Expert: Julia Booth - 5/4/2008

Question

What is different if in a hen house there are more roosters (cockerels) than hens, or if there are more hens? (The reply does not involve egg productivity, or noise, or fighting, or their eating habits).
EXPLANATION:Scientists carried out experiments by placing,in some hen houses (cages) more roosters than hens, and in other hen houses more hens than roosters. They observed consistently a difference, i.e. something different in the first case and something else in the second case. I do not know what. However,I do know that this difference does not relate to egg productivity (how many eggs laid) or to noise made, or to quarrelling, or to their eating habits.  

Answer
I don't know a lot about game birds, per se. I do know that a pecking order is established in any environment that houses chickens. A dominant female and a dominant male are at the top. Roosters are competitive by nature, because they want to mate with as many hens as possible before any other roosters can. I have no idea how this would effect them in the long run.

You might have better luck looking under livestock or poultry.