The Kooky Kiwi
Crowing
My two cents are as follows:
My experience with bantam roosters is "what they lack in size they often make up for in spunk". The behavior you describe, with your Mr Saucy showing his "air fighting" skills may actually be him showing off to the ladies "from a distance". A bit like posturing to ascertain his dominance without the risk that they might turn on him and give him the "i'm not interested in you" treatment. New hens can and do put roosters in their place and if they're getting to be his size or bigger he might be playing it safe by keeping his distance.
I think as long as there are no actual attacks happening then continue to observe to see what happens.
With respect the younger two cockerels - Integration of them into your flock IS possible but it depends very much on your flock dynamics and run setup.
I regularly keep multiple roosters in my flock however I have a laaaaarrrrge chicken enclosure so there is plenty of room for everyone to spent time in separate spaces if they wish, and I have multiple breeds in there of varying sizes.
Interestingly enough my dominant rooster is a bantam and my two secondary roosters are both Araucana. The Araucana are brothers (raised together) and were introduced to the main run when they were approximately 12 weeks old. They quite happily defer to the bantam rooster and there are NO fights whatsoever.
Even though the bantam rooster is "THE boss" and disciplines ALL in the flock accordingly - he only mates with the bantam hens and the two araucanas are permitted to mate with the araucana hens.
My experience with bantam roosters is "what they lack in size they often make up for in spunk". The behavior you describe, with your Mr Saucy showing his "air fighting" skills may actually be him showing off to the ladies "from a distance". A bit like posturing to ascertain his dominance without the risk that they might turn on him and give him the "i'm not interested in you" treatment. New hens can and do put roosters in their place and if they're getting to be his size or bigger he might be playing it safe by keeping his distance.
I think as long as there are no actual attacks happening then continue to observe to see what happens.
With respect the younger two cockerels - Integration of them into your flock IS possible but it depends very much on your flock dynamics and run setup.
I regularly keep multiple roosters in my flock however I have a laaaaarrrrge chicken enclosure so there is plenty of room for everyone to spent time in separate spaces if they wish, and I have multiple breeds in there of varying sizes.
Interestingly enough my dominant rooster is a bantam and my two secondary roosters are both Araucana. The Araucana are brothers (raised together) and were introduced to the main run when they were approximately 12 weeks old. They quite happily defer to the bantam rooster and there are NO fights whatsoever.
Even though the bantam rooster is "THE boss" and disciplines ALL in the flock accordingly - he only mates with the bantam hens and the two araucanas are permitted to mate with the araucana hens.
