Two cockerels together?

[Valerie47]

Hello to all
I am very happy to have found this very interesting forum. I live in France and have recently become interested in keeping chickens. There is a rare breeds farm near to me and a few weeks ago I bought two pairs of chickens. The first is a pair of golden Phoenix, the other is a pair of Pekin bantams. They are about 5 months old. I also keep 5 bare necked chickens for their eggs. They all sleep together in a coop and are free range in the garden through the day.

My question is, can I keep the two cockerels together? They have been fine up till now but I have been told that in the spring they will fight (maybe to the death) and that I should separate them. This will mean building another coop and run for one of the pairs. Before going to the expense of this I would appreciate any advice and opinions.

Thanks very much

Valerie

 

[Valerie47]

Thanks Egh - this is what I think too but I was rather worried ... The Phoenix is bigger than the bantam Pekin and seems to be the boss. Their breeder said there would be no problem with them being together, and she did have many hens and cockerels together in the same pen but I think they were all young birds. I was worried about my two fighting when they get older but on the plus side they will have grown up together. Thanks again
Valerie

 

[nccountrygirl]

If you want to keep your breeds pure you will need to seperate them though, as you will have cross breeds if you decide to hatch any eggs.

 

[Valerie47]

Thanks nccountrygirl and egh - if all is likely to happen is a few ruffled feathers I won't go to the expense at the moment of separate coops, I'll see what happens. I don't want to breed from them - that would be several steps too far for me at the moment!

 

[EboyDog]

I had 9 Roo's raised togather since they were chicks and while there were a few little fights, they never came close to really non-stop fighting; the larger issue for me was that one roo would start his thing with a hen and then that was just an invintation for all the nearby roo's to jump on the poor girl.

I culled my flock of roo's not becasue they were fighting amoungst themselves but rather they were wearing the poor hens out! I had no issue with their small fights amoungst themselves but took great dislike to them wearing out the the hens.

Now I would suspect that had I brought a new roo in, then all heck would have broke loose with a lot of agression focused on the new guy, while my guys while not to polite to the ladies, they had figured out each other's place in flock and left each other alone; they did free range for hte greater part and had lot's of room for each to have their own area.

 

[silkiechicken]

I've kept roos together and introduced new roos to the flock. There is always pecking at first and some fights but once they figure out who is top roo, it settles down. If they have a lot of space to avoid one another, they should be fine.

 

[Valerie47]

This is very reassuring - I have been told some horror stories about roosters pecking eyes out of rivals, as soon as spring hits the air! My 2 roosters seem to get on fine at the moment, they have been together about 6 weeks so have had time to sort themselves out. They are both so beautiful (their names are Beau Brummell and Boris Pecker) that I don't want to get rid of either - but I do have a home lined up for Boris if the worse comes to the worse. But I plan on keeping both and see what happens.
Thanks to all

 

[Hotwings]

I just thought I would stop by and welcome you to the BYC boards. I don't think we have anyone from France or much of Europe to think about it. Well welcome aboard and we hope you will like it here.

 

[Valerie47]

Hotwings, thankyou! I am learning so much from reading the posts