Rooster ratio

[leighton3]

Hi everyone,

I have 5 female ducks, 1 drake, and 3 female chickens right now. I am going to be getting a couple more hens, probably 3-4. I also want to get some roosters. I was just wondering what a good hen to rooster ratio is? I was thinking one? Also does it matter if the roo is a bantam or standard size? May be getting 1 of each.

 

[PirocaKeeper]

A good ratio for the chickens would be 1 rooster per 8-10 hens. Be mindful that not all rooster breeds can be brought to be together, some breeds are quite aggressive. I would start with 1 rooster even with the amount of hens you already have. Perhaps you may want to grow the next one out of your own chicks, in this manner you will not be necessarily introducing 2 stranger rooster to a flock. It could be disaster. Even if the roosters got along, the smaller the flock the more the hens will be mated with, not a good deal for them, as they will be overbreed and feather on top of them can be damages and broken. Not to scare you or anything like that. My advice start with one.

 

[Happy Chooks]

1 rooster to 8-10 hens is a good ratio. You still may have a "favorite" that gets a bit much mating, which results in loss of feathers in front of the tail. Your main issue though, is your drake. Drakes have "parts" for mating, and chickens mate just by a cloacal touch. So a drake will mate your hens, and he can cause injury or death to them.

 

[leighton3]

Thanks everyone! I will have 1 rooster to 8 hens. I am also getting two bantam chickens though and they are straight run. Hoping if one or both are roosters that I won't have any issues or I will have to get rid of them. My drake is smaller than all of my other birds and he has never hurt the chickens. He is very skittish and the hens are not afraid of him.