How many roosters to start with?

[Pumperkinz]

Forgot to add... One of my darkest laying growouts is named Dark Angel (Shortened to just Angel) so there's that
Pics are from fall.
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that dark color is beautiful! Is this from a hatchery or somewhere local to you?

 

[puddle_drinker]

Do you free range? Usually, flocks of more than one male in a confined space are harder to deal with than their free ranging counterparts

Space is definitely an important factor if you have multiple roosters. They need enough room to keep some separation from each other, both in the run and in the coop.

I'd also recommend you start with one rooster in your situation. If it turns out to be aggressive you can find pre-raised roosters on places like Craigslist fairly cheap to replace him. A non-aggressive (to humans) rooster is a joy. A rooster aggressive to humans should not be put up with.

For context, I have 30 hens of mixed ages and breeds with 4 roosters (3 Jersey Giants and 1 bantam Old English Game). Their run is 50'x50' and the coop is 7'x12'. In the run there are structures the roosters can run behind or jump up on to get separation from the other roosters. At most one will just try to sneak up on a less dominate rooster and chase him about 10' before stopping pursuit. It's very rare that they face to face fight.

 

[wrathsfarm]

She is absolutely beautiful ♥ what breed is she? I love the dark eggs, I told ny husband I want a couple hens that lay dark brown eggs (I personally think they are prettier then the blue eggs that everyone goes crazy for, that's just my opinion and don't mean to offend anyone who likes the blues better).

Thank you....Black Copper Marans

that dark color is beautiful! Is this from a hatchery or somewhere local to you?

Thank you...These are mine. I have 11 total BCM's. 9 girls and and 2 boys. One of my boys has a mixed flock for hybrids. (Midnight Majesty Marans and Olive Eggers)

 

[SamLockwood]

Hi, I'm a bit new to this, I grew up with chickens but haven't had any since being an adult. This spring I plan to change that.

My question is how many roosters should I start with? I know the general number is 1 roo for every 10 or so hens, I'm planning to get about 10-12 hens so I know in theory 1 rooster. I'm just wondering if it would be better to get 2-3 roosters just incase the 1 is aggressive towards humans or the hens, or just isn't the right fit for the flock in general?

If you do recommend getting 2-3, should I get different breeds or go with the same breed?

Also, just out of curiosity what breed of rooster(s) do you have and would you recommend that breed?

I'm wanting a barred rock rooster, simply because I had several growing up and they were always nice (from what I remember) and so having a nice/non human aggressive flock is very important to me.

The ratio depends on whether or not you're free ranging and the breed. High-strung, flighty breeds that are kept in a coop and run all the time need a higher ratio (10 or 15 to 1), if you have more even-tempered birds and you're free-ranging constantly you can afford to have a lower ratio.

I always like to have redundancy, especially if you're free-ranging at all. Even if you don't end up with an aggressive roo there's always the chance of a predator attack or random injuries or diseases.

When I decided to get roosters, my original plan was to get six of three different breeds and keep the best three.

Last April I got six roosters to add to my free-range flock, with the intent of only keeping 3 or maybe 4 depending on how flock dynamics worked out.

I ordered 3 different breeds: 2 cream legbar (5 of my hens were legbars, and 2 are olive eggers with legbar genes), 2 blue cuckoo marans (a couple of my olive eggers are part cuckoo maran), and 2 blue copper marans (my favorite olive egger hen looks to be part blue copper maran).

I was looking to breed for colored egg-laying and more active birds suitable for free-ranging.

Things kind of went off the rails from the get-go: One of the legbars was substituted with what I thought was another blue cuckoo maran. Later on it turned out to he was an olive egger they put in by mistake (Meyer did refund me on that bird). My cream legbar developed curled toes on his right foot, earning him the name "Vulcan."

He's a sweetheart and gets around quite well in spite of his handicap, but he's at the very bottom of the rooster pecking order because he can't really run or fight, and I think he's either sterile or he his bad foot prevents him from "hooking up" properly. To date he's fathered no chicks but he's a good watchdog of the coop and run.

The two cuckoo marans gave me the most problems. The bigger one developed cardiovascular issues, and I had to euthanize him at three months old. The other one got borderline aggressive at six months and I thought about culling him but I was able to get him calmed down. Getting knocked down the pecking order a month ago did wonders for his attitude. He's practically a pet now.

The two copper marans run the show now, and are pretty even-tempered. The only thing negative I'd say about them is they're loud. The like to crow and the they're both Chatty Cathys: they constantly cluck and burble while they're going about their daily business. They remind me of those old electric coffee percolators.

The big surprise was the olive egger, who turned out to be the best protector in the flock: I think he covers more ground than all of the marans combined in a day. He's also very smart about sounding off warnings: yesterday we had a daylight raid attempt by an opussom. I spotted it from my window jogging out of the woods towards the chicken coops and just as I got up to go outside the OE hopped on top of the outdoor brooder and started flapping his wings and raising the alarm. At which point the opussum turned tail and ran back into the woods.

