Chicken tractors and roosters

[VanUnamed]

hello, i am having a sort of a problem. I am raising 20 chickens for meat pasture in 2 chicken tractors, they all came from the eggs from my hens, in one, there are 9 boys, in another 11 most girls and 2 calmer boys. in the 9 boy tractor, now that they are 4 months old, they keep fighting and figthing sometimes even to blood, I can't understand why or how to stop this behaviour. Can you help me out? the 2 tractors are about 26 square feet each.

thanks

 

[M-H-Fielding]

Wow, thats a lot of birds!
I never have been able to figure out how to keep roos from fighting. Maybe someone else will have more info on this.
I knew someone who had a bunch of roos for meat, and they fought constantly. the only way to stop them was to separate each one.
Hopefully, you don't have to do that.

 

[Molpet]

I usually process at 16 weeks.

 

[VanUnamed]

I don;t understand them, there are no hens to fight about

 

[BuckeyeAmy69]

I'm doing the same thing by raising a flock of males in a tractor all by themselves. I have already decided that I want to raise them to 24 weeks before processing since they aren't broilers, just male large fowl (rocks, NH reds, etc). If any of them start trouble, they will be processed earlier than the others. If there aren't females to fight over it must just be male behavior. Have you thought about removing the aggressors and letting the rest finish out?

 

[Molpet]

Pecking order no matter if all the same sex

 

[DuckYouMan]

Sounds like the use of isolation cages might be in order. Large areas where you can put the fighting flocks where they can still be seen. Maybe a fence between the two will give them time to come to terms with thier arrangement

 

[speedy2020]

Just butch the trouble maker. There is no other way beside separate them. It is going to be tough to keep them together until 24 weeks for most breed.

 

[VanUnamed]

Thanks for your help! i also butcher at 24 weeks, or whenever outside is cold enough.

 

[Ridgerunner]

the 2 tractors are about 26 square feet each.

This may be a part of your problem. Nine 4-month-old cockerels in the equivalent of a 4 feet x 6-1/2 feet tractor. That's not a lot of room. They are sorting out the pecking order so some skirmishing and fighting isn't unusual, even in an all-girl flock. That tight space magnifies these issues. The boys grow faster than the girls and take more room. You may still have problems in that other tractor as they grow but hopefully not.

How often do you move the tractor? The one summer I tried a tractor I found every time I moved it to fresh grass it kind of kept them busy. I had one grown rooster and seven hens in a tractor more than twice the size of yours so not quite the same situation. If it is reasonable, you might try moving it a little more often to see if that helps. Maybe it will but probably not.

My target age to butcher dual purpose cockerels is 23 weeks so I understand your target of 24 weeks. My approach in your situation would be to start eating them early. Four months will still make a meal. I'd start by eating one or two that are fighting unless you want to save one of them for breeding. At four months there should be quite a bit of size difference between your largest and smallest cockerel of the same breeds. See how it goes when you remove one or two.

Giving them more room might help, might not. Separating them will stop those from fighting each other but may not be practical for you. Good luck and happy eating.