Adding another rooster

[joshbparker]

I have recently added a trio To my flock of 4 Hens and one rooster Will the Roos learn to get along? Please help

 

[cash money]

How big is the flock

 

[cash money]

Sorry didn't really read it carefully 7 hens for 2 roosters

 

[cash money]

If they are introduced slow and in good ways like let them free range together and give them something new to eat to grab the attention elsewhere

 

[joshbparker]

And if I have to I can find a new home for the new rooster. They are both silkies

 

[Mrs. K]

The roosters will probably not learn to get along. Strange roosters are generally quite violent when put together. Even if they stop fighting, it is a temporary stoppage, and will resume often until you either separate them or one kills the other. Sometimes roosters raised together will be fine their whole lives, but just as often, one day blows up into a terrible fight. Like wise, a father/son relationship can work, but eventually will be fought out. Sometimes, if you have a very old rooster, add a younger rooster they will have a horrible fight, and if the older one bows out, sometimes they will live together, with the younger roo being the flock leader.

Probably VERY stressful on your hens. Two breeding age roosters need about 20+ hens or the hens are terribly stressed. Fighting roosters also stress your hens, this can cause a dramatic loss of egg production.

The easiest solution would to pick the rooster that you want and cull the other one. By culling, one can give it away or butcher it.

If you really want chicks from both roosters, you could build another coop and have two separate flocks, or create a bachelor pad, and put one rooster in there, while breeding with the other rooster..... and then alternate. However, I am not an advocate of this, as I do think birds are flock animals and need companionship. And one needs a great deal of space between these two coops, or you just have the fight going on through the wires.

Personally if I wanted both breeds, I would have one rooster one year, cull and get the other breed the next.

Ridgerunner, a very credible poster on this forum often asks this question, "Why do you want the rooster?" Make sure you answer it to the benefit of your whole flock.
Mrs K

 

[speckledhen]

Quote: I agree with this. Even when sons raised up in the flock come to maturity, there is usually a battle. My almost 6 year old Delaware rooster just badly hurt his year old son who has been living with him and the hens for months and never challenges him, ever. He's killed one son already and we thought this was working, but he was just biding his time till he could get in a lethal blow. So, I would never put in a strange rooster with an established one in his territory. It will most likely be bloody.

 

[aldarita]

How about putting a couple of cockerels in a bachelors pad where there are already two roosters?
I had to remove my roosters from the yard because it was absolute chaos. I had the right amount of hens back then (18 hens and pullets). The roosters have been living together getting along fine, every time the lower rooster tries to step up, the alpha reminds him of his place but the pecking is very mild. I never put a rooster with the hens for breeding so they have been without hens for about 7 months now.
I plan to get chicks in spring and I am sure there will be cockerels in the batch. I am thinking about keeping two of the cockerels and add them to the bachelors pad. Their coop has plenty of room for them and they have a small yard of about 500 sq ft to roam all day. Is it possible to add cockerels to the pad without the roosters fighting them to death? specially if there are not females around and also with the correct introduction?
I am thinking that if one of my roosters dies, the other one will be alone and by adding more cockerels to the pad, there will always be more than one.
Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

 

[LanceTN]

What are you keeping these roosters in the bachelor pad for? What is their purpose?

I can see your plan as reasonable if you are just raising them till they hit a good harvest weight and culling them but if you just want them as pets that seems like a torturous life for a rooster.

A rooster's entire life is dedicated to his hens, keeping roosters without any hens is taking the entire purpose out of their life and seems cruel to me.

 

[aldarita]

I will have to respectfully disagree with you. Everybody is entitled to their opinion and I appreciate it. I love my roosters and I think they have a better life now than letting them grow to eat them later. I have been keeping chickens for almost three years, they have become a hobby to me which I am very much enjoying. Some people think of chickens as livestock and that is perfectly fine, however to me, my chickens are pets therefore I don't eat them. My guys are treated very well, they get to free range everyday, they eat grubs that I provide for them. I do not see any signs of distress or unhappiness. Yes, I would have liked to have kept them with the hens but it just didn't work. These arrangement works fine for my girls and my guys.