HELP! I have 34 Hens and 8 Roosters..

[Swbuda]

I originally had 2 Aracuanas, then I aquired a Brahma rooster, and a Orpington rooster to go with my flock of purebred hens. But all of a sudden, four other roosters have turned up and from where I don't know.. Can I segregate them into another pen by themselves? Each needs it's own pen, or what? What would you do? There is a lot of fighting going on. I do not want to give up the original four.. Thanks to ALL of You on BYC!

 

[gryeyes]

My original reply was supposed to simply be "And?" but then I saw you had some specific concerns.

My flock ranges freely and I have quite a few roosters. Except for one of them, the only challenges between roosters has been exactly that: challenges. Just establishing Who Has More Status. The one who actually chased down and attacked other roosters was also too rough in mounting pullets and he injured or killed 3 of 'em. He was culled, permanently.

Roosters CAN co-exist in many situations. Some can not. My only suggestion is to pick the ones who are seriously fighting - blood drawn, injuries greater than simple feather loss - and either pen them separately for your breeding program or cull them. Of course, I wouldn't want to let a fighter breed and pass on that trait...

 

[Toshi]

What i did with my leftover roos was put them in a pen with eachother. They really didnt fight that much. I guess if they have a good pecking order down then they will not bother eachother, i had 5 roos in one pen away form the main goup with another roo. I don't think you need a pen for each roo, that would really be a waste of money to make each a pen, and pending on how long you have them they would get cold in the winter alone. The really mean roos should be take out though, dont want any of your birds really hurt. Roosters can be mean and can really hurt eachother.

 

[teach1rusl]

If there was harmony before the four new roos showed up, I'd either get rid of the new fellas (rehome or eat) or I'd put together a bachelor pad for them to share. Without females to fight over, they may very well do fine with one another.