Anyone Keep Multiple Roosters Successfully?

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I think the best situation for this is to have roosters raised together or separate your main rooster and the new ones into a no-hen environment for integration.

I've had great success with my 3 roosters in a bachelor pen. I pull my main in the morning\afternoon to run with the hens and return him to the boys in the evening so he stays integrated with both flocks and have had very little in the way of fighting from them.

That being said, two of my boys are a hen-feathered breed and all were raised together for the most part. I have yet to try mixing different ages.
 
MROO said:
This post by @Beekissed is a "Must Read" for anyone having rooster issues. It's saved the neck of many a "restive" fellow!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...er-becomes-dinner.844018/page-4#post-12626931
Click to expand...

I can agree with you here. I do have one observation of my own. My first rooster was about as mean as they come. I had never been around a rooster and had not wanted a rooster but got that “jackpot” prize of an accidental cockerel that we fell in love with until hormones kicked in. I ended up petrified by him. Flash forward 3 years. He had passed away peacefully but a friend asked me to foster 2 cockerel hatchmates while other arrangements were prepared for them. Of course you know the outcome. I have 2 roosters. To my surprise and pleasure neither is aggressive and are happy to be around me. (Here’s where my observation comes in😉) I can take the time to relax and observe the mannerisms and actions of roosters as opposed to those of a hen. I can observe the interactions between the alpha and the beta. I have been able to learn how they live. So now I understand what @Beekissed was saying. It didn’t make sense to me when all I knew was a mean, nasty rooster! When my alpha boy is on his roost ( about 3 feet high) I have bent over underneath that roost with his head mere inches from my back and he has never in almost 2 years touched me. The same for the beta. Believe me I’ll never have a nasty rooster again!
 
MROO said:
This post by @Beekissed is a "Must Read" for anyone having rooster issues. It's saved the neck of many a "restive" fellow!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...er-becomes-dinner.844018/page-4#post-12626931
Click to expand...
Oh, I've read this a billion times! It's GREAT! And it gives me some hope. I continue to do these things with my grumpy guy. Some says, he gives me space. Some days he waits until I'm closing the door to the run. Some days he'll try to bite my ankles if I turn around. I haven't given up, but yeah...

And believe me: I think I'm more of the problem than he is. I think I could have prevented a lot of this when he was younger. It's been a bumpy road with the little guy. We've moved twice. He had to be a house rooster for about 5 months. So when I could have been working more with him at an age where he might have been more receptive, I wasn't able to.
 
Yardmom said:
I currently have 7 roosters Between two coops. Due to aging and a fox I have recently done some rooster moving. Moving a cockeral in as a chick is far easier than moving a cockeral in that is ready to breed. The chicks are integrated same as the pullets. The difference is not seen until they hit breeding age. Rooster personality is a key factor to how things will go. One that did not work was a cockeral who realized he was stronger than the older roos in the flock. He would chase and attack the older roos. He was in the process to fighting to the death when I permanently removed him from the flock. All other have gone well. In a good integration there will still be fights, but the winning rooster or cockeral will back off when the other admits defeat by turning away from the fight. When the order is established some will work as a pair with a group of hens. Others will each have there own little flock and a few will just stay clear of the dominant bird. I have had one who learned as a cockeral who the dominant roo was and would actually fight to protect that flock master (who was later weaker due to age) from new cockerals. My current top standard roo was raised in the Silkie coop and integrated himself to the main coop after a fox took 2 of the strongest roos. He was of breeding age as were 2 other roos already in that coop. As long as the dominant roo allows the others to be submissive multiple roosters can live peacefully in a flock.
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Is it normal for the dominate ROO to try to bread with the less dominate Roo? My silky Roo doesn’t even crow and gets mated on by my lavender olive egger Roo! Is that normal?
 
Aunt Angus said:
I have read lots of bad situations with multiple roosters. I just want to be as close to 100% sure as possible before I decide what to do.

I have an established flock of 8 hens, 3 laying pullets, and 1 rooster, mixed ages (8 months - 3.5 years).

I have two 2-week old chicks (a pullet and a cockerel) in the brooder.

I am expecting an order of 6 female chicks in early May. The final ratio would be 2 males:18 females.

I will have a 10x10 coop ready before the current 2 in the brooder are ready to go outside. I will also have a 1600+ sq ft yard for them. Free ranging is not possible here due to huuuuge predator load.

I would *like* to keep both males, but I know that invites a whole host of potential problems. And I want to do right by all the birds involved.

1) In your folks' experience, is that a big enough area to help alleviate issues?

2) is it even possible for 2 unrelated boys to cohabitate?

3) Would having separate coops help? I am not keen on building another, but I can, or I can try dividing the 10x10.

4) Or should I just rehome one of the males? (Full disclosure: I don't eat my chickens) I realize whoever gets one will probably turn him into soup.

Any advice/input would be hugely appreciated.
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The best way to introduce a cockerel to an adult rooster is to place him with other 6 to 8-week-old chicks in a coop where they are visual to the adult chickens. Leave them protected in this separate coop for a few weeks before releasing them into the established flock. The lead rooster will not feel threatened by a cockerel this way. And the cockerel will grow up and become 'secondary' rooster, he will know his place and run from the BIG guy. This method has worked for me very well. There have been no deadly fights just displays of dominance with no harm done.
 
Cackel Shack said:
The best way to introduce a cockerel to an adult rooster is to place him with other 6 to 8-week-old chicks in a coop where they are visual to the adult chickens. Leave them protected in this separate coop for a few weeks before releasing them into the established flock. The lead rooster will not feel threatened by a cockerel this way. And the cockerel will grow up and become 'secondary' rooster, he will know his place and run from the BIG guy. This method has worked for me very well. There have been no deadly fights just displays of dominance with no harm done.
Click to expand...
They have been out in a penned off area in the big chickens' run since week 3. I brought them in the last 2 nights because temps suddenly fell from 50s to 20s overnight. They are going back out today, I think.

Thank you! This gives me hope!
 

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