Injured Roosters

[Morrgin]

So I guess it's normal for them to have their own little groups within a flock.

 

[Kris5902]

Yes, this sounds fairly normal, I’m currently Free ranging 40 birds, 3 of which are Roosters and one Cockerel. They all roost together fine, and I have only had one serious fighting incident. My Main Man, Sammy raised Dean and Cass from the time they were about 12 or 14 weeks old as well as 6 pullets when winter forced me to combine flocks.

Early this Summer Sammy got into a little fight with Roostie, my meatbird, over his hens (Sammy got greedy, and Roostie said no) Sammy’s part leghorn with a massive comb, and it was bleeding impressively, he backed down and left Roostie alone but when he returned to his own girls Dean and Cass decided this defeat meant they could take a shot at moving up on the Rooster roster. The mercilessly chased and were pecking poor Sammy who was already exhausted from the Roostie incident. The young guys got put in individual solitary confinements until dusk. They roosted fine that night, the next day was fairly uneventful, but that night Dean and Cass wouldn’t let Sammy in the coop to roost.

Sammy, and his main girls were moved into a different grow out pen and I added over 20 pullets for him. He is very good at raising young chicks. I released them to free range together with the others (but still roosting separately) after about month (waiting for the pullets to grow to a less tempting size for predators, mostly) Soon, Sammy was roosting in the old coop again and trying to coax all his new ladies in as well 40 birds were not going to fit in a 4x4 roosting box! I upgraded their coop to accommodate everyone, and after three days of re-training them to the new coop everything has been peaceful.

 

[Kris5902]

Once you’re sure Cornelius isn’t severely injured you will want to give him time to heal up, before attempting to put them together again, if you decide to try it. How many girls do you have? It sounds like you have some different age groups. You can have multiple roosters and it doesn’t necessarily have to end in bloodshed, but it depends on the roosters personality, your flock numbers, and your environment. Can you let us know a bit more about how your setup is arranged? If you’re concerned about Cornelius’ injuries post some pictures and we will let you know what it looks like and if we see anything really concerning. Also, situations like this is why I like to handle, hand feed, and work closely with my roosters. Honestly I have better relationships with them than most of my hens. A lot of them will come when called and bring their ladies, and if I need to work with them I can usually manage it during the day.