The olive egger and the legbar also acted as "foster dads" when I introduced new chicks to the flock this past fall: keeping the hens from bullying them too much and showing them where to hide from danger and the best foraging spots. I don't know if it's breeding or just those two.

Interestingly, the olive egger has managed to fertilize about half of the eggs I've hatched from my hens so far even though he's maybe #3 in the rooster pecking order.

 

[DarkAngel77]

I've seen mixed results on that one. I think it is still a bit better than males raised alone, because they had a better chance to get straight the distinction between humans and chickens.

There is also the option of keeping the best two males, if they are not causing problems for each other or for the hens. Or keeping none, if they all cause trouble.




It sounds like you have this pretty well planned out, with expectations that are reasonable. Good!

As regards keeping children safe, I definitely agree that is important! Keep an eye on the hens too, because not every hen is completely nice either. Broody hens tend to be the worst, but some others are just determined to eat fingers or freckles, or fly in someone's face as they try to get out the open gate, and so forth (they may not intend to be aggressive, but can still cause trouble.)

I will definitely keep that in mind about them being raised as chicks/together, and if they do all cause trouble I wouldn't hesitate a bit about being rooster free for awhile.

I like to think I have reasonable expectations and have it all thought out. I have been wanting chickens for several years but it hasn't ever been the right time, and I finally feel it's the right time so I have been doing research for months now, trying to find the breeds I think would be best, how to predator proof as best as possible, common illnesses, etc. My poor husband is just tired of hearing about chickens at this point I think he's just ready for us to get them so I'll shut up about them he's convinced when we get baby chicks that I'm going to get an old jacket and sew pockets on the inside to carry them around and keep them warm I know completely unrelated.

As far as expectations, the primary reason I want chickens are for pets/life experience for my kids, I remember growing up and every time I'd hear a chicken do their egg song my younger sister and I would race to see who laid it and collect it. Eggs are also a really good reason because my whole family loves eggs and could probably eat them daily.

As far as the kids, they wouldn't be going out to the coop/run alone because I live in has a few to many venomous snakes (rattle, copperhead, and cotton mouth). I know sometimes it may not always be what it seems, just like with a dog, one could be overly excited and bump a kid down on accident, doesn't necessarily mean the dog is aggressive. Also, I know some hens can be just as aggressive as a rooster so I'm not going into this thinking that the rooster(s) is the only one that could be aggressive or hurt someone. I'm just hoping that with us getting them as chicks and raising them that way, and having the kids help with everything (in their ability) that maybe the chicks will grow up gentle and not aggressive towards us. I know that isn't always the case, but I feel like it'd be a good start.

 

[DarkAngel77]

Space is definitely an important factor if you have multiple roosters. They need enough room to keep some separation from each other, both in the run and in the coop.

I'd also recommend you start with one rooster in your situation. If it turns out to be aggressive you can find pre-raised roosters on places like Craigslist fairly cheap to replace him. A non-aggressive (to humans) rooster is a joy. A rooster aggressive to humans should not be put up with.

For context, I have 30 hens of mixed ages and breeds with 4 roosters (3 Jersey Giants and 1 bantam Old English Game). Their run is 50'x50' and the coop is 7'x12'. In the run there are structures the roosters can run behind or jump up on to get separation from the other roosters. At most one will just try to sneak up on a less dominate rooster and chase him about 10' before stopping pursuit. It's very rare that they face to face fight.

We definitely won't put up with a rooster that is aggressive towards us or the hens.

 

[DarkAngel77]

The ratio depends on whether or not you're free ranging and the breed. High-strung, flighty breeds that are kept in a coop and run all the time need a higher ratio (10 or 15 to 1), if you have more even-tempered birds and you're free-ranging constantly you can afford to have a lower ratio.

I always like to have redundancy, especially if you're free-ranging at all. Even if you don't end up with an aggressive roo there's always the chance of a predator attack or random injuries or diseases.

When I decided to get roosters, my original plan was to get six of three different breeds and keep the best three.

Last April I got six roosters to add to my free-range flock, with the intent of only keeping 3 or maybe 4 depending on how flock dynamics worked out.

I ordered 3 different breeds: 2 cream legbar (5 of my hens were legbars, and 2 are olive eggers with legbar genes), 2 blue cuckoo marans (a couple of my olive eggers are part cuckoo maran), and 2 blue copper marans (my favorite olive egger hen looks to be part blue copper maran).

I was looking to breed for colored egg-laying and more active birds suitable for free-ranging.

Things kind of went off the rails from the get-go: One of the legbars was substituted with what I thought was another blue cuckoo maran. Later on it turned out to he was an olive egger they put in by mistake (Meyer did refund me on that bird). My cream legbar developed curled toes on his right foot, earning him the name "Vulcan."

