Will this ever work? Two roosters - five hens

[Chicken poppy]

Okay. I know, it’s a horrible ratio. But things didn’t go how i planned it and now i’m going to ask, will this work?

I had six hens and one rooster. One went broody and was separated into the house to hatch some babies (All of the four eggs hatched) Unfortunately, one hen was taken by a hawk. The other was attacked by a hawk, survived, doing well, but was separated due to the large wound under her wing and her behavior being off. Pretty sure they have worms and it’s getting better, but long story short, the broody hen died due to ovarian cancer and two hens along with the chicks are indoors due to the two hens acting off from what i presume is worms.

I’m left with two hens whom my bantam rooster can’t mate and one of the hens he doesn’t even try to ever mate, (nobody messes with her, she’s the top hen.) so only my poor girl Isbe is getting totally beat up and obviously overmated.

I had a plan to seperate Isbe and Rizo (they are a very good pair, Isbe adores her and only her, mostly one sided but i think they would do fine together)

And separate Peep, Jolene, Gabby and the four chicks. The problem here is the fact that one of the chicks is a cockerel and the other pullets seem to just adore him. Is there ever a chance of two roosters and five hens working? They are all the same breed.
Should i pursue this plan and divide the coop?

 

[neo71665]

Only if you take one of the roosters and put in a seperate pen away from the flock.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Is there ever a chance of two roosters and five hens working?

A chance, yes. No one can ever know for sure when it comes to living animals and their behaviors. This has worked for some people. It has also not worked for some.

It is possible the boys will fight to the death when they mature to a certain point. It is possible the boys will work out a solution where they work together to take care of the flock. One common solution is that the boys each claim a territory and attract what girls they can. This works best when the territories are out of line-of-sight from each other. Very few of us have this kind of room. If you have this kind of room there is a reasonable chance it will work, but the less room you have the less likely it is to work.

You can have barebacked hens or over-mated hens if you have a ratio if 1 boy to 25 girls. It's possible you will have none of these problems with a 1 to 1 ratio. Puberty is usually the time of highest risk but there is still risk if they are all mature.

Is there a chance of a 2 to 5 working? Yes, there is also a chance of absolute failure. If you try, I'd have a Plan B ready, which means have a place you can immediately isolate one if you need to. When it doesn't work out you usually need a place immediately.

 

[Chicken poppy]

A chance, yes. No one can ever know for sure when it comes to living animals and their behaviors. This has worked for some people. It has also not worked for some.

It is possible the boys will fight to the death when they mature to a certain point. It is possible the boys will work out a solution where they work together to take care of the flock. One common solution is that the boys each claim a territory and attract what girls they can. This works best when the territories are out of line-of-sight from each other. Very few of us have this kind of room. If you have this kind of room there is a reasonable chance it will work, but the less room you have the less likely it is to work.

You can have barebacked hens or over-mated hens if you have a ratio if 1 boy to 25 girls. It's possible you will have none of these problems with a 1 to 1 ratio. Puberty is usually the time of highest risk but there is still risk if they are all mature.

Is there a chance of a 2 to 5 working? Yes, there is also a chance of absolute failure. If you try, I'd have a Plan B ready, which means have a place you can immediately isolate one if you need to. When it doesn't work out you usually need a place immediately.

Wow, thank you so much. I was almost certain this would be a absolute failure. I hope it works, if not, can i separate both the roosters together with no hens? If i did could they see them? I don’t want one to be alone and isolated if possible to avoid.

 

[Tonyroo]

Most bantam roosters can get along provided they have space. But your hens need a separate space if they are getting over mated.

 

[Shadrach]

Yes it can be done. I've had three Bantam males to 4 hens and they got along.
I try to keep the ratio 3 or 4 hens to 1 male and that's worked for 8 years.
However, that doesn't mean it will work for you. It's not so much the in built differences in the chickens that can make it difficult, it's the range of keeping circumstances and keepers.

 

[Mrs. K]

A huge factor is the space you have. IMO roosters need even more space than hens. And it works better if you have a lot of clutter in it.

More than likely it will work, until it doesn't work. Do as stated above have a plan B set up and ready to go, when it goes south, it can do so in a hurry.

Being of the same breed, being raised together really has no influence on how they will work out together.

Mrs K

 

[Chicken poppy]

A huge factor is the space you have. IMO roosters need even more space than hens. And it works better if you have a lot of clutter in it.

More than likely it will work, until it doesn't work. Do as stated above have a plan B set up and ready to go, when it goes south, it can do so in a hurry.

Being of the same breed, being raised together really has no influence on how they will work out together.

Mrs K

I have quite a good amount of space for them. They have a large yard and a protected run for when its raining or i can’t supervise them. Sometimes they will free range if i’m able to be out with them.

I don’t have the coop measured as of now, but the coop is approximately the size of two of my sheds together. About 18 feet wide and 12 feet deep. They would have a little less since i would be separating them.

 

[redpandakitty]

At one point I had 3 roos (well, 2 roos & 1 hen that went through a sex reversal) & only 4 hens & had no issues. They were all raised together and 1 roo & the pseudoroo were Orpingtons, which are a fairly docile breed. My Brahma roo was definitely the dominant one (he was definitely NOT docile). Interestingly, my Brahma & Orp roos would crow, but I only ever saw the Brahma & psuedoroo try to mate with the hens.

 

[babychickens321]

Okay. I know, it’s a horrible ratio. But things didn’t go how i planned it and now i’m going to ask, will this work?

I had six hens and one rooster. One went broody and was separated into the house to hatch some babies (All of the four eggs hatched) Unfortunately, one hen was taken by a hawk. The other was attacked by a hawk, survived, doing well, but was separated due to the large wound under her wing and her behavior being off. Pretty sure they have worms and it’s getting better, but long story short, the broody hen died due to ovarian cancer and two hens along with the chicks are indoors due to the two hens acting off from what i presume is worms.

I’m left with two hens whom my bantam rooster can’t mate and one of the hens he doesn’t even try to ever mate, (nobody messes with her, she’s the top hen.) so only my poor girl Isbe is getting totally beat up and obviously overmated.

I had a plan to seperate Isbe and Rizo (they are a very good pair, Isbe adores her and only her, mostly one sided but i think they would do fine together)

And separate Peep, Jolene, Gabby and the four chicks. The problem here is the fact that one of the chicks is a cockerel and the other pullets seem to just adore him. Is there ever a chance of two roosters and five hens working? They are all the same breed.
Should i pursue this plan and divide the coop?

two roosters and three hens works for me.. although the youngest is just 6 mo. he has never attempted mating w the hens because the older rooster chases him away the second the hens screech, and the older one leaves the hens if they scream. both roosters are really polite to the hens like all the time and both collectively protect them.