I have just gotten a flock of 6 silkies. Four hens and two roos. Two of the hens and the roos came from the same place, so I assumed thy all knew each other and would get along. But 5 days in, the roos have started fighting. do I have to get rid of one of them or is there a way to manage this behavior?
Every rooster I've had here fought, it's what they do.
Space helps, but even here where they free range and have virtually unlimited space they fight.
Pretty much every day there is a rooster fight here. Years ago I used to worry about it and wonder if there is something I should be doing to prevent the fights.
With the help from the local guys here who keep chickens I set out to learn which fights were serious and which were just the usual scraps that are a natural part of rooster behavior.
To put this into context; in a serious fight one rooster ends up maimed, or dead. It's this sort of fight you need to worry about. The day to day scraps, just tend to the injured (bloody combs and wattles usually) and keep an eye out for infection.
Here on BYC often the advice is to get rid of one of the roosters. More often than not this means killing it. You may as well let a rooster do the job for you, the outcome is the same.
You can, if you are confident reduce the resultant injuries just by stepping in between the fighting pair. Bear in mind that a rooster in fight mode si just as likely to have a go at you in the scrap. Wear heavy duty trousers and boots and you won't get hurt.
I can stop most fights now by just doing this; no sticks or rooster bashing is necessary, just you in between gently ushering them apart. Do this often enough and they seem to accept that when you call time out that's it.
Fight flash points are usually at feed time. One rooster will try to prevent the other from getting to the feed. It's not that the rooster guarding the feed doesn't want the other rooster to eat, it's that the rooster that can provide a hen with food gets the hens. What the senior rooster doesn't want is the junior rooster pecking at the food and calling the hens.
Other fights might look random but these are often over territory. It's not about the physical space as such it's about what that space contains (best dust bath areas, shade and shelter etc)
I can't tell you how to know which fights are serious and which are not. Over time if you see enough rooster fights and know your flock you will learn. What I can tell you is if every time these two fight and you worry over much about it, that worry is wasted and you will likely lean towards re-homing, or killing one of the roosters.
My advice is get a large tube of Betadine and some medical swabs and get used to taking your rooster off their perches at night and cleaning up the wounds. Eventually one rooster will win enough fights that the other rooster will accept that the winner has the right to his senior position. Yes it is a bit brutal but this is how chickens live.