I need rooster 101

[Nariah01]

So I need some insight into good rooster behavior within a flock, especially when there is more then one rooster in the flock. I recently got two roosters, they are brothers and were raised together and are about 1 year old. It would be cool to keep both but I am thinking I am going to have to rehome one and I want to make the right choice here. One boy which seems to be the dominate one, he is the only one that crows seems nicer to the hens, if he goes to mate and the hens protest he leaves them alone. My other rooster is like mating obsessed and will chase down my hen and pin them down by grabbing there comb and head feathers and he mates whether they want to or not. He will also run over if he see's the other rooster mating and pushes his way atop of the hen to mate. Is this just young rooster hormones, or normal dynamics when two roosters are in a flock, or is this rooster just a punk? I am just trying to figure out what is normal and what is considered good rooster vs bad rooster.

 

[DoodleRoo]

My roo, Big Guy, was very rude when he was a young rooster but he learned roo manners when he was a few months older (how to bring treats for the hens, do his little dance when he wants to mate and not terrorize them). He lives in the flock with his older brother, Fiesty, who is the alpha rooster. There's enough hens for them both and they each have a little group of hens who follow them around. There are brief scuffles between them throughout the day, over who mates with which hens, but there have never been any injuries to either of them. They also roost near each other in the coop at night so I know they can't hate each other -that- much.

 

[hatchichickens]

Generally if you have 2 roosters the dominate rooster will not allow the sub-dominate rooster to mate with the hens. This doesn't mean that the sub-dominate won't try, but the dominate will fight him off. You will probably want to re-home the bad rooster as he will probably continue to be aggressive with your hens which is definitely not ideal. He can end up really hurting them. Eventually you may find him being aggressive to people also.
Just in case you have the room and do want to keep both: sometimes rooster owners keep a separate group of bachelor roos and they will get along with each other if there are no females present to fight over.
There are also "hen-saddles" if you do find your rooster is being too mean to the hens, or some in particular. I have used them and they do work well, although you do have to remove them periodically (so they can preen properly) and it does take the hens a little bit of time to get used to the saddles.
Good luck with your boys!

 

[TheTwoRoos]

All sounds normal,just young.Give them each come time to grow and become better.

My roosters chase the hens,and sometimes choose whether or not to be polite.They still do their duties and a long as no serious injury is made,I don't care,its natural.
For most people that is not okay,but it is natural.
It also depend son how many you have. Sometimes they will clique up and hump the chicken at the same time,that kills,you would need to downsize.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Usually,domiant wont allow subordinate to mate

 

[cottontail farm]

Someone here told me years ago that there are too many good roosters out there to have a bad one. It's stressful for you and the hens plus you don't want to pass on those genetics.
Keep the one that's polite to the hens and get rid of the one that is chasing everyone. The last rooster i had that did this stressed them so much that egg production dropped and they were all very skiddish. I didn't let it last long.

 

[Nariah01]

Thank you all for the insight. We don't have any bare backs yet from over mating but I do have two hens(the ones being mated the most by the brown rooster) have slightly bald heads from him chasing them down and trying to hold onto their heads to mate.

We have recently lost a few hens to coyotes too so that probably doesn't help either. It sounds like this mister brown roo might get better as he matures but during that time he may end up just stressing us all out with his crazy mating. My polite white rooster does not like Mr. brown mating and tries to chase him off whenever he sees it. He also attempts to protect some of the hens when Mr. brown gets to chasin'.

My husband wants to give them a little time to see if it will sort itself out, but I think I may tell him to just rehome the brown fella to a only rooster home with lots of ladies. Then he can mature there with full disclosure to the new owner that he can sometimes be a bit mate crazy.

The interesting thing is they both do all the right things with the hens except this chase mating with the brown rooster. And when he was by himself the only rooster(mister white was gone for a bit, long story) I don't remember him being so crazy about mating like this. So he maybe totally fine as the only boy.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

I have 3 roos who were raised together since day 1. They get along famously. They all also make love like cretins (like you described for roo #2). The hens just shake it off and move on like nothing happened. I personally like having the extra roos around. I love it when they set up their 3-point guard to protect the flock.

 

[Nariah01]

I have 3 roos who were raised together since day 1. They get along famously. They all also make love like cretins (like you described for roo #2). The hens just shake it off and move on like nothing happened. I personally like having the extra roos around. I love it when they set up their 3-point guard to protect the flock.

See that's part of why we wanted to keep both if possible with the flock because we free range pretty much all day. We have a fair amount of predators and right now half our flock are still chicks. So having two roosters is double the warning system, plus worst case scenario and we lose a rooster to a predator we already have a back up that is with the flock. For the most part the two boys get along pretty well. The white polite boy has started chasing off the brown fella a bit more, but they don't fight and the brown fella just moves outta white boys way. It also doesn't help that my two buff orps. aren't having the boys rough behavior. I might just see if I can get some more mature hens to help replace what we lost to the coyotes and to help keep the roosters and flock happy by spreading the love a bit more.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

It can take several more months till he matures,and possibly even 2 years is usually when their fully mature,any bad things they continue to do,will last them probably the rest of their lifes. I would put him in pen and let him learn through a fence.