2 Cockerels and lots of questions

[HappyClucker7]

Well, I've accidentally ended up with two cockerels this year, and I can't part with either of them. But, I don't have enough girls to keep them in the main coop, so...I'm going to build a bachelor coop! (Which, leaves two vacancies in the main coop. Chicken math ) Now, I've never owned roosters before, so I'm kind of clueless.
How big should the bachelor coop be? One rooster is an EE and the other is a cochin bantam.
How close can I put it to the main coop?
Can the boys still see my hens, or will that cause fights?
Can I let the boys and girls out together, or will they always have to be separate?
The cockerels are 4 months old now. How much longer can they be in the main coop before they start fighting?
What should I feed the boys once they're in their new coop?
What should I feed my whole flock while the boys are still in there? I assume I can't switch to layer feed in another month or two.
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Whole flock is just fine for males. I think the girls have to be out of sight.

 

[FuzzyCritters]

Hi! Bachelor flocks are a great way to keep roos. I have one and the roos are very happy in it. They actually behave better than hens!

How big should the bachelor coop be?

MINIMUM 2 ft of roost, 4 sq ft in the coop, and 6 sq feet in the run per chicken. Bigger is always better, especially with roos. I personally would make the coop and run big enough for 3 cockerels in case you ever get a third one you want to keep, but it is up to you.

How close can I put it to the main coop?
Can the boys still see my hens, or will that cause fights?

It's better that the roos can't see the hens, because they can fight over hens if they can still see them. If you have enough space, they should be far enough away from the main coop that they can not see the hens. Roos also crow less when they can't see hens.

Can I let the boys and girls out together, or will they always have to be separate?

Once separate, boys and girls should not be together. It will just stress the boys out to only occasionally be in contact with the girls instead of all the time, so its best just to prevent that by not having them come in contact with each other once separated. The hens can also be stressed out by having flock members join them only once in a while. Roos will also fight and crow less when they are not in contact with hens.

The cockerels are 4 months old now. How much longer can they be in the main coop before they start fighting?

They might never start fighting if they were raised together. If they were to start fighting, it would probably be when the reach maturity at around 5 months old, because they will want to fight for hens.

What should I feed the boys once they're in their new coop?

Grower/flock raiser food. The high calcium content in layer can harm roosters, so since there will be no hens living with them there is no point in potentially harming them with layer food. If you have laying hens and don't want to buy two types of food, you can feed the layers grower/flock raiser and supplement with oyster shell. Other than calcium content, layer and grower aren't much different.

What should I feed my whole flock while the boys are still in there? I assume I can't switch to layer feed in another month or two.

If they are living with laying hens, you can feed the flock layer. A month or two of layer shouldn't hurt them. If they are living with pullets, you can continue feeding the flock grower/flock raiser until the boys move out or the pullets start laying, whichever comes first, unless you decide to keep your girls on grower/flock raiser.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Well, I've accidentally ended up with two cockerels this year, and I can't part with either of them. But, I don't have enough girls to keep them in the main coop, so...I'm going to build a bachelor coop! (Which, leaves two vacancies in the main coop. Chicken math ) Now, I've never owned roosters before, so I'm kind of clueless.
How big should the bachelor coop be?
How close can I put it to the main coop?
Can the boys still see my hens, or will that cause fights?
Can I let the boys and girls out together, or will they always have to be separate?
The cockerels are 4 months old now. How much longer can they be in the main coop before they start fighting?
What should I feed the boys once they're in their new coop?
What should I feed my whole flock while the boys are still in there? I assume I can't switch to layer feed in another month or two.
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me!

Even though I’ve had lots of past experience with bachelor pads, I never measured or paid much attention to the size of their coops, so I can’t help with that. The people on this thread can probably give you a better idea- https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rooster-flock-thread.1221382/. However, I’d recommend that you build it as big as you can and are comfortable with. Building it about twice as big as you’d do for a coop with the same number of hens would be a good starting point. It can be close to your main coop (mine was). Some people have bad experience when the roos can see the hens, so you may want to keep that in mind. Once you’ve separated them, it’s not a good idea to let them out with the hens again. However, if you want to free range them, try doing it on alternate days (main flock on one day, roo flock on the next day, etc). It’s possible that they won’t fight for a while as they were raised together, but I would watch them carefully. It could happen in the next month or two. I feed my chickens flock raiser with separate oyster shell (even though I only have hens now). Other options are all flock and grower feed.
Good luck with your bachelor pad!

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Even though I’ve had lots of past experience with bachelor pads, I never measured or paid much attention to the size of their coops, so I can’t help with that. The people on this thread can probably give you a better idea- https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rooster-flock-thread.1221382/. However, I’d recommend that you build it as big as you can and are comfortable with. Building it about twice as big as you’d do for a coop with the same number of hens would be a good starting point. It can be close to your main coop (mine was). Some people have bad experience when the roos can see the hens, so you may want to keep that in mind. Once you’ve separated them, it’s not a good idea to let them out with the hens again. However, if you want to free range them, try doing it on alternate days (main flock on one day, roo flock on the next day, etc). It’s possible that they won’t fight for a while as they were raised together, but I would watch them carefully. It could happen in the next month or two. I feed my chickens flock raiser with separate oyster shell (even though I only have hens now). Other options are all flock and grower feed.
Good luck with your bachelor pad!

*slight edit (forgot to answer one of your questions)

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Hi! Bachelor flocks are a great way to keep roos. I have one and the roos are very happy in it. They actually behave better than hens!


MINIMUM 2 sq ft of roost, 4 sq ft in the coop, and 6 sq feet in the run per chicken. Bigger is always better, especially with roos. I personally would make the coop and run big enough for 3 cockerels in case you ever get a third one you want to keep, but it is up to you.


It's better that the roos can't see the hens, because they can fight over hens if they can still see them. If you have enough space, they should be far enough away from the main coop that they can not see the hens. Roos also crow less when they can't see hens.


Once separate, boys and girls should not be together. It will just stress the boys out to only occasionally be in contact with the girls instead of all the time, so its best just to prevent that by not having them come in contact with each other once separated. The hens can also be stressed out by having flock members join them only once in a while. Roos will also fight and crow less when they are not in contact with hens.


They might never start fighting if they were raised together. If they were to start fighting, it would probably be when the reach maturity at around 5 months old, because they will want to fight for hens.


Grower/flock raiser food. The high calcium content in layer can harm roosters, so since there will be no hens living with them there is no point in potentially harming them with layer food. If you have laying hens and don't want to buy two types of food, you can feed the layers grower/flock raiser and supplement with oyster shell. Other than calcium content, layer and grower aren't much different.


If they are living with laying hens, you can feed the flock layer. A month or two of layer shouldn't hurt them. If they are living with pullets, you can continue feeding the flock grower/flock raiser until the boys move out or the pullets start laying, whichever comes first, unless you decide to keep your girls on grower/flock raiser.

 

[aart]

MINIMUM 2 sq ft of roost, 4 sq ft in the coop, and 6 sq feet in the run per chicken.

2 linear feet?
I would think you'd want more coop and run space for a bachelor flock?

 

[HappyClucker7]

Thanks for all this info! It's very helpful.
I forgot to mention in my original post that one of the cockerels is a bantam. I don't know if that changes anything, but I thought it might be important.

 

[FuzzyCritters]

2 linear feet?
I would think you'd want more coop and run space for a bachelor flock?

Thanks for catching that! Yes I did mean linear feet on the roost, I'm used to typing sq ft. As for the amount of space, I did say those were the minimum measurements for space. I don't know how much space the OP has for a bachelor flock, so I was just giving a basic idea for how big it needs to be.