2 roos

OK so 2 of our young hens turned out to be handsome young roos. From what I hear from like a million people, it's "got to get rid of one" to they'll be fine since they grew up together long as they eat, roost and hang out together."

Well, they were raised together, have slept side by side together since they were a week old, eat together and hang out like they're connected at the wing tips.
Even right now on the chicken cam I see them sitting under a tree side by side. Tell me this is a good sign for the future. They're so sweet and gentle and my wife would be very sad to see one go.

What do you say folks? Any common situations had or in the making?

It's a good sign but too early to tell. It will largely depend on how many pullets you have. If you have at least 10 hens (20 would be better) it will be ok. If you only have 3 or 4, that isn't nearly enough.

ChickenCanoe said:

It's a good sign but too early to tell. It will largely depend on how many pullets you have. If you have at least 10 hens (20 would be better) it will be ok. If you only have 3 or 4, that isn't nearly enough.

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I agree with chickencanoe and perfectplumage. Too early to tell. I had 5 cockerels that were raised together. I eliminated two for aggression leaving me with three. I added what was supposed to be a young pullet to the flock that was 5 weeks younger than the existing cockerels. It turned out to be a beautiful Lavender Orpington cockerel. The first 3 roosters, raised together from the egg have their own pecking order. Two seem to trade off Alpha status while the third gets chased to the parameter of the flock where he occasionally 'sneaks' a go at one of the hens. The fourth cockerel, the youngest, even though he could wear the title of birdzilla easily due to his height and weight, hangs with the third cockerel and has yet to really realize his full potential as Alpha male.

Chicken society is a complex one. Two cockerels that are close now, will turn against one another in a minute once those hormones kick in. Once they do, they will either work it out between them or things will turn real ugly real quick. But from my experience I've noted that at least with our flock, yes, being raised together does take the edge off of things.

OK, things to think about. All great responses, thanks for the input, everyone. We'll start looking for either a home for one of them or...set up another house and pen area and separate them. That will more than likely be the outcome, I mean...just look at them,they're really handsome boys!

Almost all roosters are beautiful boys.
Are they a buff orp and a light brahma?

I had 6 roos for a while. I had gotten them all at different times and only some were raised together. I separated from the hens and let them free range 3 acres. They ran around together like a pack of dogs and got along very well. I find when they are away from the jens they are just fine. They also are fine when with the hens. I think from your description there wont be any problems. My 2 that I kept (too many roosters, not enough hens) patrol the hen run for predators, cuddle with my dog (and ride on his back, he's a black lab-german shephard.), They are super sweet and I dont have any aggression problems. Best of luck!

I wouldn't separate them yet some Roos establish the dominant guy and leave it at that. I have five roosters and they all get along fine and were of different broods. With this in mind all birds are different. I say keep them together until one begins breeding the hens. If the other rooster does nothing about it then you might be fine.

I had the same problem. We ended up finding a new home for one because we only had two hens. If we had started with more hens it would have been fine. They did work out a pecking order and worked well together on protecting the little flock.

Hey ChickenCanoe, Marlin is a buff, yes. Norman is actually a light sussex. I seriously wasn't thinking about separating till something made it a "got to" Like I said, they are the best of buds right now and we wouldn't want to break that up les we have to. They even seem to be fine with sharing duties. Tippy ( speckled sussex and the trouble maker ) got nervy the other day and made a break for it. Hopped up on the gate and over to see what I was doing. I got hold of her and lobbed her back over and no sooner did she touch the ground and both boys gave her a "get back here, missy!" peck and off they went back to their destruction of the compost pile. Norm seemed like he was going to be bossman but we been seeing Marlin moving up. Aside from a "uh uh I eat this" or uh uh this is my chair" no fights. Just mexican stand-offs. And the hawk..almost forgot to talk about that. There's this mated pair around us and one of them landed in a tree close to the run and both boys went on defcon 3. It was amazing, even young as they are. Anyways, we're hoping for the best but we'll prepare for the worst.
Crossin fingers here in So Flo