Ok so my DH says that roosters can not live with just roosters. I told him they could. The conversation started over the fact that I need to take my 2 RIR's out of their coop to give my girls time to heal. I have 1 Minorca Rooster took out 1 month ago. In another pen I have 6 RIR and Minorca mix roosters. The 1st 3 are 10 months old. The other 6 are 2 and 3 months old. Is this possible to do? Thanks
It's quite possible to keep a pen of just roosters, but it may not work well and without fighting unless the roosters all grew up together and have been together previously. I've seen several topics posted in the past where people were talking about their "bachelor" pens.
It really depends on the roosters. We seem to have a lot of trouble with the Marans... hmmm... yet another reason to totally get rid of the Marans... We have a few bachelor pens. We don't like to keep them by themselves unless we have to, we'd love to keep them all together but again with the fighting. Some tips: Don't add just one rooster at a time to a bachelor pen. He will get picked on relentlessly - if you add two at once they'll get half the bullying each, much better than 100%! Try to not have them in eyesight of hens - and DONT house them right next to hens or where hens free range. If you're going to range them, don't let them range near hens. This will trigger fighting for sure. Pull a bully out. Sometimes interrupting the fighting and grabbing him up will discourage him, you can try, but sometimes they're just bullies. Try to find a companion he gets along with and house them in a separate pen. Sometimes it's best to introduce everyone either at night or while on free-range, as long as there are no hens around. That way they have enough room to move about.
It may or may not work depending upon the temperment of the roosters and the amount of space that they have. There will be some initial fighting, maybe severe. If they have enough room to get away from one another, it may work. Give it a try, but have a contingency plan in mind.
