2 roosters in the same coop, same flock

ashnnick

Chirping
Jan 18, 2016
17
3
54
We have 14 chickens total. We have an older flock of 8 that has a RIR rooster & the younger flock of 6 with a rooster. We've completed the introduction phase of being in the coop but separate but now we're trying to integrate them. Can 2 roosters stay in the same coop & get along? They're ve had 1 fight & the young one backed down
 
Hello from down under Australia and welcome to BYC!
They sound like they have enough hens to share. As long as they aren't fighting alot then they should be fine together.
You are going to love it here.

Feel free to pop by and share your daily updates for 2019 too.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/flock-life-journeys-2019.1286370/

Lovely to meet you and hope to speak more.
 
sw_chicken_sweats_04_lb_151124_12x5_992.jpg
Welcome to BYC!​
Don’t forget to check out the Learning Center:https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/
 
Maybe - some have one fight, and they are fine. Some have one fight, wait, and fight again, and some have a knock down drag out fight every chance they get.

Have a way to separate them, a long handled fish net, or a towel. A place to put the separated birds. This needs to be set up and ready to go. Have a doable plan B in case it does not work.

Mrs K
 
How old is that younger rooster? Sounds like he may still be immature. Up to a certain point the more mature will dominate the less mature, but at some point that difference goes away. The dynamics can change as one matures.

Can two roosters share the same coop and not kill each other? It happens. Can two roosters fight until one of them is dead if they share the same coop or run? It happens. You do not get guarantees with behaviors of living animals.

Assuming the younger is mature enough, different things cold happen. They will fight, as you sort of saw. Sometimes that fight is to the death, one just does not stop until the other is dead. Sometimes they fight until one admits defeat, then they work out an accommodation. That accommodation is often that each rooster claims a certain territory during the day out of sight of each other and each gets his own harem. Sometimes they sleep separately, sometimes they share the same coop at night. I have seen two roosters hang together during the day. Different things can happen.

But one thing is as certain as anything can be with chickens, they will know which one is the boss. What often happens when they fight is that one decides he is better running away than staying to fight so he runs away. He admits the other rooster won. There may be some rematches in the future but as long as one runs away it can end peacefully.

This is what concerns me, how much room do you have? Does the loser have enough room to run away? The winner usually chases the loser some. If the loser cannot get away the winner does not know he has won. He keeps attacking. If he can't get away the loser often hunkers down and tries to protect his head. The winner keeps attacking the head because that is the best way to kill him. How much room you have is really important.

It helps if they are raised together, either one a mature rooster and the other a chick or both as siblings, but people do add mature roosters. Sometimes it works even if space is tight, you do not get guarantees with living animals and their behaviors. The more room you have in the coop, on the roosts, and especially outside (as long as they have access to the outside) the better your chances of success. This does not mean you are doomed to failure if space is tight any more than you are guaranteed success with a lot of room. As Mrs. K said, have a Plan B ready and try it when you can observe.

One thing I would not do, do not let them at each other when they are locked in the coop. Give them access to outside so the loser at least has a chance to run away.

Good luck!
 
Are the two males related?
The short general answer is no, they won't get along. Despite what people may say about natural instincts being bred out of them and all the rest of the caveats regarding animals behavior. The natural arrangement is one rooster and 'his' hens. If you force them to live in an unnatural arrangement then you're going to get behavior problems.
The next thing is then how much aggression and competition is there going to be between the two. Given enough space (i've yet to see any run that will provide this) then one rooster may take the senior role and the hens will gravitate towards him for mating and food while the other will hang around on the outskirts trying to entice hens away from the senior rooster. This can work for an indefinite period of time but often there comes a point when the junior rooster will fight the senior in order to mate.
The critical thing in my experience is if they have no alternative but to live together.
The solution is more than one coop. This way if the senior rooster drives the junior out, which is what happens in a more natural arrangement the junior rooster has somewhere to go. Here, it's been up a tree on a few occasion the population has grown faster than the accommodation.
Once the junior rooster has accommodation way from the senior then he can start to attract some of the hens way from the senior rooster. I've found if the senior rooster has more than three, or four hens which will be his favorites, and all he can cope with if fulfilling his rooster duties to the full, the junior rooster will persuade some of the junior hens to follow him. It's a very interesting process to observe.
All the above requires space and time.
You are bound to get posters who will say they keep multiple roosters with a group of hens without problems. Yes it can be done but it isn't 'natural and given a long enough time period the natural has a habit of breaking loose along with the fights.
My best record now is a father and son relationship sharing 4 to 5 hens living in the same coop. While the junior rooster 'tests' the senior from time to time for leadership fitness they get along pretty well. This has gone on for 4 years now.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom