Are two roosters too many?

[Wladka]

I am looking for advice on the best situation for my flock. I have two "groups" of chickens. We call the first group the "Big 6". They were the first 6 chickens we ever got. 1 of the silver laced wyandotte's turned out to be a cockerel. When they were about 12 weeks old, we moved them to the coop. We went chicken crazy, decided we loved it and got 8 more chickens (the "Little 8"). It turned out one of the road island reds in the Little 8 was a cockerel too. We introduced the two groups together relatively uneventfully at 22(big) and 10(little) weeks. Both groups do not interact, except for the bigs to pick on the littles a bit. No one has gotten bloody, because the littles stay out of the bigs way. Both groups roost on separate ends of the roosting bars.
I have young children and do have concerns about any aggression from a rooster which neither have shown signs of.. yet. So my concern is, will keeping both roosters lead to more aggression from the roosters? I have a friend interested in a rooster and willing to try introduction into her flock.
1. Should we keep both roosters?
2. If I get rid of one, who should it be?
3. Will the groups ever combine?

Thanks for any input!
Pics of Big 6 and their chicken coop.

 

[poultry person]

How long have they been together?

 

[poultry person]

if they have been together for a while it should be okay as long as they aren't aggressive to each other.

 

[Wladka]

How long have they been together?

They have been together for about 3-4 weeks.

 

[cppeace]

Usually the groups will eventually get along and mingle. It sometimes just takes several weeks to months. With 12 hens you will be right on the border with numbers for roosters. Generally, the rule is around 6-9 hens per rooster for most DP breeds. Silver lace Wyn roosters are usually easy going - I don't have much of any experience with RI reds though. I would say it has more chance of being the more aggressive of the two, but that is just my experience with Wyns. Being the Wyn is 22 weeks already if it was going to be dominant or mean it would likely be starting by now. If you want to keep both give them about 6 more weeks and see if much to any bad behavior comes from the roosters interacting. Some picking and light fights is normal even in pretty mellow roosters.

 

[poultry person]

They have been together for about 3-4 weeks.

If you really want you could give the aggressive one away.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

I would not choose to keep both roosters if I had an easy place for 1 to go. It does tend to create more breeding aggression/competition.

Honestly, with small kids I would get rid of BOTH. They are too young to be showing any real aggression yet, though some are very clearly jerks from the get. It is usually the kids that are gone after first or the dogs. Just not worth the risk. Maybe unless you aren't free ranging. And even then there may be a day come when the hormone switch tells that boy that you are a threat and suddenly get flogged while collecting eggs.

If you have breeding goals say for raising your own chicken, maybe keep 1. But oops I got a boy is NO reason to feel obligated to keep him. Too me there are too many variables. One of the biggest being that it wasn't part of your plan and this being your first year keeping chickens, why complicate it?

The two groups will combine eventually. It takes a bit of time though. And some of my groups began combining when there were other flock subtractions and such. But my first groups stayed plenty apart just like yours for a while. The little 8 will gain their confidence and rise in the pecking order, probably after lay since the older group will have more hormonal confidence on them until then. Maybe nearing 9-12 months in my experience.

Your set up is cute.

 

[aart]

I would not choose to keep both roosters if I had an easy place for 1 to go. It does tend to create more breeding aggression/competition.

Ditto Dat^^^^

That coop is the bomb! Would love to see more of it.
You could write an article up enter this coop contest and win that autodoor you want.
Contest instruction and entry thread is here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ontest-2017-win-a-auto-coop-door-kit.1186160/

 

[MaryZoe]

I too found myself with an unexpected rooster a couple years ago. I loved him. He was a bantam Silkie, so he was not much of a threat to me even when he would occasionally give me a little peck (I always wear rubber boots, so I never even felt it). He was taken by an owl or hawk, but not before I hatched a couple of his eggs, one of which was also a rooster. I adore this rooster as well. He takes wonderful care of his ladies--always on the watch for hawks, owls, and now that we have a livestock guardian puppy, he watches out for too much interest from her. He warns his flock and sacrifices himself for his ladies all the time. He, like his dad, is not aggressive if you don't mind a slight peck from time to time.

All this to say that if you are interested in keeping roosters, watch his temperament (hold him as much as you can so he is used to you), and if he is not aggressive, there are good reasons to do so. Mussoman is one of our favorite of all our 40ish chickens.

Having said that, I agree that you might want to share one of your fellas with your friend. Two roosters can certainly live together in peace if they grew up together. However, your ladies will probably end up getting more attention than they want.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I have a stag pen. Boys who are raised together may or may not get along well in the long run. It's a complete individual thing and there is NO time limit! My boys raised together were fine until suddenly one day around 10 months old they were not and one boy was hell bent on giving the other a beating no matter how far he tried to run and hide. It was relentless. Step in me and give the chaser a chase of my own, because I do think the best defense IS often a good offense. After that it simmered down for the day, yes with plenty of blood and a swollen eye. They were fine together after that until the end. And I also put boys who were NEVER raised with my main roo into my stag pen. If done before hormones hit the new additions AND as a group, not too much of a problem. Bit more of a problem if I try to add an individual adolescent. That day, no extra amount of females, space, feeders, or hiding spaces was going to stop the aggressor. The victim was already on the cull list for the next day, but I couldn't emotionally justify it after his beating. Figured I would wait until the next cull session. In the end the victim got the last laugh.. because somebody was looking for a boy to service their ladies (short term) and since that guy didn't fit my program I let him go. My keeper is still in the stag pen with my new rounds of boys, but the other guy got to spread his seed to 10 lovely ladies for a couple of weeks before his quick end came. I'm guessing that even though life is pretty good here, he probably died happier! Those folks only wanted some hatching eggs for their broody. And the gal deeply hates the idea of eating fertilized eggs. They said they were very happy with his service.

Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that current aggression, especially at this age does NOT dictate future aggression... because hormones do crazy thing to people and yes, animals.

Side note regarding roosters... they are territorial animals. And so yes, they might be able to have their own harem and maintain their own place on the property avoiding each other... The ONLY boy that ever attacked me was the friendliest EVER cockerel. Once he started attacking he KNEW he wasn't allowed in my space. It was fairly comical to see him come into my claimed area the MOMENT I left and start crowing and all. Then when he saw me coming he would high tail it towards the gate that I would open and let him back into HIS area.

I agree with MaryZoe, roosters aren't all bad... they can be a lot of fun. And there are reasons to keep one if you desire. NOT protection, most of the time IMHO... as roosters simply are NO match for things like raccoon, domestic dog, mountain line, coyote... you get the idea. They often just become the sacrifice. And my hens EASILY are on the look out for hawks and the like. But EVERY situation is different EVEN at my own house and we all have individual thoughts, and likes or dislikes.

I agree with the other poster that said RIR have the reputation of being bullies. It MAY be a stereotype, but I hear it quite often. If I was keeping him for protection or hatching.. I MIGHT keep the red as their egg laying should be superior to the WY. However, it is my understanding that Wy's are good eatin'. (yes the two we ate were plenty tasty also), doesn't seem like your quite at that point though. So I would weigh your goals along with the info you have and make the best decision you can for now.