White Plymouth Rock

[Heather1]

Well I guess Angelina will become Angelo. It seems I have five hens and Angelo and then I have three bantam silkies, at least one of which appears to be crowing. Do you think the hens are going to get hurt from mating bc of too many Roos? I read somewhere that you should only have one Roo for every ten hens!!! Maybe the Silkie Roos won't try to mate with the larger hens and visa versa??? Or do I need another coop? (Getting rid of either Angelo or my crowing Silkie Tess is not an option I want to face).

 

[donrae]

The one rooster to ten hens is a good guideline for maximizing fertility in a breeding situation. In your case, I'd just try things and see how it goes. I have a breeding pen with one rooster and 5 hens. Things were great, hens looked fine. Two went broody and got moved out. Getting down to only 3 hens did leave one a little bare backed, but not really a problem. Just put one momma back in, so I expect things to be getting better. Like so many things, it'll be a case of try it and see how it works with your particular birds.

You may want to consider separate housing for the silkies. A large rooster can mate a silkie hen, but could injure her depending on her size and their combined technique.

 

[Heather1]

Thanks for the advice. I really don't want to breed and was hoping for all hens but I guess cannot control nature!! They are still young so I will keep my eyes on it and see how it goes. Thanks again!!