[Gardening Mark]

Hi could you plz tell me the hen to cockerel ratio, as I have 13 hens and 3 cocks, is hat too much, as 3 hens and a cock are seperate from  the rest so really its 5 each at the min although one of the cocks isnt getting too much action lol. cheers dude.....

[GrannieAnnie]

Hi Mark, munty's computer isn't well at the moment, so we haven't seen him since Easter.

I'm not an expert, but I think a cockerel can handle more than 5 hens.  I thought it was a lot more, but maybe Aunt Sally will be around soon, and she might know.  We don't hvae cockerels, as our chooks are just for the eggs

[GrannieAnnie]

What about this one then??? lol

http://www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk/nature/chicken_man/chicken_rescue.shtml

[Gardening Mark]

Nice1 Annie, he has his hands full then eh, and boy are these some lucky cocks lol.  I know I dont need so mant cocks but i love the look of them all as they are all different breeds, and I want young ones from them all hopefully....

[GrannieAnnie]

I know what you mean about the cockerels Mark, some of them are really magnificent aren't they?  We had a lovely Rhode Island Red Once.  He was almost Black and how his feathers shone!

[Aunt Sally]

I've no idea what the ideal cock to hen ratio is.  But I'm sure there are other members here (other than Muntjac) who keep cocks.  

I don't want fertile eggs so never wanted a cock.  Don't think the neighbours would be impressed either  :roll:   I believe in a large flock they stop the hens wandering off but I'm afraid that's the limit of my knowledge  

[purplebat]

I just posted a reply on another thread to say that I think I can remember Munty saying about 8 hens to a cockerel; but I'm not sure I could be wrong and quite often am  

[SOURIS]

I thought it was about 5 for a heavy breed cockerel and about 10 for a light breed or bantam cockerel - don't know how accurate that is nor indeed why it should  matter if the cockerel is heavy or light breed. What I can say however is that when I was a kid we had a magnificent Rhode Island Red cockerel with about 11 hens. Unfortunately he died a lot earlier than expected, totally stressed out with far more work than he could manage - the tipping point came when our hens hatched some of our geese eggs and he then "adopted" goslings who did not respect him and nibbled his feathers and then his comb. This was 20 years ago but I still feel very guilty about it. It's important to get that ratio right!

[GrannieAnnie]

I found an American University website just now which said heavy breeds 5 - 10 hens to a cockerel and light breeds 12- 20, so its like gardening, ask 4 gardeners a question and you'll get 6 answers!!!!!!

Same here, but with chooks!!!!!  

[purplebat]

it's like gardening cos it's blooming confusing!    

[Gardening Mark]

Hiya Aunt Sally, just a quick question, as I read you didnt want fertile eggs. Is that a personal preference or is it bad to eat fertile eggs? as I've been eating them like this for a year now and they seem fine to me, although my better half has always been scared of the idea of fertile eggs and rarely tries one. Thanks :?

[Aunt Sally]

There is absolutly no problem with eating fertile eggs  :!:  As long as they've not been incubated at all. I just have no use for a cock as I don't want to breed chickens.  You don't need a cock to produce eggs  :!:

[Foxy]

Hi-
Are you keeping all your cockerels and hens together? Usually for breeding you would separate them into "breeding pens" and each cockerel would have his own harem so to speak -alright for some! But at least you would know which cockerel is um ..working.   Otherwise a young cockerel can service 10 ladies quite easily. Might be different if you are running the cocks altogether!!