So, we have decided, my 10 week old Snowflake and CreamPuff are boys, (Snowman and PuffDaddy??) whereas until this morning, they were ladies. (so I thought!) The other 12 (thankfully) are girls for sure. They have all been together since they were day old chicks. Life seems ok for now! Should I keep them both, or will they just fight all the time? My experience with my past roosters were constant fighting, then again, if my memory serves me right I got them from a man who had lots and lots of roosters tied up to 55 gal. drums. (a game cock farm.) Silly me, was so young I didn't know what he did with alllll those roosters! I could probably have a friend with a large farm take one, but will it miss it's flock? They are kinda "pets", and that's all my fault, I've babied them all to death. They are well trained and scheduled like you can't imagine. They are also free range for at least 4-12 hours per day. (when we can be home and able to watch for stray dogs) How could I choose which one anyway?! Help anyone??
I think they should get along fine since they were raised together. My 3 roos were raised together since Day 1 (I never ordered roos, they were all accidental)...they went through a rough patch when they were figuring out who was Alpha...but once that was done, they became best buds. All 3 walk around together, but the RIR is definitely the Big Man On Campus. I have 12 pullets and 3 roos. It's not a great ratio, so of course I had to fix that...I have 10 more pullets ordered from Ideal.
That's good to hear, I had hoped that would be the case. I suppose they can work it out themselves. I also hoped that being free range would be helpful so that they aren't cooped up all the time. Thank you so so much!
It might work out okay, but if you have a chance to get rid of one I wouldn't pass it by. It can be hard to get rid of roosters.
I have 2 roos and 6 pullets, and other than the occasional pecking order squabble, they get along fine. My boys are only 14 weeks old, so they're still trying to sort out the alpha thing. I think you'll be fine keeping both of your boys
Oh gosh, we bought 15 pullets as we were told, turned out we have 7 roos!!!! Seven of these guys, all raised together from day one, we got them day 3....they started mounting the hens bad, I mean 3-4 of them at a time, one off and before he was off another one on, so on...then we had fights...so now we seperated them after I placed an ad for sale on craigslist and in here, no takers...so now we thought ok, we can do this. We decided to built another smaller coop behind the main coop...in the mean time we only had dog kennels large wired to put them in...so two went together and the other two each in a kennel as they were alittle smaller...all side by side as we worked, 2wks later, we went to put them all into the "Roo coop"...FORGET IT!!!! They attacked each other and fought...the only two we could keep together were the two in the large dog kennel..now we have 2 others in dog kennels another week later!!!!! so does this help?
They may be fine UNTIL they reach sexual maturity. Once the hormones kick in thats when they can really get nasty. They may fight over the hens. I have heard of roos with no hens around that grow up as brothers and do fine together, hen's are the biggest cause of fights. That is why the suggested hen to roo ratio is 10 to 1. If a roo has enough hens to protect and keep him busy, then he won't have the time to pick fights.
I have older roos and early spring roos all living together in one coop and pasture. They all get along fine together with no more-probably less squabbles than the hens have. I don't let my roosters stay with the hens though so I can decide which hens and when "Marry" the rooster...I have little kids You do need to give them enough room to have some alone time if they want it. That all said all of our roosters must have a great attitude or they would be dinner.I'm not going to take in a stick or drop kick one to make them behave. I don't want a nasty roo adding those genes to my chicks.
Great advice from everyone! I'll give them a little time until they hit maturity and see how well they do. I think in the meantime, I will either have to find someone who has some lonley hens, or maybe build another coop at another side of the farm to put new pullets in and one of the boys. That is if there is any problems. Hoping still that being free range will keep the squabbles down but if not, ankle leashes and 55 gal drums for homes! (just joking!) Thanks everyone!