Rooster questions

[T-Mintz]

Hi, I have two beautiful Black Giant roosters. I only ordered one rooster. Surprise! One of them lost 3 toes on one foot, and one toe on the other foot while
in route to me as chicks. I call him Stumpy. The other rooster is perfect. They are about 6 months old now and Stumpy has pretty much made it clear he rules the roost. The other rooster, I call TooFu, often disagrees and I know I have to make a hard decision soon. I don't care that Stumpy is missing toes, but lately I have noticed him holding the foot missing the most toes up close to his body. Does this mean that he is in pain? I don't want him to be suffering without my knowledge. He is very active, has a beautiful slightly green sheen to his feathers, and seems to be doing everything roosters do except for favoring that foot. He also has a slight limp when he is chasing TooFu away from the hens. The coop run is 38 feet long, and 25 feet wide with a coop that is 8x8 ft with 5 nesting boxes. There is 23 chickens in the chicken yard. However, the two roosters are growing more and more aggressive to each other despite the fact they have plenty of hens and lots of room. One of the roosters has to go. If Stumpy is only going to live in increasing pain I will reluctantly harvest him. But if he should do as well as the others with a just a slight disability, I choose to keep Stumpy. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I am also disabled and these chickens give me purpose, distractions, and joy. Thanks for considering my plight. I admire both roosters, but should I really take a chance with Stumpy's possible pain issues?

Thank you,
Teresa

 

[ChickenCanoe]

My only input is that a rooster missing a bunch of toes may not be as capable as a flock protector.

 

[T-Mintz]

That is a consideration I have overlooked. Thanks for the input.

 

[SweetandSavory]

The fact that he is holding up his foot does not mean he is hurting. Mine do it all the time especially as it gets colder. I would also suggest that they maybe figuring out who is the boss but that does not mean they will always be aggressive to each other. I have a lot of roosters, some would say too many, but once they go through that initial hormone surge they actually get along really well. I find that once the girls pick the boy they want there will be harmony in the coop. If you asked me a year ago I would have given you a different answer but I love my roosters. They all have unique personalities.