Dec 14, 2014
73
4
43
Hi,I have a 12 week old roo and 3 mature hens.I'm wondering should I get more hens for him.If so, how many more hens should I get,should I get pullets or mature hens and should I get them now or wait till he's fully mature.
Thanks
 
most people would advise you to get more pullets as 3 is quite few, more pullets spread out the mating so each individual is less affected. i had pretty much the exact same situation with cochin bantams, my rooster is 7 months old and was introduced to 3 older pullets (that were already laying) at about 4 months, they show no signs of missing feathers and are not stressed or scared around him. He treats them very well, but gets a bit excited in the mornings
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so if you have the space, why not add more pullets for him (and you
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) if not then i'd see how it goes!
 
Well,first off,dont give him more then 6.Birds really dont mature
Until 2 years.
Joe,my 4 year old roo,has I think 21 hens,and he can
Barely handle that.He would have a help,but unfortunately, he will kill another
So yeah.
Your roosters so young ,and isnt considering "caring" gor the hens,
And wants to mate.I would get matured hens.Something that can ayleast fight back.

_ThePRfan
 
Juvenile roosters can be rather rough and rampant when they hit adolescence and hens can take a hammering from them, but I wonder if perhaps with your current hens being more mature already, they may manage to keep him in his place until he settles down and learns some manners. If the hens you have start getting overwhelmed by him then you have the option to cage him and just let him out with them for short periods if you are wanting fertile eggs for hatching, or get more hens for him. If you are going to introduce more hens, remember to consider quarantining them before mixing with your flock and my advice would be to go for mature hens as youngsters would probably be at a disadvantage from both the rooster and your existing hens.
Giving them escape areas where they can avoid his advances is also helpful. Low overhung areas that they can duck under but no clearance above for him to mount them or roosting bars in the run. Ideally food and water should be made available in these areas so that they can take refuge and not starve.

I've just had to pen some of my juvenile roosters up separate as they were picking on 2 hens in particular and not just making their lives a misery, but seriously affecting their wellbeing, even though I had plenty of other hens. You need to play it by ear and have a back up plan as every situation is different.
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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Yes, definitely. The proper ratio of rooster to hen is 1 roo to 8 to 10 hens. Any less and a rooster can over mate a few hens to death. Literally. So get a few more hens when you can and watch this rooster to make sure he is not hurting them in any way.

Good luck and welcome to our flock!
 
Welcome to BYC!
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We're glad to have you.

I would definitely get more hens. Otherwise, they may end up overmated and miserable. Ideally, you'd want him to have at least eight hens.
 
Thanks for all the replies.He's starting to get aggressive towards the hens even though they're much bigger than him so I ordered 6 pullets.
 
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Welcome to BYC!!! The members here are great and so are their chickens
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!!! This is the BEST CHICKEN KEEPING FORUM ON EARTH!!!!

Hope you have fun and if you need anything we are here to help!!

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