Can you keep two cockerels together???

ChickenKiera

Songster
Oct 17, 2019
140
103
131
I have to “cockerels” (I don’t know for sure yet but I’m 99.9% sure) and they have been together since birth, would I be able to put them together with a few other hens or would they fight? The second thing is how many hens would I need to be able to keep two cockerels together?
 
If they're all loose together? Fifteen hens minimum for two, 20-25 hens is better for keeping the peace. And they won't fight for a long time. Then at about a year to two years they're most likely gonna get really aggressive with one another until one comes out on top and the other becomes a bullied horrible wreck. (In my experience.)

Or you can keep them in a bachelor pad together with NO hens/hen contact at all and they'll chill and live as bachelors together. Or keep them in separate pens with a handful of hens each.

If you only have a "few hens" you might not even have enough for one rooster let alone two so you might wanna consider removing one.
 
If they're all loose together? Fifteen hens minimum for two, 20-25 hens is better for keeping the peace. And they won't fight for a long time. Then at about a year to two years they're most likely gonna get really aggressive with one another until one comes out on top and the other becomes a bullied horrible wreck. (In my experience.)

Or you can keep them in a bachelor pad together with NO hens/hen contact at all and they'll chill and live as bachelors together. Or keep them in separate pens with a handful of hens each.

If you only have a "few hens" you might not even have enough for one rooster let alone two so you might wanna consider removing one.
So if I have around
If they're all loose together? Fifteen hens minimum for two, 20-25 hens is better for keeping the peace. And they won't fight for a long time. Then at about a year to two years they're most likely gonna get really aggressive with one another until one comes out on top and the other becomes a bullied horrible wreck. (In my experience.)

Or you can keep them in a bachelor pad together with NO hens/hen contact at all and they'll chill and live as bachelors together. Or keep them in separate pens with a handful of hens each.

If you only have a "few hens" you might not even have enough for one rooster let alone two so you might wanna consider removing one.
So if I have around 30 hens would they both be alright or would they fight?
 
Yes you can keep them together. There is no magic ratio, it depends on their personalities. I have two roosters who were introduced later in life together with 5 bantam hens and the hens are fine and so are the roosters.
 
If you have 20+ hens and plenty of space they should break off into separate flocks and each maintain a flock of their own hens peacefully. You'll need to make sure you have multiple feeding and watering points too. If you do that they should MOSTLY leave each other alone. You might have occasional scraps but nothing too serious.

Your mileage may vary, exceptions exist, but this is the general rule of thumb.
 
Yes you can keep them together. There is no magic ratio, it depends on their personalities. I have two roosters who were introduced later in life together with 5 bantam hens and the hens are fine and so are the roosters.
I agree

The personalities of the males are huge factors....

You really will not know what you need.... until it is clear that you need something different.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom