Bossy Rooster.

[Figgins Farm]

OK so I ended up with two roosters in my flock of seven. While I do plan to introduce a few more females that's going to have to wait until I can expand my coop and run in the late spring. My whole flock is between seven and eight months old and all from the same flock at a fellow Silkie lovers farm. I was re assured by several that the two boys would most likely be just fine together with the right amount of girls and space. However within the last two weeks the bigger roo has been harassing the smaller and a month younger roo. (It started with a very rockus mud wrestling match early one morning.) Within the last few days he has started in on the girls off and on as well. No blood has been drawn within the flock and he doesn't show any agression towards people. I DON'T want to I've him away but I can't have him treating the flock this way. Any suggestions? Could it be the start of winter cabin fever? (I live in the tri state area of Ohio)

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

A little more information will help us to answer your questions.
How much space is the flock currently in - include the interior(coop) and exterior(run) space that they have available. Has your weather recently lead them to be "cooped up" in just the coop space for a good part of their days?
How exactly is he "starting in" on your pullets? Knowing a little more about the specific behavior and interaction you are seeing can help to sort through "normal" non-concerning stuff and indicators of potential disaster. Often we look at the flock dynamics from a human/emotional point of view and that can make normal behaviors and chicken society events seem quite concerning.
Your birds are at the cusp of chick puberty, this is the time when even situations that *should* work out okay can often get a bit askew when hormones start to surge.

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC!

Agrees info on space available is needed.

But, this is where chicken Romance meets Reality.

Multiple males, especially young ones just coming into their hormones, are almost always a problem.
I would plan on having a separate enclosure(s) ready to separate one or both the males away from the females,
in case blood starts to fly. The females would probably thank you for taking those bothersome boys away.

 

[annabobbob717]

At that young age the roosters are still developing and establishing dominance. You may just have to let nature take its course until he calms down,

 

[RoosterDon]

My experience has been you never know with roos. My first roo was just fine. As I added to the flock I kept one of the roos having now two. The original roo just started getting mean, so when I hatched another roo, I found a home for the mean one. The two roos were fine until they weren't. One just got mean, so I kept another newly hatched one and got rid of him. I recently had a great roo and one that was beautiful but mean, and got rid of him, and the new young roo is maturing and seemingly is nice like his dad. So I now have two happy roos, and 19 hens.

Also, if you have a roo that is rough on the hens, that is another reason to cull it out when you hatch your next roo. It is hard at first because you get attached to them, but the ladies are SOOO much happier having roos that they like, especially ones that are gentle with them when doing what they do.

It is certainly a balancing act, but in my opinion it is a critical one to get rid of mean roos. You might and probably will go through a few before you finally get one or two that get along and fit in well. It truly does make all the difference in the world, trust me. Additionally, I have seen a spike in egg production and can't help but think getting rid of the mean roo had a lot to do with it, but who knows......