2 Roosters; Only 1 is mounting the girls

[NrmyStrmy]

Hi! Need to know if this will be a problem or a sign of issues or nothing at all.

Have 45 hens and 2 jersey giant roosters. Big boy is 4 1/2 month old and Junior is 4 months old.

Both great roosters and good to the girls and cohabitate well. They share the girls but they have there groupies that are loyal to them. We have not seen Big boy mount any of the hens and only witnessed Junior mounting them.

I wondered if Big Boy was okay or just not the mounting kind lol. Any suggestions or advice helps.

Thanks!

 

[sourland]

Jersey Giants tend to mature later than other birds. I think he will be fine.

 

[NrmyStrmy]

Thank you!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sorry, but you do not have two roosters, you have two immature cockerels. Things will change as they mature. I don't know how they will change, but they will. Jersey Giants are often a little slower to mature than some other breeds.

Even though he is a little younger Junior has probably matured more than Big Boy. He may just be more ready to mate or he may actually be dominating Big Boy. That does not mean he is beating big Boy into submission, he could be dominating just by personality. Chicken society can be kind of subtle.

I assume your girls are about the same age as the boys? Are they laying eggs yet? People tend to ignore them but the girls have a part to play in this also. Are you absolutely sure he is not mounting a few girls when you are not around? How much room they have can make a difference also.

Different things can happen as they mature.

It is possible Big Boy matures to the point he challenges Junior to become flock master. That could mean a fight to the death. Some cockerels or roosters will just not accept defeat and keep going. I would not expect that outcome with what you describe but one could get seriously injured in the fight. What typically happens, especially if they have room, is that one soon decides he is better off running away than continuing a fight. They decide which one is dominant and then work together to protect the flock.

What that often means is that they each claim a certain territory and the girls that want to join a specific one do. Your post indicates this may be going on already. That does not mean every girl selects one or the other. Often with flocks your size some of the girls form their own sub-flocks. I've seen that happen with flocks smaller than yours. As I said, chicken society can be kind of subtle.

That doesn't always happen. I had a flock where the two boys hung together instead of claiming different territories. There were occasional skirmishes so they knew which was dominant and most of the girls hung with them, but a few girls formed their own sub-flock. Both boys were fertilizing eggs, the dominant one more than the submissive. All of the eggs were fertilized, including the girls in the sub-flock.

There are many other scenarios that could happen, most of them positive. I do not see any red flags or hints of problems for you. Sounds like it is going great. I agree with Sourland, give him time to grow up. He will probably be fine. While you never get guarantees with living animals I think your chances of your flock being fine are pretty high also.

Good luck!