Too Many Roosters?

[NCCHICKENMAMA16]

I have 19 chickens. I ordered pullets but 3 of them were roosters (which I knew was possible). Is it possible to keep all 3 of the roosters or do I need to rehome 1 or 2? I have become very attached to my chickens and hate the idea of rehoming any of them but I also don't want to see them kill each other. They are all 12 weeks old, so still young. There are no restrictions on roosters where I live and our neighbors aren't really close. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[chickluvinfreak]

I have 19 chickens.  I ordered pullets but 3 of them were roosters (which I knew was possible).  Is it possible to keep all 3 of the roosters or do I need to rehome 1 or 2?  I have become very attached to my chickens and hate the idea of rehoming any of them but I also don't want to see them kill each other.  They are all 12 weeks old, so still young.  There are no restrictions on roosters where I live and our neighbors aren't really close.  Any help would be appreciated!

Normally you'll want no more than 1 rooster for every 10 hens. So ideally you would only keep 2 roosters for your 19 hens. But sometimes when multiple roosters are raised together they are leas likely to fight. Maybe because they've bonded, I don't know. The breeds can play a role in how many roosters to keep also. You can keep friendly docile breeds like silkies together alot more easily than say game fowl that are more aggressive. What breeds are your roosters? I don't know if you'll be able to know for sure if theyll get along together untill they've reached maturity. But hopefully you'll get to keep them all.

 

[NCCHICKENMAMA16]

I have 2 Dominique Roosters and a New Hampshire Red. I hope they will get along! Thank you!

 

[chickluvinfreak]

I have 2 Dominique Roosters and a New Hampshire Red. I hope they will get along! Thank you!

I don't think those are really aggressive breeds, but I haven't had them before so I'm not positive. They should reach sexual maturity at 4-5 months. So if their still getting along then, you should be good.

 

[aart]

I have 19 chickens. I ordered pullets but 3 of them were roosters (which I knew was possible). Is it possible to keep all 3 of the roosters or do I need to rehome 1 or 2? I have become very attached to my chickens and hate the idea of rehoming any of them but I also don't want to see them kill each other. They are all 12 weeks old, so still young. There are no restrictions on roosters where I live and our neighbors aren't really close. Any help would be appreciated!

It can work, especially if you have lots of coop and run space, free ranging is even better.
But, it can also be a chaotic bloody mess...for the females, as well as the males.
Have a separate enclosure(s) ready because if things get ugly they usually get ugly fast and need to be dealt with immediately.

The 1 to 10 male to female ratio is for ensuring fertility in commercial breeding facilities, and has nothing to do with backyard flock harmony. Mixed gender flock harmony depends more on housing space and individual birds demeanor's, rather than breed.

 

[Mrs. K]

These are flock mates, so this could easily work out - rooster wise. However, it will probably be **** tough on your pullets. As roosters tend to mature faster and are interested in sex sooner, and are big enough to bully the pullets.

If you have a second set up, I would suggest, pulling your roosters into a bachelor pad until your pullets begin to lay. When they become layers, they are old enough and ready for a rooster. Now, more than likely the roosters will get along fine in the bachelor pad, mine have. However, when you add them back to the pullets, the wanting to be top rooster, may cause problems. If so, you will be able to separate them, as you have a second coop set up.

If you cannot do a second coop, then I would only keep one rooster, and I would be rehoming the other two ASAP. As they are 12 weeks old, problems can and probably will start showing up in the next couple of weeks.

Mrs K