HELP! Two of my roosters are fighting to the death!

[mprivett]

I have a small flock of 10 chickens, 3 of which are roosters.bad idea, I know, but we got attached and planned to keep 2 of them, had a chick that was supposed to be a she and turned out to be a he, well you know how that goes.......so two of the roosters that are now fighting used to be BFFs and were always together, never had any problems before even though Clove was always dominant over Cori. I guess Cori finally decided he had had enough and we found them in the forest this morning dueling it out, spurring each other, panting very hard, with both of their entire faces covered in blood. Several feathers missing too. They are a little over a year old now. They would not stop going at each other so I just had to pick one of them up in the middle of it and put him into the pen with the other roo and one of my hens.

Do you think I will have to get rid of one of them? Will they just continue to fight? Clove is definitely the more aggressive of the two and always the trouble maker (he is a partridge rock), so we would look to get rid of him I guess.

 

[AlienChick]

I would suggest keeping them separate or getting rid of one of them.

 

[centrarchid]

You are having one of my favorite re-occuring problems. Are they American Dominiques?

Odds are fight is not to death but they are clearly dinging each other up. Roosters with one year old spurs are going to be doing more damage using wings and bill. Spurs are more important with cocks that are another year or more older.

Several options can be pursued.

You can let them fight it out and break it up only if one gets down. This risky for eyes and in excessive heat.

You can keep them separated for an hour or so allowing there wounds to get sore, then release them again to more quickly decide rank becuase fighting hurts. This works for gamechicks I have.

You can spray them with water as they fight to exhaust them making so rank determination quicker and preferably with less damage.

You can separate them permanently.

You can cull one.

You can put both roosters on tie-cords so they can not get to each other but they will still be able to interact with hens.

 

[mprivett]

Thanks so much for your replies.

Centrachid- I have all American Dominique's except for the partridge rock rooster. He and one of the other Dom roosters are the two fighting. I have never had any problems with my Doms being aggressive before.

That is interesting your advice spraying them with water....I may have to try that. Otherwise, I think we may have to keep them separated until we can get rid of one. I would LOVE for someone to take my PR rooster. I have never heard of the pull cords...can you make those?

 

[centrarchid]

Thanks so much for your replies.
Centrachid- I have all American Dominique's except for the partridge rock rooster. He and one of the other Dom roosters are the two fighting. I have never had any problems with my Doms being aggressive before.
That is interesting your advice spraying them with water....I may have to try that. Otherwise, I think we may have to keep them separated until we can get rid of one. I would LOVE for someone to take my PR rooster. I have never heard of the pull cords...can you make those?

Tie-cords can only be used in situation where you have excellent predator control. It is a technique primarily in use by gamefowl folks but is better than mobile pen system I presently use in respect to stress management and preserving pasture quality.

I PMed you concerning supplier.

 

[RileyB]

I am in a very similar situation with my accidental rooster ratio. I also don't want to have to get rid of any of them. I wish you the best of luck and I'll definitely try these techniques if my "buddy" roos start to hate each other as they get older.

 

[centrarchid]

I am in a very similar situation with my accidental rooster ratio. I also don't want to have to get rid of any of them. I wish you the best of luck and I'll definitely try these techniques if my "buddy" roos start to hate each other as they get older.

You can also pen roosters individually in roughly 4' x 5' pens but predator control as provided by dog almost a requirement. I was reliant upon such for a two year interval without dog causing me to personally chase and kill way more varmints than desired. I can provide pictures of pens if desired. Pens themselves are not predator proof.

 

[Cowgirl73]

Thanks so much for your replies.

Centrachid- I have all American Dominique's except for the partridge rock rooster. He and one of the other Dom roosters are the two fighting. I have never had any problems with my Doms being aggressive before.

That is interesting your advice spraying them with water....I may have to try that. Otherwise, I think we may have to keep them separated until we can get rid of one. I would LOVE for someone to take my PR rooster. I have never heard of the pull cords...can you make those?

Interesting reading. Just took one Roo out today for fighting; one finally penned the other down to the point he wasn’t moving. There are beautiful Brown Sussex Roos who grew up together that were supposed to be hens . Will have to find one a new home.