Bonded Roo Trio-how to add hens?!

[RoosterHeavy]

Fourteen months ago, I got three Silkie chicks that were a day old and guaranteed hens. Well surprise! They were all three roosters LOL. So I hand raised them and they are bonded in their own Batchelor coop. I would love to get them some hems, they have a gigantic custom coop with two seperate run enclosures, one on either side. They are extremely friendly and I can hold and snuggle all three of them. They do very well together and just occasionally get in a tussle. When I give them a timeout for fighting, I would occasionally just put one in the run by himself and leave the other two in the other run. After just 5 seconds they'd all start screaming for each other because they were "seperated" and I'd have to put them back together. So when I say bonded, I mean bonded. They aren't without each other for more than a second. What hens should I get for them and how should I incorporate them together? Should I get standard more sturdy hens? I'm worried these three bantam boys could tear up a smaller bantam breed hen. Should the Hens be in a seperate run to start with and they can sleep together at night? Each run has it's own door that leads to the coop in the middle. What quantity should I get? Or should I just let them be by themselves for the rest of their lives? Help! Thanks!

 

[sourland]

I'd be concerned that adding hens would result in fighting for dominance between the roosters.

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

Same as above. I've read that adding hens to a bachelor flock changes the dynamic. They may not stay bonded as they fight(literally and figuratively) oven hens and dominance.

ETA: that being said, adding hens with the see no touch would be good to start integration and possibly pick your favorite rooster?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Glad you joined!

Fourteen months ago, I got three Silkie chicks that were a day old and guaranteed hens. Well surprise! They were all three roosters

Thanks. That age is important information. They should be acting like mature roosters, not immature hormone driven cockerels.

One way many people stop cockerels or roosters form fighting over the girls is to create a bachelor pad. That's where you put nothing but boys in a pen. With no girls to fight over they are often very peaceful with each other. They still have a pecking order but it is often not as violent as if there were any girls around. That's what you accidentally wound up with.

What will happen when you add girls is a huge question mark. There is always a possibility that the boys will continue to get along. It happens, just not a lot. It really helps when you have a lot of room for them. I'm not talking about that 4 square feet in the coop and 10 square feet in the run, I'm talking about real room where they can get out of sight of each other. But even in relatively tight spaces it can possibly work. You do not get guarantees with chickens and their behaviors.

What is more likely to happen is that they fight over the girls. This could be a fight to the death or they may reach an accommodation on how they work together to take care of the flock. If you do bring in some girls I strongly suggest you have a Plan B ready in case they need to be separated quickly.

What hens should I get for them and how should I incorporate them together? Should I get standard more sturdy hens? I'm worried these three bantam boys could tear up a smaller bantam breed hen.

Why do you want the girls? What are your goals with having them? Eggs, hatch chicks, eye candy? Something else? It's hard for me to suggest certain breeds if I don't know why you want them.

You can read a lot on this forum about ratios of boys to girls and all that. I personally don't believe in those ratios relative to over-mating. Those ratios are generally about insuring fertility in a hatchery setting, not how we typically manage them. I've seen some pretty low ratios of girls to boys do fine as far as over-mating. But I've also seen some pretty high rations have issues. To me it has a lot more to do with the personality of the individual chickens than raw numbers. No matter how many girls you have, the boys can select a few favorites and wear them out while the rest go unscathed. Same thing relative to boys fighting over the girls. The ratio has little to do with it. Still, I'd get more than a small handful. Your odds of success are better.

Should the Hens be in a seperate run to start with and they can sleep together at night? Each run has it's own door that leads to the coop in the middle. What quantity should I get? Or should I just let them be by themselves for the rest of their lives?

Again, why do you want the girls? I look at is as "If it ain't broke don't fix it". The odds of things remaining peaceful remain high if you don't changed since they are over a year old. If you bring in some girls the odds of things getting a lot more dramatic go way up.

 

[Mrs. K]

Adding hens will dramatically change their relationship with you. If you love having them as pets, cuddling them and treating them like children vs adults - keep them as you are.

Most often this question is asked in the reverse - people have pets of all hens. Then add a rooster, and the hens no longer respond to the human, but to the rooster. He is in charge, and often times will move so that he is between you and the hens. A lot of people don't like that. They want to share the hens with the rooster, the rooster does not like to share hens at all.

Then there is the idea, that if you have enough hens, each rooster will get his own girls, and it will be wonderful. Roosters really do not understand the concept of sharing, they want all of the hens, they really don't get the idea of those are your, and these are mine.

People that do have multiple roosters successfully, don't start out with them from flock mate birds. Those society are grown into and need a lot of space, a lot of hens, and generations. The easiest way, is to add a mature rooster to newly laying hens. The following year, hatch out chicks, have them raised in the flock. Have a HUGE amount of space as in free ranging at will. Those cockerels will be tolerated by the old rooster, generally speaking, kind of, sort of. Often times what happens is the young cockerel will challenge the old rooster. They don't call it cock fighting for nothing. But with space the loser can escape.

It is all a bit violent, and it does not go according to people's wishes, it is more on the line of survival of the fittest.

Mrs K

 

[RoosterHeavy]

Thank you everyone for your responses. Seem like the general consensus is to just leave them as is. Which makes sense, I'm fine with that. As someone else said, "if it ain't broken, don't fix it". The reason I had wondered in the first place: They like to try to mate with my arm when I enter their coop, so I distract them to something else (it's pretty easy when they only share one brain cell LOL). Also, when I let them free range during the day, they need to be supervised because about 10% of the time they like to fight about something. So I had just thought maybe it's time they have their own hens. But the size of the flock would really be an issue because I think I'd almost need thirty hens to keep them all distracted with each other and occupied with something else......which is another huge responsibility because I have two other established coops already and bringing in something that size just makes wayyyy more work for me and I'm tired enough. Thanks again everyone, enjoy Fall!

 

[The Chickens' Maid]

Aww yeah don't break up the bromance