Rooster and flock question

[PlotTwistPoultry]

I know, another rooster question thread. I've read a few of the others posted and have determined it mostly comes down to preference and rooster personality.

I'm hoping, though, that by posting my specific question I may get more specific opinions.

This is my first backyard flock. I have a total of 14 egg hens at 5 weeks old. I would have had 15 but one of the hens is actually a roo. I like him and I'm more than happy to keep him. Except ...

Before I knew he was a roo, I had started talks with someone who was selling an Ayam Cemani roo. He is about 3 weeks older than my flock.

Technically, from what I can gather, 14 hens can work with two roos. But I've also read it really comes down to the roos.

We want a rooster so that we can incubate eggs so that we can replace our meat birds as necessary without reliance on hatcheries. Same with our layers. I want a roo for protection for the flock.

I've got three options from what I can see:
1. Be sad that I have to say no to the gorgeous Ayam Cemani roo and stick with only my lavender Orpington roo for my egg hens.
2. Process an additional meat roo (Western Rustic) and bring the Ayami Cemani in as the roo for the meat birds. This will likely be less than ideal since the hens are already hybrids and won't breed "true." Breeding with an AC may make meat birds smaller than we want.
3. Try having the Ayami Cemani with my flock of hens and see if the two roos can coexist in a friendly way.


Other factors: the egg hens are not free ranged because of our location. They are in a run that is ~225 sq feet.

The meat chickens are in a different run and coop than the egg layers.

Honestly, writing this out, I've probably answered my own question. I now wish the lavender Orpington wasn't a roo so I could stick with my original plan of bringing one in specifically.

But the Ayami Cemani is SOOO gorgeous. And is very used to being handled by people already.

Any advice or experience shared would be greatly appreciated in helping me make the decision.

 

[nuthatched]

How old are the cockerels? 5 and 8 weeks? Generally, you don't want to handle cockerel excessively.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Succumb to chicken math...

3rd Flock of Ayem Cemanis.

 

[malirae]

I personally would keep both and see if they can get along, but only 14 hens is cutting the line for two roosters very close. I myself have two roosters and 15 or 16 hens and they do fight sometimes and chase of the other when doing the ‘thing’ with a hen. But other than that mine are very good with each other. Also roosters that seem well handled can change their behavior very quickly, I have a Buff Orpington that was a lap chicken and as a 8-10 week old would sit in my lap and sleep, but now he barely comes near me and it has only been a few months. I hope this helps!

 

[FrostRanger]

Succumb to chicken math...

3rd Flock of Ayem Cemanis.

Might be the best solution as they are aren't the best for either eggs or meat.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

Ayam Cemani are terrible layers (50 a year?), have no meat, and aren't particularly special in any manner other than being dark. I wouldn't introduce one personally because you'll simply end up with dark and useless chickens

14 hens might be enough for two brothers, or a father and son, but introducing a strange rooster will very likely cause intense conflict

 

[malirae]

I wouldn’t spend all the time and money to just get an entire flock of Ayam Cemani chickens just for that one rooster.

 

[malirae]

Ayam Cemani are terrible layers (50 a year?), have no meat, and aren't particularly special in any manner other than being dark. I wouldn't introduce one personally because you'll simply end up with dark and useless chickens

14 hens might be enough for two brothers, or a father and son, but introducing a strange rooster will very likely cause intense conflict

My two rooster grew up together since they were a few days old, but sometimes they still don’t get along, so introducing a strange new rooster this late in their life is probably not the best choice, even if the Ayam Cemani is nice to people, that’s almost never the same with another roo naturally.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

AC are really not hard to find anymore and the next one will be so gorgeous too. You can see that what I'd do is just see how it goes with the LO. I've had a very sweet LO Rooster in the past BUT I only have 1 Roo or none, I just personally don't ever want to roll with 2 (I have 15hens.) You can't get the LO back if the AC doesn't work, but you don't have to get rid of anyone by just seeing how it works out with the LO. Yep, I'm decided here......

 

[PlotTwistPoultry]

Honestly these replies have just helped me grow more certain in my decision. If we had more room for a much larger flock, I'd be more willing to consider it but we already have two separate chicken areas.

I'll fully admit I wanted the AC purely for aesthetic reasons. I'll go ahead and keep loving on my LO roo more and hope I can keep his love (tolerance really) with treats.