Should I hatch eggs and maybe get overrun with roosters...?

[Aryetheral Waalburgus]

I have 3 bantam hens, 1 bantam roo, and 1 standard hen. They live in a 20x20 moveable run by day and sleep in a 6x4 coop by night. I usualy let the one standard hen free range. I am considering letting one of the bantam hens incubate 3-6 eggs and get chicks. I am 100% not willing to cull any baby roosters. Do y'all think that this would be a wise choice? Would getting too many roo chicks upset the pecking order and get violent? What's your advice?

(I would just go buy chicks but social distancing + they're sold out...)

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Don't hatch if you aren't willing to deal with roosters. You shouldn't keep multiple roosters with so few hens. They would get constantly mated. It's very stressful on them. Some people keep a separate all rooster flock, and I've kept some roosters separately for a while.

 

[Aryetheral Waalburgus]

Huh I hadn't heard of a separate roo flock. Wouldn't they fight?

And yeah that was what I'm leaning towards. Shame though chicks are so cute

 

[Friendly_Lurker]

Maybe mail order some sexed girl chicks. Then, when you have many hens, go for hatching!

 

[Aryetheral Waalburgus]

It also makes you wonder how flocks deal with it in the wild! I mean rooster birth rates are 50% and there's no humans to cull them. Huh.

 

[Aryetheral Waalburgus]

Maybe mail order some sexed girl chicks. Then, when you have many hens, go for hatching!

Ooh mail order!! great idea.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It also makes you wonder how flocks deal with it in the wild! I mean rooster birth rates are 50% and there's no humans to cull them. Huh.

It happens in a lot of ways. One thing that happens is that roosters will give themselves up to protect the hens from predators. Then new ones grow up to replace them.
If an isolated flock in the wild loses a primary rooster, the hens are still fertile for weeks. They can go off to lay, incubate, brood and raise new roosters.

You don't have to cull them when they are chicks. I raise them up till they have sufficient meat on them. Then choose which ones are potential breeders and the ones I don't want to use go in the freezer.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

It also makes you wonder how flocks deal with it in the wild! I mean rooster birth rates are 50% and there's no humans to cull them. Huh.

An awful lot of them get driven out of the flock and then without the protection of a group they get eaten. Some of them form bachelor groups until they get hens and then they fight for supremacy and the rest get eaten. Roosters driven out with less access to food and territory get sick and then get eaten. If they get too old they get driven out by younger, stronger roosters, then get eaten, etc.

In my flock when we hatch we also eat the roosters. Nature is the Great Recycler. But definitely if you don't have a plan for the roos don't get em. It's not good to keep too many in a flock.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Huh I hadn't heard of a separate roo flock. Wouldn't they fight?

And yeah that was what I'm leaning towards. Shame though chicks are so cute

I personally haven't kept a rooster flock. I have kept a few in pairs and trios that hatched together. Eventually you do need to decide what to do as you can get a lot of roosters eventually, and no one is happy. Here we butcher extras, and keep the good ones. I don't hatch often because I have problems sometimes with those decisions. Of course there's nothing like hormonal cockerals running amok to help you make some of those decisions.

 

[Folly's place]

Roosters can be delightful, if they are polite, and in very small numbers. Raising chicks means dealing with too many to keep, so don't do it if you can't deal with them. I do like chicken dinners, and also can sell a few to other flocks, and have zero tolerance for bad behavior out there!
Mary