Chook Me!

What if you get 2-3 or more roosters from a hatchery?

What if you ordered day old chicks from a hatchery and you got 2-3 roosters. Because I heard that you have to have 1 rooster to every 6-8 hens or something. What would you do? How can you make sure you get all hens or maybe just one rooster? I really don't want any roosters. I am a total novice chicken person, but I am really interested in maybe eventually buying some chickens.

Public Comments

1. The hatchery should be able to tell you if they are hens or roosters. A rooster can take care of atleast 7-10 hens, with out no problem. But just tell the hatchery what you want and they should be able to tell what are hens and what are roosters.
2. when you order from a hatchery you want to MAKE SURE you get "pullets" those are hens,granted sometimes during sexing mistakes can happen,and a rooster or two will get thrown in there,but for the most part they know what theyre doing,I recommend this hatchery http://www.meyerhatchery.com/ we got 26 chicks from there,and they were all hens (thats what we ordered) NEVER get a "straight run" and dont get "cockrels" a straight run is when the chicks have not been sexed,they just take the amount you want (usually at least one extra due to deaths while shipping) and stick them in a box,and Cockrels are all roosters,we have 66 chickens at the moment,and 4 of them are roosters,they have a little hierarchy kind of like dogs,we just let them sort it out on their own,and they are for the most part peaceful,if you have any more questions,feel free to Message me,and I will help you as best I can.
3. You should be able to just order hens (pullets). I don't think you have to have a rooster unless you want to hatch the eggs. The hens should still lay eggs even with no rooster around.