Fighting cockrels. Will they kill each other??

[detroit313]

Background info: Out of my 13 week old flock I have two cockrels. They are a cross between an RIR Bantam and a Phoenix Gamefowl. I never had problems with the Phoenix, was never aggressive, has never pecked at me, or even bother the Banty and her chicks.

Problem: I just went to put the lights out in the main coop and both cockrels were going at each other. I thought they were playing around as they usually do but I noticed blood on one of the combs!!! I picked him up and when I put him back down they went at it again!! I inspected the other cockrel and he had blood on his face too!!! I cannot leave them there to kill each other. I guess that's my question:

Will they kill each other??

What I did: I put one of them in the "old" coop. There he can keep company a Production Red that I rescues earlier this month.
But what will I do tomorrow?? Should I let them be?? Is this a stage?? Or should I keep them tied??

 

[Mahonri]

Yes they can kill each other.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

I think it depends on the rooster. My 1 year old Sebright would get challenged by some adolescent roosters that I have. Even though all three were bigger than him, he would kick their butts. He wouldn't kill or injure them, but he showed them who the boss was. It may also depend on if the roosters have been raised with each other since they were chicks. Along with my Sebright roo I have a Silkie roo. In August I took the Sebright to the county fair for a week. Since he was gone the Silkie took over. After I brought the Sebright home, both roosters fought, agressively too, but all that was done was pulled out feathers and some cuts on the combs. Eventually both worked it out, with the Silkie becoming the dominant roo. They both live peacefully now, though the Sebright knows who the boss is, even if the Silkie is the biggest coward in the world

I would let them work it out themselves. As long as there is no major blood or injuries, they should be fine. If you are worried about them, do what you think is safest.

 

[DTchickens]

You say they're part gamefowl, so they very well may kill each other. It is part of what games do, so they must be separated.. Usually crossing in non-game breeds like the Phoenix or rhode island reds will take out or away from the gameness but sometimes it can still hang in there pretty tightly. I would probably separate them, if it happens once it may happen again, or you could try and let them fight it out. All up to you..

 

[detroit313]

They were raised together and have slept on the same roost since they were born. I have seen cock fights and just dont want them to kill each other. Hopefully tomorrow they will peck and establish whose the boss and no more. If I do see major injuries I will tie them up. Thanks for the comments and any more are very welcome.

 

[DTchickens]

Quote:
Yeah, considering that they're so young they will probably be fine and it may have just been that time. But i still say to be prepared to separate them, because with games (and sometimes their crosses) after a certain age they just can't get along with other males anymore, even if raised together.

 

[The Chickens' Maid]

We have three silkie/BO cockerels that are all brothers and were raised together. They were fine up until about say . . . 15 weeks old. Then they had their first cockfight. Their faces were all bloody, but they had stopped fighting before we found them. They are all very nice roosters, but they still had the tendency. We didn't take any chances, but set up a "bachelor coop" for two of the brothers. With no hens around, they get along very well. They are very attached to each other, and their brother, whom we left in the main coop with his BO dad, is docile enough not to challenge the other rooster (who would probably flatten him anyway).
However, we did have a rooster that just wouldn't be docile. He and our BO rooster had a big cockfight when they were both young. The fight damaged our BO's beak, taking off a quarter of the top of his beak and leaving him exhausted. The other rooster, who was a Barred Rock, would attack us and was very mean. He died from a respiratory disease shortly after. (RIP Vulture)
What we learned from this is that you can't take any chances with roosters. Our Barred Rock rooster would have killed our BO rooster if we hadn't been there to stop the fight. I have no doubt that our three cockerels would have done the same given enough time. Even if they don't kill each other, roosters can still seriously hurt each other, especially since they aim for the face. They will tend (in our experience) to cockfight when the humans aren't around, so you can't always catch it before it turns fatal.
Hope everything works out!