UPDATE p. 2, 11-29-11: Roo who is "satisfied" with 3 hens?

[lishah2000]

I have one with just three hens. He is disabled now, but he was fine with just three before he got hurt. He would of course mate any others that were around and two others would sometimes join their group. Another had three to start, but another joined them later (One of those two that sometimes change houses. Can't keep them in if they decide to get out). They only get bare when they are molting. I think he would do better with a few more.

The first is a bit smaller than the hens, the second a bit bigger. Might factor in somewhat.

 

[DanyyChicken]

I have one Salmon Favorelle x silkie rooster. He is bantam sized. He is in with 5 standard hens and one bantam silkie cross hen. They all get along great. No one is overly aggressive. They are mature at this point and still no problems. I had no intention of having a rooster but ending up with 5. He is the one we kept by default because my son was to upset about him going away. It has worked out well. He is still very nice. I can still pick him up. He has not been a problem at all....but if he ever become one he will go bye-bye.
I will say of the 5 roosters we had he was the least dominant one. He still is the fastest one to leave the scene if they are scared. He is much faster than the girls. It makes me laugh because I don't think he would be much of a protector out there in the real world of free-range. They are kept in a 6 x10 coop with a 9 x 10 run enclosure.

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, but he's an older Blue Orpington rooster who has never been an aggressive breeder anyway. He has had three hens for a very long time now. Used to have only two.

 

[DangerChickenHouse]

Thanks for this thread. I have one roo to three girls too. He's not big enough to start sexing them up yet. But, he will be in a few months.

 

[runsw/scissors]

I have two roos and thus two flocks.

The mature roo has three mature ladies that like him and stay with him.

The cockerel has five pullets that adore him and with no pressure from me they are content to stay with him.

Two roos and 2 separate flocks that co- habitate in 1 coop and 1 run.

The coop is 4x6 with an enclosed 4x7 run. So far so good! I think it really depends on the birds in question...

 

[sourland]

Quote:
"Much like human males", and just when can I expect this to take effect?

 

[Fred's Hens]

We've kept a BR roo in with 7 ladies and yes, he over works his two favorites. He's served his purpose and will now be heading to freezer camp. Point being that sometimes, for whatever reason, a rooster will take a liking to a hen or two and flat wear them out. While we want busy roosters at breeding time, the rest of the year such hyper interest in somewhat unwanted.

 

[pawsplus]

Quote:
"Much like human males", and just when can I expect this to take effect?

I meant in adolescence, LOL!

 

[pawsplus]

So at what age do problems usually start if they are going to? When does adolescence really kick in? Sexual maturity?

Bianco is now 16 weeks old.

 

[pawsplus]

UPDATE 11/29/11.

So I wanted to report on how things are going. Bianco is now, as my friend puts it, "raping his roomies." From what I can tell, he mates more in the a.m. and as long as the girls give in and let him do it, he's gentle. The only one missing feathers on her neck is Clarice, who raises holy hell when he tries to mate and runs away. By the time he catches her (which, being 3x her size, always happens), he is a little more rough w/ her.

This makes me kinda

b/c Clarice is, after all, 8 years+ and she's been running her coop at my place for the last 6 years with no argument from anyone. She's pretty upset and stressed out. I've tried to point out to her that if she would just give in, lie back, and think of England, he would be more gentle and then it would be over. But she's not having ANY of it.

So my solution has been to put Bianco and Audrey in the adjoining run with the door closed between every 2-3 days, in order to give Clarice a break. She and Svetlana hang out in one run and B and A in the other. So far this works fine--Audrey doesn't seem to be getting over-mated and it gives Clarice a chance to chill out. I've also added food and water to the coop (usually those are in the run only) so that on days when they are all together, C can stay in the coop if she prefers. They all return to the coop at night and things are very peaceful then.

I can't do this on rainy days b/c right now the second run isn't covered. There is a "mini cooper" over there, but it's VERY mini and I don't think they use it much. I do plan to add gravel, sand, and a cover to the second run, but probably not until Spring.

Here are some pix of the matured Bianco. He's turned out to be quite the handsome boy!

He and Audrey are now 6 mos old.

And a video of him crowing!

In other news, Audrey is laying! Here she is in the nest box:

And here's her first egg!

It was on the small side, but by day 4 she was laying bigger ones. They are still smaller than Svetlana's (which are huge) and now that they've darkened up some, they are darker than Clarice's, so I can tell them all apart.