Bantams-Should I separate roosters, almost 10 weeks

[Cindy in PA]

I got my 25 Silver penciled rocks the end of June. They are now 9 weeks & getting crowded! I have 10 SPR hens, 1 silver seabright hen & 14 SPR roosters. Plan is to pare down to 7 hens and one roo eventually, but I would like to see what they look like first. I plan on getting rid of 3-4 hens also. The roos are starting to get antsy with each other & are already grabbing the hens by the head from time to time. I have a 6 by 8 dog run I just inherited & a medium dog house that I am sure many roosters could fit into, so I am thinking of setting it up & putting 10 roosters in it. I want to keep several roosters in the main tractor so as not to put ALL my roosters in one basket, in case my pen is not as predator proof as my coop/tractor. My present set up is a 4 by 6 coop with a 4 by 12 run. So is it time to separate them and will they fight more or less when they are away from the hens? Right now they are just raising their feathers & staring each other down mostly. Thanks for any opinions.

 

[Cindy in PA]

No opinions?? Maybe I will just get rid of them now.

 

[jenjscott]

My buckeyes are 22 weeks old and still all in the same pen. I just haven't gotten around to doing the deed to the extras yet. So far there is a little squabbling, but the hens aren't being molested and there are no serious fights. Now the other day a little Jap banty roo got in there by accident, and they would have killed him if they could have. My red stars I had to separate a lot earlier, they started laying at 16 weeks! But once I separated the extra roos from the hens, they got along fine, with an occasional squabble but no real blood shed.