Can a roo re-gain alpha status?

[BWchicken]

Sancho was just doing what roosters do, and that alone doesn't make him "bad" by any means. Roosters by instinct want to be the lone leader and breeder of the flock, that's what they're born to do. But I know how sad it can be to see a dethroned roo. Maybe they will be able to live in peace together, we can hope. If possible, I think the best option is to seperate them and split the hens between them. If that's not possible, and the fighting doesn't stop, you may have to re-home one of them to someone who needs a good roo for their flock. Good luck and please come back and let us know what happens.

 

[skya328]

Hi All, thanks for the input. After spending the weekend watching, I think that Sancho is my new top roo. Sancho would take one look at Zeus and Zeus would take off running. He has started to crow again, but by no means interferes with Sancho.

One thing that concerns me a little bit: I was holding Zeus on Saturday and notice that his body temp is really warm. Warmer than normal. His head is warm, too. I had never noticed how warm he was and also his legs look a bit red and almost swollen, but not swollen much. I'm wondering if he is sick and that's why Sancho took over. Or maybe it's a side effect to the actions leading up to getting his throne taken away. (aka: butt kicked.) Another thing that happened on Saturday for the first time ever is that he went to roost with the bantys and guineas in my smaller coop who are all still pretty young. (4 months old) It was a real eye opener that he felt more comfortable sitting at the kids table instead of with the adults! Sunday night he went to roost with the little ones again but then went into the big coop after a little while.


I am still kicking Sancho out of the yard only because I want to make sure he doesn't hurt Zeus. I'm going to have to come up with a better solution soon, though. I like the idea of having a couple different flocks.

-Sara

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

This reminds me of a story my dad used to tell me. He was raised on a self-sufficient farm in rural Arkansas, about 12 miles from where I live now. There was no other houses around for a couple of miles, so the 9 siblings had to entertain themselves. He said that when they had a rooster that constantly beat up the other, they would smear soot or clay mud on that mean rooster. The other roo would think that it was a new roo invading his territory, & win the spar. I've never done it, but if you can't trust ole dad, who can you trust. It was his mom, my granny, that says "The older the rooster, the better the dumplings."