Two Roos and one hen, a bad idea?

[Ashmuddy]

Just found out that my EE is a roo and probably my light brahma too. I only have three chickens and mostly just like having them around for the company, so eggs just a bonus. Right now they get along fine. I brought in the hen and light brahma together from another farm for company for my EE roo who lost his buddy a couple weeks prior. They have established the pecking order and I haven't noticed any fights or bad behavior, the EE roo is just quick to remind the others that he eats first, etc. But never in a violent way. Ages on them, EE roo hatched in April, Light brahma, not sure but younger than the EE and older than the hen.

Help!

 

[turbodog]

Two roos to one hen? Get rid of a roo and get more hens if you have room for them.
At the current ratio, the two roos will get very competitive eventually and/or your going to have one worn out and frazzled hen!

 

[StarLover21]

Yes, get rid of one, and get more hens.

 

[Ashmuddy]

That was what I was afraid of.

 

[Abirdbrain]

When the sexy thing gets going, you may have to get a saddle for her, to prevent damage, and they may squabble over who is first and most often. They will tend to wear her out as this situation continues, but no hard rules here. Just watch and learn. For two roos, the conventional wisdom is a minimum of about 4 hens each. That wont guarentee no fighting, as some roos are just not Mellow and want it all.

 

[oesdog]

I know only too well how hard this is when your fond of your roo boys. I had 4 lovely roo boys. They were beautiful but I only had 8 hens and after a while the roo boys all started to fight and then they all started to want the same darn hen! It wasn't very nice for any of them and I had to get new homes for my roo boys.

Now I just have 10 hens So no roo boys at all. I couldn't keep even one in the end because the neighbour complained about all the noise!

It is best for your hen. You can try to protect her from the roo boys with a saddle but its not going to stop the roo boys fighting and possibly hurting eachother.
Mine were lovely and gentle and got on real well for months and then one day it all changed when they matured.

Oesdog -

Best thing - find a new home for one of the roo boys and go get a heap more hens!

 

[Ridgerunner]

It's not a great idea. I expect you will get a lot of responses about how the bad it will be, and they have some justification. The opportunities for bad things to happen are there for sure. But that is opportunities, not guarantees. The more roosters you have, the more likely you are to have problems, so I suggest keeping as few as your goals allow. Sounds like your goals may allow you to keep more than one, but be careful.

Some people report on here that they have 2 roosters with 1 hen or 3 roosters with 2 hens and don't have problems. This is not what I would expect, but it can happen. Each chicken has its own personality and each flock has its own dynamics. Some people report problems with 1 rooster with 20 hens. Usually the problems are worse with adolescent roosters. Their hormones just take over and they have no control. Usually they will outgrow this stage, but not always.

One problem you might have is them fighting and injuring or killing one another. This does not matter if you have 2 roosters and 1 hen or 2 roosters and 100 hens. They will determine who is top rooster. Often this happens and you don't really notice. Sometimes they kill each other. You just can't tell what will happen.

The biggest risk is that they might overbreed the hen. Some people view chickens mating as horrible and brutal, even when things go as they should. But a few things can go wrong. It is possible the two will mate the hen so often whe gets stressed out. Possible, but not assured.

It is also possible that the hen may receive damage from the mating. The damage I'm talking about is that the feathers come off the back, tops of wings, or back of the head. A little feather loss is no big deal, but the hen can get ripped apart by the spurs or claws. Chickens can become cannibalistic if they see open wounds on another chicken. The chicken can quickly end up dead. This is the problem I would worry about more than any other.

Are you guaranteed any of these problems? Not really. But the likelihood with 2 roosters and 1 hen is getting a bit high. I would worry.

 

[ts72712]

I'm new to this chicken life but I have two roosters and two hens they're probably 6 months old, Brahma I think. The boys do mate with one of the two hens more then the other hen, however they don't act like sex crazied maniacs. My girls are just fine, I do plan to get more girls next spring though. My boys are beautiful and I don't wanna get rid of them.(Plus I raised them by hand)

My input is if you have the space and the means, get more hens!

 

[waterchicken]

Yes! ts72712, GET MORE HENS!!!!!!