Will separating Roosters make re-integration harder later?

[TaylorGlade]

Hello everyone, we're facing a crisis here at the Taylor Glade, and I'd like to share the situation with you. You can read more about it on this post, but In short, in March, we purchased 10 vent-sexed Australorp hens, but unfortunately, it turns out that 8 of them are actually roosters. So, we ended up with 8 roosters and only 2 hens. The plan is to keep one rooster, named Prince, who gets along well with our Ameracauna rooster, Other Roo.

However, there's a concern: we currently have only 3 hens (2 Australorps and 1 Ameracauna), and they're reaching maturity. Clearly, this is not enough hens for even one rooster, let alone two. We do have more biddies, but they are too young for breeding and are still in the brooder.

I've heard some people deal with this situation by separating the roosters into a bachelor pad. The challenge is that Prince is the dominant rooster and separating him might lead to pecking order issues when reintegrating him later. Moreover, we have a Cream Legbar rooster among the babies in the coop, and it's not possible to put him in with two fully grown roosters.

In addition to Prince and Other Roo, our flock consists of 11 Cream Legbars in the brooder, and we're expecting 17 more vent-sexed Australorp biddies on Wednesday. Hopefully, this time, we'll have better luck with the genders.

If anyone has advice or suggestions on how to handle this situation, it would be greatly appreciated. The current state has disrupted our coop dynamics, and I'm not particularly pleased with the seller at the moment.

 

[Red Mangrove]

Everyone goes in the same coop. Only the strong will survive

 

[TaylorGlade]

Everyone goes in the same coop. Only the strong will survive

That sounds like a horrible life for the hens, honestly.

 

[Shadrach]

Three hens is perfect for one rooster. Many breeders and other keepers of experience keep exactly this ratio.
Take the rooster/cockerel you want to keep and put him with the hens.
What you do with the other cockerels may be a problem. I would eat them at three months old or older. You may not feel comfotable doing that.
I'm not a fan of bachelor pads.

 

[TaylorGlade]

Three hens is perfect for one rooster. Many breeders and other keepers of experience keep exactly this ratio.
Take the rooster/cockerel you want to keep and put him with the hens.
What you do with the other cockerels may be a problem. I would eat them at three months old or older. You may not feel comfotable doing that.
I'm not a fan of bachelor pads.

We have two roosters, though. We are new to chicken keeping. Is that a ration problem? I thought you needed 10 hens per rooster

 

[Shadrach]

We have two roosters, though.

How do the two roosters get on?
Usually one will be senior to the other and while this relationship lasts three hens can work. When the new pullets arrive, or the others start laying, then in most keeping circumstances (the exception is free ranging or ranging dawn till dusk) seperating the roosters and housing them seperately with preferably their favourite hens would be my prefered solution.
If you try to keep them all together in a single coop, especially if they are contained in a run the probability is they will fight and with that many males it will drive you mad and stress the hens.

 

[TaylorGlade]

How do the two roosters get on?
Usually one will be senior to the other and while this relationship lasts three hens can work. When the new pullets arrive, or the others start laying, then in most keeping circumstances (the exception is free ranging or ranging dawn till dusk) seperating the roosters and housing them seperately with preferably their favourite hens would be my prefered solution.
If you try to keep them all together in a single coop, especially if they are contained in a run the probability is they will fight and with that many males it will drive you mad and stress the hens.

They get along well. I thought that may just be because they are young - but we are new to this. Prince is the king of the roost. Other Roo (our Ameracauna roo) is older by 2 weeks - but doesn't even crow often. They were all born in March. The hens haven't started laying yet, so they aren't all mature yet - except for Prince, who crows with the best of them.

Yes. They are all in a 240 square foot run which we plan on enlarging come fall when the weather is cool enough to actually do something outside in Florida. The coop is 80 square foot - and we plan on also adding a second in the fall. The two coops would share a large run.

You mean, even if we only have two roosters and three hens, you suggest housing the roosters and pullets together. And then having a separate location for the younger chickens which aren't in the coop yet. - Am I understanding that correctly? And what about the Cream Legbar Rooster currently in the brooder? He goes with the brooder flock? or the more mature chickens?

