2 Roosters

[EmilyA]

I currently have 2 rooster and 6 hens in the coop. I was hoping to keep both rooster as they are nice, calm birds that were raised together and get along( they are just about 7 month now). So to help even things out I now have 9 babies in the brooder that are under a week old. My question is, what can I do for the poor 6 girls until the other are old enough? The roosters are over mating and leaving bald spots. I'm also confused in that neither rooster seems dominate. Shouldn't that be decided by now? One will mate a hen and the other will jump on when he's done. I can see my older girls are stressed about this and avoid the roosters, where those raised with the rooster seem to except it and have the worst wear. During the day they all free range with the older ones consistently out of sight and avoiding the roosters. I know my problems would be solved if I just gave up one of the roosters but was hoping there might be some managements ideas that could make the whole flock happier? Thanks!!

 

[Frankie Ruiz]

Only solution to me is separate one rooster until the chicks are mature. BUT I've seen chicken blinders I believe they're called pinless peepers. They're supposed to make them not see straight ahead and only see side to side so it would be a lot harder to successfully mount the hens while the blinders are on but that would mean a decrease in fertile eggs or maybe no fertile eggs until the blinders are off. I would give those a try you can find them on eBay for cheap with the pliers you need to put them on. Hope this helps.

 

[EmilyA]

Thanks Frankie! If I seperate the rooster, do I reintroduce him when I bring the young ones to the coop or closer to when they start laying and are more mature? I'll look into the chicken blinders too, those sound interesting and I've never heard of them before. Thanks!

 

[Frankie Ruiz]

You would reintroduce him when they start to lay. Glad I could help

 

[JadedPhoenix]

If it were me, I'd separate both roosters since they are companionable with one another. This way no one is totally alone. Chickens need buddies. Then not reintroduce until the new chicks are laying. That will give your old girls time to grow their feathers back. Plus, it is better to introduce more than just one chicken to an established flock at a time. They will both start off back at the bottom of the pecking order and will have to earn the hens' respect by treating them right if they want to be the preferred roo for mating.

As for the dominance thing, sometimes a superior is never truly determined if there is a draw. That makes it really hard on the hens. For a while I had two who would constantly mate which ever hen had caught the others' eye and even though I had about twenty hens, it just stressed the hens out way too much to keep both. The reason being, the favorites were constantly being mated while some of the others were ignored. So even though I had a good ratio, it was thrown off balance when more than half were ignored by the fellas. In the end, I had to get rid of one of the roos. Without the competition, the remaining roo slowed his mating habits down and allowed the hens to recover.

Unfortunately, just because two roosters get along, it doesn't mean that keeping them both is what is right for the hens. Now I have a ratio of one rooster to sixteen hens. No one is over bred nor are any of the hens playing commandos every time they go out to get some grub before running for cover any longer.

 

[aart]

I second JadedPhoenix's advice.....

......and would also suggest you evaluate why you need/want roosters.

If you plan on incubating more chicks in the future, I would pick your favorite cockerel and get rid of the other one for the sake of the hens.
If you are producing specific breeds and need both cockerels, then set up a separate coop/run to comprise 2 flocks, each with it's own cockerel.

 

[EmilyA]

Thank you everyone for the advise. It sounds like for now, my best bet is to seperate both boys to give the girls a break and that buys me some time to decide what to do with the extra rooster without leaving him alone. I didn't necessarily "want" a rooster but I seem to have a knack for picking them as 3 out of my 11 "hens" have turned out that way

and now I've found I like having one around. I think I knew in my heart that eventually one would have to go but its a tough pill to swallow as I know there aren't many long term homes that don't involve a stock pot or freezer for a rooster.
Thanks again for the advice.