He's a sweetheart and gets around quite well in spite of his handicap, but he's at the very bottom of the rooster pecking order because he can't really run or fight, and I think he's either sterile or he his bad foot prevents him from "hooking up" properly. To date he's fathered no chicks but he's a good watchdog of the coop and run.

The two cuckoo marans gave me the most problems. The bigger one developed cardiovascular issues, and I had to euthanize him at three months old. The other one got borderline aggressive at six months and I thought about culling him but I was able to get him calmed down. Getting knocked down the pecking order a month ago did wonders for his attitude. He's practically a pet now.

The two copper marans run the show now, and are pretty even-tempered. The only thing negative I'd say about them is they're loud. The like to crow and the they're both Chatty Cathys: they constantly cluck and burble while they're going about their daily business. They remind me of those old electric coffee percolators.

The big surprise was the olive egger, who turned out to be the best protector in the flock: I think he covers more ground than all of the marans combined in a day. He's also very smart about sounding off warnings: yesterday we had a daylight raid attempt by an opussom. I spotted it from my window jogging out of the woods towards the chicken coops and just as I got up to go outside the OE hopped on top of the outdoor brooder and started flapping his wings and raising the alarm. At which point the opussum turned tail and ran back into the woods.

The olive egger and the legbar also acted as "foster dads" when I introduced new chicks to the flock this past fall: keeping the hens from bullying them too much and showing them where to hide from danger and the best foraging spots. I don't know if it's breeding or just those two.

Interestingly, the olive egger has managed to fertilize about half of the eggs I've hatched from my hens so far even though he's maybe #3 in the rooster pecking order.
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They will be in a covered run/fence for the most part, depending on circumstances it may change to free range but not 100% sure on that yet. If it doesn't work out for them eventually being free range then I have plans to try to build a portable pen so that I will be able to move them to different parts of the yard so they will have a change of scenery, grass and more bugs etc.

As far as the breeds, I've tried to pick the less flighty more calm and docile breeds, everything that I have read says that these breeds are calm, docile and handle confinement well.

Barred rock
Buttercups
Hybrids (easter/olive eggers, golden comets) was thinking sapphire gem but I keep seeing mixed answers on personality and how well they actually handle confinement)

Turkens is a possibility as well, I'm still undecided on them though.

Was wanting orpingtons but keep seeing mixed answers on how they handle heat (I live in the southern U.S. and it's not uncommon to have 100 F + Temps for days/weeks) and our winters are weird we can go all winter with mild temps (40s-60s or even warmer) then we may get cold (we just got done having single digits temps with windchill in the negatives).

 

[wrathsfarm]

They will be in a covered run/fence for the most part, depending on circumstances it may change to free range but not 100% sure on that yet. If it doesn't work out for them eventually being free range then I have plans to try to build a portable pen so that I will be able to move them to different parts of the yard so they will have a change of scenery, grass and more bugs etc.

As far as the breeds, I've tried to pick the less flighty more calm and docile breeds, everything that I have read says that these breeds are calm, docile and handle confinement well.

Barred rock
Buttercups
Hybrids (easter/olive eggers, golden comets) was thinking sapphire gem but I keep seeing mixed answers on personality and how well they actually handle confinement)

Turkens is a possibility as well, I'm still undecided on them though.

Was wanting orpingtons but keep seeing mixed answers on how they handle heat (I live in the southern U.S. and it's not uncommon to have 100 F + Temps for days/weeks) and our winters are weird we can go all winter with mild temps (40s-60s or even warmer) then we may get cold (we just got done having single digits temps with windchill in the negatives).

#TeamMarans

 

[DarkAngel77]

#TeamMarans

Are Marans good? I admit I haven't really done alot of research on them. I will definitely look into them though because I love the color of their eggs

 

[wrathsfarm]

Are Marans good? I admit I haven't really done alot of research on them. I will definitely look into them though because I love the color of their eggs

I love them. But I'm bias of course
You may get some that don't like them. It's all individual birds. Someone here said they can be chatty. I have a couple girls that are chatty but others will lay eggs and come out silent.

I'm just getting into genetics so fairly new there. And only have a couple breeds your looking to get, @NatJ and @fluffycrow can give you some pointers for some of your other breeds you picked for crosses.
But I can tell you if you thought Black Copper Marans roo and a few hens would get you your darker eggs.
Your BCM roo x your Barred Rocks hens would give you sex linked Midnight Majesty Marans. Boys will be barred and girls will resemble the BCM's and lay not as dark but often speckled eggs.
Your BCM roo x blue egg gene Easter Egger will give you your Olive Eggers. (Olive eggs)
The genetics for the EE egg color is still a little confusing to me, @NatJ can explain this in more detail.

So there's some cool egg colors to add to your basket.