What's the chance my two Roos can live together peacefully?

[farlo4]

I have eight young chickens and it seems that two are becoming cockerels. Four of the chicks are 3-4 weeks old, and the other four are 10 weeks old. They are living together full time now. One of the 10 week olds is obviously a roo because he crows every day. He's a White Cochin Bantam. The other one is the 3 week old. It's already obvious that he's going to be a roo because of his comb. He is a Silver Laced Wyandotte. The sad thing as that those two are my favorite of all the chicks and they both happened to be roos. So my question is, what's the chance they can live together peacefully? They free range except for being locked up at night. There will be six hens with them. I also worry because one is a Bantam and the other isn't, so he's gonna be smaller. Will he get picked on because of that? Or will he be okay because he's the older roo? Please let me know what you think. I really don't want to get rid of either of them. :/

 

[Hayduke27]

I was in a similar situation last year. When two males are raised together, they do manage to sort out a pecking order. However, with roosters there are always a lot of variables. As they get older, you'll begin to see whether each or both of them develop aggressive tendencies. Sometimes roosters get nasty, and if that happens, you'll see some altercations. Also, as they get their hormones going and become interested in hens, they may become possessive. On a side note, your flock is not big enough for two roosters to be actively mating the hens. You need at least 6 hens per rooster, but even that is a bare minimum. You'll start to see your hens losing feathers on their backs from too much attention.

I guess the short answer is that yes, it is possible for two roosters to co exist peacefully. However, they need a lot of space and a lot of hens.

 

[bobbi-j]

The only way to know is to give it a try, but have a plan in case it doesn't work out. As Ridgerunner often says, you're dealing with live animals so there are no absolutes. Your hens could become stressed from being overmated. That will affect egg production. The roosters may fight over the hens. One of them could get injured or killed. Or, they may not fight an all will be well. You won't know until it happens.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

A SLW roo should tip the scales at about 8 pounds. The little bantam Cochin rooster, on the other hand maybe less than 1 1/2 pounds. Unless your SLW roo is a total and complete dork he should completely dominate the bantam rooster. Do remember however, that the pecking order is fluid and any time that a rooster sees weakness he will will test his former master's resolve.

 

[donrae]

The only way to know is to give it a try, but have a plan in case it doesn't work out. As Ridgerunner often says, you're dealing with live animals so there are no absolutes. Your hens could become stressed from being overmated. That will affect egg production. The roosters may fight over the hens. One of them could get injured or killed. Or, they may not fight an all will be well. You won't know until it happens.

x2. It's one of those "try it and see how it goes" kind of things. Free ranging sure increases your odds of it going well.

 

[farlo4]

Thanks for the advice everyone I'm going to just wait it out and see how it goes.

 

[aart]

I tried it, didn't work out.

Once the cockerel got old enough to want to mate, the senior roo didn't school him and jr was stalking the hens and pullets at the nest boxes and egg production went down.
I was luckily prepared with a partition in the coop and jr spent the rest of the winter there alone, egg production went way up and he made some delicious rooster n noodles come spring.

Mine were a year apart age wise, so that makes difference from your situation....but have a separate coop or part of the coop ready in case you need to separate.

 

[Michael Apple]

Unless one wants injured or dead cockerels, each one should be separate with their own flock.

 

[centrarchid]

I have eight young chickens and it seems that two are becoming cockerels. Four of the chicks are 3-4 weeks old, and the other four are 10 weeks old. They are living together full time now. One of the 10 week olds is obviously a roo because he crows every day. He's a White Cochin Bantam. The other one is the 3 week old. It's already obvious that he's going to be a roo because of his comb. He is a Silver Laced Wyandotte. The sad thing as that those two are my favorite of all the chicks and they both happened to be roos. So my question is, what's the chance they can live together peacefully? They free range except for being locked up at night. There will be six hens with them. I also worry because one is a Bantam and the other isn't, so he's gonna be smaller. Will he get picked on because of that? Or will he be okay because he's the older roo? Please let me know what you think. I really don't want to get rid of either of them. :/

Takes more space to do it but you can have the flock split into two this fall when they mature. This requires at least two cover patches with a 100 feet or more between them. Place a feeder at each. Each rooster will likely adopt a feeding station / cover patch as core of his territory making so to discrete flocks with minimal conflict possible. Even if one outright dominates the other, the subordinate can move with his harem to the other location. You may also observe some hens flat out avoiding attentions of one rooster, even if he is dominant.

I do this with American Dominiques and a cross with them involving American Games. One harem around house is even led by a gamerooster so it can be done even with one of those (only one).

 

[Michael Apple]

No reason to complicate matters and still risk dead roosters. Keep them separate, or eventually they will kill each other. That is the only option.