Wishful thinking with multiple Roos

[Celine7nh]

I ended up having 21 hens, 2 white barred rock roosters, one NH red rooster. They grew up together, currently 9 months old. They seem to get along fine. Is it wishful thinking that the 3 getting along will continue as they get older? Large 40ft run, 12x12 hen house, plenty of room. Should I remove 2 and go down to 1? Or remove 1 and go down to 2? None of the hens or roosters are separated.

 

[DemeterAD9]

I think it would be fine to wait and see. Observe how it each roo behaves with the hens and of course with each other. If you don’t like what you are seeing from one roo or another then send him to freezer camp.

That’s pretty much what I did but I had 9 cockerels and only 19 pullets. When the first 5 older boys went crazy with hormones I butchered 2 and 2 got lucky enough to be sold to someone else. My pick of the first five became aggressive so he went too. When the next 4 boys went crazy my flock was free ranging so I waited to see who was the least crazy and nicest to the girls (and people). The 2 bad ones went into the freezer and the 2 good ones are now proud fathers of 25 chicks. The cycle will repeat in a few months!

 

[Celine7nh]

Thank you

 

[Shadrach]

I ended up having 21 hens, 2 white barred rock roosters, one NH red rooster. They grew up together, currently 9 months old. They seem to get along fine. Is it wishful thinking that the 3 getting along will continue as they get older? Large 40ft run, 12x12 hen house, plenty of room. Should I remove 2 and go down to 1? Or remove 1 and go down to 2? None of the hens or roosters are separated.

It probably is wishfull thinking if you keep the birds contained. For a creature that will claim an acre or more as it's own territory a 40 foot run is a very small space. You may be lucky. I hope so. But, it's worth being prepared for if it doesn't so assessing which cockerel to keep by the hens reactions to the three is a sensible way forward.

 

[SamLockwood]

I have 20 hens and 3 roosters and they get along OK, but they have about 4+ acres to roam around all day. And by "OK" I'm talking about occasional spats that result in a nicked comb or pulled feathers or chasing, as opposed to them squaring off with hackles raised.

You'll know for sure when they get closer to a year old, because that's when mine started getting serious about jockeying for the role of "head rooster." If you're lucky all you'll have to deal with is some fairly minor cuts or having to feed the loser on the sly for a week or two.