Three hens and a rooster

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Aw, that's too bad you ended up with 2 cockerels... that seems to happen a lot with certain "breeders." Even if you do rehome or harvest 1 boy, the remaining 2 hens will likely get overbred and lose feathers on their back. Too much nookie can stress the hens and they'll stop laying altogether. The best ratio is 1 rooster per 10 hens. If you have the space, best to get more girls, otherwise stick with only hens.

How Much Room Do Chickens Need
Keeping A Rooster

Good luck with your flock!
 
Welcome to Backyard Chickens! We are glad you joined the flock!:welcome BYC is a helpful site providing all of the information you need to know about poultry. There is always space for members on the BYC roost! :highfive: I would pray your cockerel is a gentle one. Cockerels need a minimum of 10 hens to prevent stress on them caused by overbreeding. Some roosters however have a tendency to be laid back. I have a Black Copper Maran rooster that I kept with only two hens and you would never notice a feather was missing from the hens.

Hope you enjoy it here as much as we all do!
 
:welcome

Ranchwithaview said:
Hello. We just bought our first flock five days ago, three hens, one rooster, with one hen being a couple months older than the others. They are originally from a breeder and seem to be a Australorp frizzle mix. But, the rooster looks like he has Copper Maran too. All of them look different. Two are frizzled, two not. Well, the day before yesterday, one of the frizzle "hens" crowed. I was suspicious of him, because he was bigger than the other two hens, but he didn't look as rooster like as our rooster. We haven't heard him crow again, but he looks more rooster like each day. The funny thing is, my son and husband wanted to name him rubber foot. My daughter and I protested. I would not lay eggs for someone who naned me rubber foot, if I were a hen. Well, we might just call him rubber foot after all. For now he is Curly. Our rooster, Handsome, has just begun to try to get on top of our older hen. I don't mind getting babies, but I hope Handsome stays gentle. Also, no eggs yet. I need to read more about egg laying and chicken health. Glad to be a part of this community. Thank you.
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Post a thread about this here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/what-breed-or-gender-is-this.15/
 
FlappyFeathers said:
View attachment 1636455
Aw, that's too bad you ended up with 2 cockerels... that seems to happen a lot with certain "breeders." Even if you do rehome or harvest 1 boy, the remaining 2 hens will likely get overbred and lose feathers on their back. Too much nookie can stress the hens and they'll stop laying altogether. The best ratio is 1 rooster per 10 hens. If you have the space, best to get more girls, otherwise stick with only hens.

How Much Room Do Chickens Need
Keeping A Rooster

Good luck with your flock!
Click to expand...
Thank you for this advice! We do want more hens, but don't have the space for 10 yet. :(
 

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