Dominance change between two roosters

[Chick N Lay D]

Hi! I have two roosters - one is a young Buff Orphington that's less than a year, and the other is a Rhode Island Red that's about 6 years old. Until recently, the Rhode Island Red was the BOSS - he'd flap after the other, but never hurt him. Recently, the Buff took the dominant role, and chases our poor Rh. Red all over the place - he now cowers in the corner, and seems super afraid of the young one. It's heartbreaking since the older Roo is our little champ - he's the sweetest, nicest, most gentle rooster, and it stinks to see him so timid and fearful of such a young punk!

What do I do? Do I put the young one up for adoption? Is this a temporary 'pecking order' thing?

Agg. Any advice would be super appreciated.

Thanks fellow chicken-folks!

 

[Bookspryte]

That happened to me, too. I have a 3 yo BR rooster who was raised with a EE roo. The EE was dead last in the pecking order and never presented a challenge to anyone. One day we came home and everything had changed. The EE roo was in charge. The problem was the hens still wanted to hang out with the BR. This caused fights between the two.

I wanted my BR roo, who is gentle and a good flock husband. I ended up rehoming the EE roo to someone who had tons of EE hens and no roo. It was a win-win situation for everyone.

I don't know if mine was an isolated incident, but my EE roo didn't show any signs of giving up control.

BTW,

Denise