 

[Shadrach]

They get along well. Prince is the king of the roost. Other Roo (our Ameracauna roo) is older by 2 weeks - but doesn't even crow often. They were all born in March. I thought that may just be because they are young - but we are new to this. The hens haven't started laying yet, so they aren't all fully mature yet - except for Prince, who crows with the best of them.

We do plan on relocating the other 7 roosters. We just cannot have 7 roosters. Based on this, what is your best suggestion?

If the eldest were born in March, you don't have any roosters, you have cockerels and therein lies a world of difference.
At five/six months old it's very unlikely that even an experienced keeper would know much about the males personalities and there for knowing which one to keep would be complete guesswork.

My best suggestion which you may not like much is eat or rehome all the males bar the two eldest very quickly.
Cancel any orders you have for any more chickens.
Put the two males you decide to keep (the seniors) in with what pullets you currently have.
Let everyone settle down.
Close your flock (no new arrivals)
Put your pullets in with the two males you keep and eventually the chicks/pullets you have in a brooder.

Wait for one of the pullets/hens to go broody and increase your flock by letting her sit and hatch. This way you can have some control over how many chicks arrive at any one time by limiting the number of eggs they sit on.

All the males that are not staying you will have to keep seperate until you've found homes for them or decide to eat them.
You cannot have 9 cockerels in with the pullets. They will all try to mate with what ever pullets there are and it is not an experience I recommend for the keeper, or the pullets.

 

[TaylorGlade]

My best suggestion which you may not like much is eat or rehome all the males bar the two eldest very quickly.
Cancel any orders you have for any more chickens.
Put the two males you decide to keep (the seniors) in with what pullets you currently have.
Let everyone settle down.
Close your flock (no new arrivals)
Put your pullets in with the two males you keep and eventually the chicks/pullets you have in a brooder.

Wait for one of the pullets/hens to go broody and increase your flock by letting her sit and hatch. This way you can have some control over how many chicks arrive at any one time by limiting the number of eggs they sit on.

All the males that are not staying you will have to keep seperate until you've found homes for them or decide to eat them.
You cannot have 9 cockerels in with the pullets. They will all try to mate with what ever pullets there are and it is not an experience I recommend for the keeper, or the pullets.

We will be giving away the other 7 as quickly as possible. Keeping them is not only impractical (they take up room for laying hens), but impossible due to aggression.

Other than the ones that are already in the brooder and on the way (and cannot be canceled) we have no other orders.

 

[Mrs. K]

I really respect Shadrack. He is a knowledgable poster and I do agree with him that you cannot keep all of these. And giving them away may not be easy.

Do you have two coops with separate runs? If you do so, I would pull both Prince and Other too and the 8 BA roosters and put them in their own coop. Now the problem I see is no one is more than 5 months old ? Do I have that right?- are the pullets laying egg? If not, they need all of the cockerels out of there. Upon re reading your post - I see the second coop is not coming until the fall.

The cockerels are leaving the darling stage, and are apt to go into at best a rowdy stage and at worst some real aggression. The problem with cockerels, is how they behave today is no indicator how they will behave tomorrow. Who they get along with now, even if they were raised together, is no indicator how that will go next week. If this is your first flock - get all of them gone is my advice. An all hen flock is a nice one to start with.

Currently you have room for approximately 20 birds, kind of, sort of. The problem is that your cockerels won't wait for the second coop to be built in the fall. 8 weeks can be a very long time for all those roosters in a coop with 3 pullets. Looking back I see you are in Florida - a minimal shelter is all that is needed - something that gives shade, and then at the least split the run putting the pullets on one side, males on the other. Line it with cardboard to block the sight. It is not a great solution, but better than nothing.

I am with Shadrack, on this, you need to cull the roosters. Or give them away for free and don't ask any questions. And you need to do this as soon as possible. They don't call it cock fighting for nothing. I have done a bachelor pad for a limited time. They kind of work until they don't, when they don't, you HAVE to do something. DO have a dog crate, a fish net, a way to separate fighting birds.

You really do have a crisis, and it is more than likely get much worse.

Mrs K