First off, I know what the solution to my problem is.....I just don't want to admit defeat and do it!
We have two bachelor roosters that live in a pen of their own in the main coop and run. I had to seperate them from the main flock due to aggressiveness towards the other roosters. They weren't just trying to work out pecking order. Once the hormones kicked in, these babies that had been together since day one suddenly had our two Welsummer roosters cornered in the coop or run and were beating the living snot out of them. One Welly wound up injured and has a bad hock joint due to the beatings he took. The terrible two would actually gang up on one of the Welsummer roos to the point that they were not even fighting back with them, just running for their lives.
So the terrible duo was pulled from the flock and put in a pen behind the barn and I began a quest to rehome them. Sign was up for three weeks in front of the house. Pure Bred Buff Orpington roosters! 5 dollars apiece, or make me an offer. After two weeks, I changed the sign to Free Roosters! Invite them over for Sunday dinner! Still no bites and there were plenty of Amish going by stopping and reading the sign. I couldn't even give these two guys away as a free meal!
In the mean time, rooster #1 had developed the nasty habit of pecking and biting me. Number 2 had one temper outburst while I was handling Rooster #1 but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he was going after #1 and not me. Like most roosters the pecker would hit and run, I'd employ one of the different behavior modifications and he would stop for a while only to start in again...no big surprise. But with winter coming, I decided to move them into a spare coop in the main run so I could take care of them when I fed and watered the main flock.
The pecker really has times when he is quite docile and sweet. One day, I let them out to run around in the yard a bit (mostly they hung out near the back door) and our two youngest dogs that had been ignoring them for days, suddenly decided not to and took off chasing Rooster #1. They roughed him up a bit, pulled feathers mostly but when I caught up with them, he was sitting on the back porch, near the door begging to be let in. I picked him up, cuddled him a bit, checked him over for injuries and put him back in the bachelor pen. For a week, he has been the picture of docile roosterdom.
Last night while closing up their coop for the night, the little begger pecked me hard on my leg, held on and twisted his head. I now have a bruise on my leg from his attack. I know he has to go before something worse happens to myself or my husband now that they are getting old enough to grow spurs (24 weeks)
That would leave me with one bachelor Buff O and we all know one bird cannot survive the winter alone in the coop at night. I have no hope of reintroducing him to the flock and seriously do not have enough hens to do so. One day they slipped through the gate while I was feeding and within 5 minutes the three main roosters had noticed the invasion and the fun began. They went at one another for ten minutes. I honestly think the Wellies remember having the snot beat out of them by these two boys because they hate the ground these two Buffs walk on. They spend most of their time standing with their beaks against the fence and their hackles raised as if saying, "come on, make my day!"
I wish this was easy. I wish they would be agreeable. I wish I didn't have to make this decision.
I'm sure others have stories just like this one, like I said, I know what has to be done about the 'pecker' and just needed to vent a bit.
We have two bachelor roosters that live in a pen of their own in the main coop and run. I had to seperate them from the main flock due to aggressiveness towards the other roosters. They weren't just trying to work out pecking order. Once the hormones kicked in, these babies that had been together since day one suddenly had our two Welsummer roosters cornered in the coop or run and were beating the living snot out of them. One Welly wound up injured and has a bad hock joint due to the beatings he took. The terrible two would actually gang up on one of the Welsummer roos to the point that they were not even fighting back with them, just running for their lives.
So the terrible duo was pulled from the flock and put in a pen behind the barn and I began a quest to rehome them. Sign was up for three weeks in front of the house. Pure Bred Buff Orpington roosters! 5 dollars apiece, or make me an offer. After two weeks, I changed the sign to Free Roosters! Invite them over for Sunday dinner! Still no bites and there were plenty of Amish going by stopping and reading the sign. I couldn't even give these two guys away as a free meal!
In the mean time, rooster #1 had developed the nasty habit of pecking and biting me. Number 2 had one temper outburst while I was handling Rooster #1 but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he was going after #1 and not me. Like most roosters the pecker would hit and run, I'd employ one of the different behavior modifications and he would stop for a while only to start in again...no big surprise. But with winter coming, I decided to move them into a spare coop in the main run so I could take care of them when I fed and watered the main flock.
The pecker really has times when he is quite docile and sweet. One day, I let them out to run around in the yard a bit (mostly they hung out near the back door) and our two youngest dogs that had been ignoring them for days, suddenly decided not to and took off chasing Rooster #1. They roughed him up a bit, pulled feathers mostly but when I caught up with them, he was sitting on the back porch, near the door begging to be let in. I picked him up, cuddled him a bit, checked him over for injuries and put him back in the bachelor pen. For a week, he has been the picture of docile roosterdom.
Last night while closing up their coop for the night, the little begger pecked me hard on my leg, held on and twisted his head. I now have a bruise on my leg from his attack. I know he has to go before something worse happens to myself or my husband now that they are getting old enough to grow spurs (24 weeks)
That would leave me with one bachelor Buff O and we all know one bird cannot survive the winter alone in the coop at night. I have no hope of reintroducing him to the flock and seriously do not have enough hens to do so. One day they slipped through the gate while I was feeding and within 5 minutes the three main roosters had noticed the invasion and the fun began. They went at one another for ten minutes. I honestly think the Wellies remember having the snot beat out of them by these two boys because they hate the ground these two Buffs walk on. They spend most of their time standing with their beaks against the fence and their hackles raised as if saying, "come on, make my day!"
I wish this was easy. I wish they would be agreeable. I wish I didn't have to make this decision.
I'm sure others have stories just like this one, like I said, I know what has to be done about the 'pecker' and just needed to vent a bit.
Last edited:
