To roo or not to roo...

[megs1001]

Wait, wait, wait... I wasn't sure about ONE rooster and you guys are signing me up for FOUR?!?

And at your 8:1 ratio, that's THREE DOZEN chickens... oy vey, she's gonna need a bigger coop, lol. You all sound like her "friends," who are all clamoring over each other, all volunteering to give her one of theirs. Mighty suspicious.

Seriously though, 8 for sure? She doesn't have room for 9 birds.

Oh & she's in NE TX.

 

[NYRIR]

Maybe someone with more experience should pipe in on this...but my experience with too many roos and not enough hens was bad...they wore the feathers off my hens,my birds were stressed...I now only have 3 roos that have access to my 40 laying hens....life is good !If she has less she may need to either give the roo limited time to access the girls or have saddles for the hens... And yes, WE ARE ALL ON YOUR MOM'S SIDE

This site is all enablers and proud of it!!

Everyone on here is addicted to chickens...so we justify ourselves by creating worse monsters than ourselves

This is so we can say to our SO's ...See how many SHE has? I have no addiction!!

 

[gryeyes]

It's worse than that!

The general ratio of roo to hen is 10:1, if you are concerned about fertility of the eggs, for breeding purposes. That's about a many hens one rooster can keep covered in order to keep fertility high, as in all the eggs will be fertile. More than that number of hens, there may be some "missed" at any particular time in daily egg gathering. There are flocks of 50 hens with only one roo...

If a rooster has only two or three hens, he might cause them to lose back feathers from over-mounting. More hens let him spread that lovin' around.

So maybe you can see why my 3rd most senior hen just decided to leave the flock during the day and range freely in my land-lady's front yard. She comes back through the gate, into my/her yard and back to the "her" coop every night. But her back feathers are all grown in nice, now.... 'Cause she and Carl got a divorce and she ain't hanging 'round for any o' those youngsters with no manners!

 

[7L Farm]

I wasn't gonna get a roo at first but I finally did & 4 hatches later would say to you Get A ROO!!! Their alot of fun to watch & a good roo will protect the girls & find them food. As mentioned it will complete the flock. The roo I got was a a few months younger than the girls. Their all grown up now & he gives me piece of mind everyday that the girls are somewhat safe while ranging everyday.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
NO NO...PICK ME! PICK ME! I have all colors!!!

But y'all forgot - I have the most variety of breeds. I can set Megs mom up with a trahma, an turken/EE mix, a non-naked neck turken, the possibilities are endless.

Besides I'm closest.

There's plenty of folks that have a rooster to just a few hens. Hens can wear saddles, conjugal visits with the girls, you can make it work.

 

[nekkiddoglady]

I have 2 young roos (I think).. thinking about getting them some ladies.. Im sitting here thinking.. good lord, I need about 20 hens?!

 

[Blue]

The amount of hens needed to a roo can really vary depending on the particular rooster. I've had one rooster with 3 or 4 hens with no problem at all. We still have him, but he has more hens (7) at the moment, and he's always been a great rooster and not rough with the ladies. I believe he was already a year or 2 old when we got him, and sometimes older roos can be more mellow than younger ones.

I've also had a rooster that I had to remove from his hens (he had 3, which now belong to the main roo mentioned in the previous paragraph) because they were all getting bald patches on their backs from how rough he was being with them. I have a bantam roo with 4 bantam hens also with no bald back problems, so you don't necessarily have to have a large number of hens per roo. You just need to find the right roo.

Also, the 10 to 1 ratio seems more to ensure fertility if you just have 1 roo or to keep there from being over breeding of the hens(which causes the bald patches) if someone has more than 1 roo in with the hens.

 

[tinychicky]

roos are great.. if they're nice. i love my roos, they have as much personality or more than the hens! they also help protect the flock against predators, not to mention they are all beautiful

i'd say get a rooster

 

[NYRIR]

Quote:
I want one like that!! I knew there were differences....I love all the experience on this site

 

[NYRIR]

Quote:
NO NO...PICK ME! PICK ME! I have all colors!!!

But y'all forgot - I have the most variety of breeds. I can set Megs mom up with a trahma, an turken/EE mix, a non-naked neck turken, the possibilities are endless.

Besides I'm closest.

There's plenty of folks that have a rooster to just a few hens. Hens can wear saddles, conjugal visits with the girls, you can make it work.

LOL....Ok gritsar....you win! Give her a Trahma!!