Boys always love to be surrounded by girls, isn’t it? On the other hand, a lot of girls follow a boy & enjoys his presence around them. Same goes on for the roosters & hens as well. But there is always a confusion that should roosters be kept with the laying hens in a coop or not. Hope that this article will clear all the confusions of the readers on keeping roosters & hens separated or not.
Why keep roosters & hens together?
If you want your hens to breed naturally& if you feel really lazy to do artificial breeding then you must keep your rooster & hens together. Other than that, try to keep them separated. For 8-10 hens only one rooster is enough in your coop.
A rooster also adds some variation in the coop. your hens will enjoy the presence of their rooster around them. A charming & joyous environment remains in the coop within the hens in a coop because of the rooster. Roosters usually protect their hens from any upcoming present danger around them. They start squawking & crowing to alert their hens about the risk & protects them from the harm.
Also, a rooster helps to find food for his hens. He enjoys having good food & wanting to share his food with his hens as well. So, a rooster will keep your hens happy & your hens will be breeding naturally. Until or unless the rooster harms any hen or chicken from the coop, you can keep your roosters & hens together.
When do roosters start mating?
Your rooster will start mating his hens from his 5-6 months age. When it’s the time for his mating he chooses the hen that he likes from the flocks & begins mating by dragging his wings. If the hen responds positively & don’t move away when he starts encountering the hen sexually.
During mating, your rooster might harm your hen on her back & her neck. It is often seen that there are bald patches on the neck of your hen & it is quite normal. The hen your rooster likes most might have the baldest patches in the neck.
However, sometimes roosters become really aggressive on their hens & harm their hens very badly. So, keep an eye on your hens & notice if they have any wound on any places or if they are bleeding badly.
How to protect your hens from mating your roosters?
Your hens behave sometimes like dumb girls where they get hurt by the male but still want to be with them. In that case, just like the parents of that dumb girl you have to protect your hens from your roosters.
Simply, if your rooster is aggressive & you can’t separate your rooster from the hens & you can’t stop him mating your hens then take some protective steps for your hens to save them from the harm your rooster is doing to them during mating.
While mating, your rooster will climb onto the back of your hen. By standing on your hen’s back he will force himself on her & maintain balance with his wings& also your rooster will start pecking on the hen’s neck & head. In this process, it is possible that your hens get injured.
To avoid this situation, try using a chicken saddle to protect the back of your hens from the injury. But there is still no device found that can protect your hen from pecking of your rooster during mating. You can get a chicken saddle on Amazon with lowest price here.
When to keep rooster separated from the hens?
As stated before, your rooster can be harmful & aggressive for your hens. Having a rooster is not a very fantastic idea always! Though they are very protective for their hens & have really good reproductive nature, you must keep your rooster separate if he is harming any of your hens.
Keeping a rooster in the coop is a good option but if your rooster is creating trouble for your hens then you should immediately remove him from the coop. Roosters sometimes might become like toxic boyfriends you know! They might hurt your hens on their heads & backs at the time of mating. Also, if there are not enough hens present in the coop for him he might start troubling.
So, keep your rooster separate from hens if you see any negativity. Your hens can’t kick out their toxic boyfriend from their life anyhow! So, definitely, you have to do that for them.
Can you eat fertilized eggs?
If you have separated your hens & your roosters thinking that you will have something dangerous if you eat fertilized eggs then you are wrong. There is no harm in eating fertilized eggs. They are just as normal as the non-fertilized ones.
So, if you are keeping your rooster separate from your hen just because of you think you can’t digest those fertilized eggs then you shouldn’t. The matter is very simple, keep roosters & hens separated only if roosters are harming& hurting your hens & you don’t want any trouble in your coop.
How to keep roosters separated from laying hens?
If you want to keep your roosters & hens separated then make separate living arrangements for them. If you don’t want to breed your hens by your roosters or your roosters are injuring your hens during mating then immediately remove them from the coop.
You can keep your rooster in a cage made with chicken wires. Allow your rooster to open & come out of the cage when he needs to avoid unnecessary crowing. To avoid roosters harming your hens keep the proportion of roosters & hens balanced in the coop. Don’t keep only 3-4 hens with a rooster as it may result in a serious injury while mating. The ideal ratio is 1 rooster for 10 hens. Keep your rooster inside the cage when your hens are out. Make the cage with chicken wires & leave no space for so that the rooster can’t come out of the cage.
Keeping roosters & hens together isn’t necessary. There is no harm if you keep them together. In fact, it’s good to have a rooster in your coop to keep your hens happy & breed naturally. But sometimes it may result in it overbreeding. Also, the attacking nature of your rooster during mating may result in severe injury for your hens. So, it is better to keep your roosters separate from your laying hens to avoid any unnecessary hassles.
