bachelor pad

[tiki244]

OK I have banties so generally I do not think they are as fierce as the large chickens. But I am wondering if I build a bachelor pad for them, how far away would it have to be from the hens. Could it be in the same coop?

 

[Frizzledhen]

I have a bachelor pad, or did. It was in the barn with all the other occupied pads. The cockerels got along pretty good. I had 8 standard RIRs in the pen. I moved 2 in with the RIR pullets. The remaining 6 lived together for 5 1/2 months with only minor squabbles. I do not know what would have happened had I kept them and they became roosters though. I would imagine being in the barn with 5 other pens with active roos and hens they would have become very frustrated and the fights would probably have gotten much worse. I do think that roos can reside together if there are no hens around for them to fight over. So in my opinion they would need to be quite a distance from any hens.

 

[scooter147]

My experience is if they are raised together from chicks the fights are few and far between as long as there are no hens in their pen. If you start mixes batches then the fighting becomes more serious.

 

[tiki244]

I am thinking it might not work.? I would have to put them in the same coop. And they would be 'on top' of the hens. I have a large pen on the floor now 5 ft X 4 ft for some chickens(6 banties), but they go in and out of it now. Then I was thinking of making another pen smack dab on top of that for the roos. They would be up in the air so to speak. So maybe they wouldnt really see what was going on down below so much. I was thinking 4-5 roos (banties) in there this winter.

Then the one on the bottom for the hens. And there are two more pens for the younger ones if I can set up a good enough heating system.


But when the youngsters grow up that is another problem, I have 8 leghorns and 4 are cockerals. agh

 

[Frizzledhen]

If I were a rooster caged with other roosters and there good looking chicks below me, I would be fighting mad.

You could always give it a try and if it doesn't work then come up with a different plan. My mamma always said, "If you don't try, you will never know".

 

[seminolewind]

I've had a bachelor pad here and there. It worked out fine. Small squabbles here and there. Last one, I had 2 brothers in there to give the girls a break, and 2 other roos. Nothing major happened, and the hens were all around them. I would keep them all around the same size.

 

[Frizzledhen]

Quote:
Now this is deffinately where I have run into prolems. If I put 2 roos together that were with their own hens, they are out to kill each other. I only put cockerels together who have never been with hens of their own.

 

[WriterofWords]

All my boys live together just fine, with the hens right there next to them. Mine free-range most of the time, but the times I do have to lock them up together there are no fights or arguments.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
Now this is deffinately where I have run into prolems. If I put 2 roos together that were with their own hens, they are out to kill each other. I only put cockerels together who have never been with hens of their own.

These two roo brothers are with 8 hens full time except for the break they took. They are almost a year old. Haven't had a problem. The other 2 roos were young and I rehomed them because I already have 4 roos.
My others, 2 male silkies and one hen have always been together. She hatched 3 polish for me and to this day, those polish can be around them and the roos don't bother them at all. Kinda like they remember that they were dads, LOL

 

[tiki244]

Thanks everyone! I think I will give it a try and see what happens. Wish me luck....

I sure hope they don't decide to have a big crowing contest.