A little Rooster advice please...

[Mazza1150]

The boys should sort themselves out. If there's really a problem, you will see lots of blood so it will be unmistakable. Here is one example of a rooster disaster and how I handled it:
keeping-peace-in-the-chicken-yard-despite-too-many-roosters-and-interfering-with-pecking-order

With so few hens, I would say they are the ones most at risk of abuse/overuse. In my experience, young cockerels around 3-4 months old start trying to mate, but either the hens can fight them off, otherwise the other roosters keep them in line. Note: I have a free range flock that has been selected/bred to be hardy and predator savvy, so not all girls may be able to handle themselves with boys of this age.

During the day, the low ranked cockerels seem content to find a single loner hen during the day to hang out with and tidbit for, while the top 2 ranking roosters hang out with their little harems (at least 5-8 hens each). At dawn & dusk (aka frisky hour), the cockerels go after any hens they can find, while the roosters are distracted chasing tail themselves. As the cockerels approach 5 months old, it can get pretty bad for the girls. I just had to rehome my 2 extra cockerels last week because they were literally blocking the chicken door entrance to the coop at night, after the roosters went inside to roost. They would tag-team to terrorize and mate with hens trying to get in to roost, to the extent that several hens were finding alternative roosting spots outside. I was having to manually walk around with a flashlight, looking for stragglers and carry them into coop once it was too dark for the boys to find them.

Good luck with your roosters. One thing, for sure, is that every situation is different and the most important thing is to keep a close eye on the flock. Have a plan to separate and/or remove extra roosters quickly if there is a problem. But you don't have to do it in advance of an actual problem.

This is great advice. Thankyou. Wow, that's a challenging situation with the cockerals blocking the door, that would be a real worry and tough to deal with, I should count myself lucky I'm not dealing with that. Thanks for your good advice, especially that I don't necessarily need to do anything unless I'm seeing an actual issue.

 

[Mazza1150]

It might work, it might not, it might work for a while, might work for years. Do have a plan B, have either a chicken hook or fishnet for pulling fighting birds apart. It is in my opinion, mostly the luck of the draw.

Thank you for your comments. I appreciate it. It's good to know that it might be possible to work, but having a plan B is essential. Thanks

 

[Mazza1150]

I agree with @aart. There are no magic numbers. I have 18 chickens with 2 roosters and still have one that is treated like your rooster. You seem a bit luckier though, as my rooster takes out his frustrations on me in the form of attempted flogging. I am his chosen outlet for feeling like his not the bottom on the pecking order.

Well, he is very pecky with me, and they do hurt, and I think he may be trying to make me the bottom of the of the order, but the other rooster we gave away, Oreo, was more aggressive and would try to flog me every time I went in. This is so helpful and a great place to learn. Thank you for taking the time to respond.

 

[halefamily_flock]

Well, he is very pecky with me, and they do hurt, and I think he may be trying to make me the bottom of the of the order, but the other rooster we gave away, Oreo, was more aggressive and would try to flog me every time I went in. This is so helpful and a great place to learn. Thank you for taking the time to respond.

Here's a thread with tips on taming a rooster. might be helpful getting yourself placed higher on the pecking order
crazy-cream-legbar-cockerel