Hi Grace. Welcome to the forum, glad you joined.
It looks like I’m going to have 3 roosters. Can I keep all of them if I get more ladies?
My intention is to raise them for eggs and meat so I need to keep at least one rooster. But I also don’t want to risk having a high number of unfertilized eggs.
The 1 to 10 ratio you see quoted so much in here is an idealized average ratio to insure fertility in chickens raised by the pen breeding method. One hatchery used to actually list how many roosters they needed with each breed to assure perfect fertilization. It was all over the board. For some flocks it was 1 to 7, others 1 to 20. If they were kept under different conditions, such as free ranging, those ratios could change a bunch. The age of the boys can make a difference too. Younger ones are more active. The only way to know what it takes to keep all of your hen fertile is to try it.
Sometimes you have behavioral problems with a very low boy-girl ratio, sometimes not. Sometimes you have behavioral issues with a very high boy-girl ratio. Some flocks with a 1 to 2 ratio do not have problems, some flocks with a ratio over 1 to 20 do have issues. The boys may get along or they may fight to the death. Each chicken has its own personality (boy and girl) and each flock has its own dynamics. You are dealing with living animals, not mathematical formulas. The guidelines can give you a rough idea of what might happen but the actual results may vary wildly. Try to follow guidelines, they are there for a reason. But you have to be flexible as you are dealing with living animals.
I don't know how many girls you have or what your goals are for number of eggs. Personally I would not get more girls to improve ratios. That generally does not work, all it means is you now have to go through an integration in addition to everything else. If you want more girls then get more girls. But don't get them because you think it will solve a behavioral problem.
Telling me that you have a 10' x 26' area tells my very little as to how many chickens you can keep. How much or that is coop, how much run? How do you manage them, free range or keep them confined? Where are you located so I have an idea of your climate. Capacity can change dramatically in some people's winters compared to the good weather months.
Once again,
to the forum. I'm not trying to beat up on you but trying to get better information so I can better answer you questions. We were all new starting out at some point so ask questions.
