I like many people have grown tired of the hormones and chemicals in my food. so my friend and i decided to get some chickens. we got 10 cornish crosses for the barbecue, and 10 aussie pullets and 2 cockreals, 5 barred rock hens and a straight run of americanus.
I did do quite a bite of research before purchasing, the birds. and am a carpenter by trade, so i am fairly confident in the birds saftey in the coop. we plan on free ranging them as much as possible, this is where i cant find any info. If i let a rooster run with the hens how many will he fertlize, all of them or only a few. and if anybody can give me any hints it would be helpful. And i got two roosters so i can keep two separate flocks i know they would fight.
ty for any info
swiss
first time ckicken owner need some help
They won't necessarily fight especially if they were raised together. Most people seem to observe that a rooster gathers a harem of preferred hens and mates with and protects them. He may be quite happy to have another rooster around as long as it isn't messing with his girls. Game breeds will fight--but I don't think any of your breeds are aggressive ones. I think the ideal ratio of roosters to hens for fertile eggs is something like 1 to 10--you want enough hens to keep him happy without wearing them out. Roosters can be a bit hard on hens physically. You don't need a rooster at all for eggs. So if you don't want to hatch and don't want fertile eggs for eating (some people do), I wouldn't worry about the ratio, except that there not be too many roos. None of this applies to the cornish crosses--they never get old enough to act like roos anyway.
Hi, swiss, welcome to Dave's.
I have 31 hens and 3 roos. The roos know who is top dog in the pecking order. He is a 4yr old RIR. He is probably sterile now due to age. The 2 younger ones were raised together and although they do "mock fight" they don't hurt each other. They are a year+ old now.
I have hatchling roos and free from Ideal roos from this year, and will keep 2 or 3 of them depending on how many hens I will have come fall. The rest will go into the pot along with the 2 roos that are adult. That is to insure fertility for next years eggs that I intend to hatch.
GG
your Aussie roos will ikely not fight. it is good for them to all range together, and the roos wil take turns keeping an eye to the sky.... you will learn what their warning crow sounds like... the fifteen hens will be just right for those two...
you will want to find homes fo rthose americauna roos if they start to misbehave, you can expect mor ethan half to be males... and not a bad idea for them to free range on odd days or the weekends or something like that... they aren't as diligent ranging as Australorps.
where di dyou purchase your chicks?
thanks ffor help every one.
got the chicks from the cackle hatchery. excited that i will be able to keep the roosters with the flock. if i have 17 hens with two aussie roos what percentage of eggs will be fertilized. i want some for rotation but want unfertilized eggs to. and it is better to let hens sit on eggs or separate and incubate egg my self. well i wouldnt actually sit on it and incubate but my incubater could do the work for me(used to breed australian bearded dragons so i have alot of incubators around).
thanks again
swiss
Swiss, the only way to get unfertile eggs is to keep the hens away from the roosters. Most of the eggs will be fertile if you let them all range together. I set 40 eggs this spring, and about 75% of them were fertile.
GG
thats what i was afraid of males i have an old rabbit cage was gonna use that for roosters will it be ok if hens can see roosters but they are separated by chicken wire. and can i say again how much i love watching these guys grow. cant wait for first eggs. in fact im leaving in a few minutes to go buy 5 egg layers from a farm an hour away. so i should have eggs in a few days. i am assuming the stress of moving them and a new coop will stress them, and stop eggs am i right. picking up 2 rhode island reds and 3 unknown bantams will get some pictures soon and post thanks gg this is all new and i love any input
ty again swiss
Swiss, I have moved chickens from a farm and they laid eggs on the way home. Some quit because of stress, but some don't. So you might be getting eggs right along.
Good luck with your chickens.
GG
i was going ot say the same thing. got 6 pullets home and two eggs in the cage LOL they were Black Australorps. what layers are you getitng Swiss? have you ocnsidered keeping htem separate from yours for a time?
LOL....me too.....or is that me three? I was going to say I wouldn't be surprised if you found eggs in the cage when you got home! We have moved several laying hens.....once we had 5 RIR hens in the back of the truck, on a day that was very windy and a bit chilly. When we got home we had 5 RIR's and 3 eggs! We couldn't believe it and laughed!
Good luck to you!
Christy
ty got three silkies and 2 rhode islands they are great. got 2 eggs first day and 3 today. saving them for a fresh omellete this week end. cant wait.