![]() Of course, how many males you keep will depend on your ultimate goal. Turkey hens will produce fertile eggs when mated during one day every two weeks or so. With chickens, one way to minimize injuries without affecting egg fertility is to let the roosters in with the hens for only one day every week or 10 days. Multiple males are also more likely to get along where they have plenty of space for each to gather a harem without running into interference from the others.Ĭommon sense should tell you that even when your flock’s mating ratio is optimal according to the guidelines, if your hens are being abused or your egg fertility is low, the situation must be analyzed and a change must be made. Roosters that grow up together from chicks tend to work out their differences early in life and get along fairly well thereafter. Further, if the mating ratio for your flock calls for two males, they may spend more time sparring each other than might be the case if you had at least three males.Īnother important consideration is whether or not the males are raised together. Both an immature male and an aging male, for example, can typically handle only about half as many hens as a virile young, but fully mature male. If a flock includes too few males, they will favor some hens and ignore others, resulting in uneven fertility.Įstablished mating ratios are not set in stone, but are little more than basic guidelines. Excessive treading results in ripped out feathers and torn flesh. When they’re not fighting they will be mating each hen too often, causing serious injuries from treading - the movements a rooster makes with his feet to keep from sliding off a hen’s back while he is attempting to mate. Why is the mating ratio important? If a flock includes too many males, fertility will be low because they will spend too much time fighting among themselves. Cackle Hatchery takes the guesswork out of mating ratios by including this information in the “Breed Facts” description for each breed. For heavy birds like broad breasted Bronze turkeys the mating ratio is 4 to 1. For laid-back bantam Silkies, the mating ratio is 6 to 1. The optimal mating ratio for lightweight and extremely active Leghorn chickens, for example, is 12 to 1. The optimal number of hens available for each rooster varies from breed to breed and depends a great deal on bird size and the breed’s degree of activity. The end result would be injuries all around. ![]() If your goal is to obtain fertile eggs for hatching, that ratio will result in males fighting excessively with each other, and when they’re not fighting they will mate excessively with the hens. Most poultry naturally hatch approximately 50 percent females and 50 percent males. The optimal mating ratio for chickens, turkeys, and other poultry is not the same ratio in which they typically hatch. ![]()
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