The poor cockerel was on the ground in the corner all day. I think I remember Chooks man telling me not to put the #1 cock in the bachelor coop. Antonio is twice the size of those cockerels. The good thing is neither one of those cockerels wants to fight each other anymore. So it did solve my problem. LOL
It works for me but Antonio may not be willing to tolerate the cockerels like my Marans cock birds do. He has been the head honcho for so long without much competition and each rooster is an individual and can differ from one to the next in personality. If the fighting results in too much bloodshed and goes on for longer than a day or so, you may have to break them up and separate them. You have all sorts of chicken drama going on. Lol
I rarely have had good experiences moving broody hens and their eggs. Usually what happens when I move them is they freak out and wont accept the new location of the eggs and pace the pen trying to get out to go back to the original location they were sitting. Since she is sitting on the ground you would have to move her in stages probably and even then it may not work. You can take a nest box (or 5 gallon bucket, milk crate nest, etc) and put her eggs in it in the spot where she is sitting. Once she has settled into the nest, wait until after dark and move her and the nest to the pen you want her in. I have never had success moving a broody during the day unless of course her eggs have already hatched. By morning if she is still on the nest she may be okay. If she gets off the nest and wont go back to it because she is freaking out and pacing the wire trying go go back to "her" nest you might as well put the eggs in the incubator or scrap the whole clutch and break her up.
I have had a couple good Marans broodies and some bad. Mostly I break them up when they go broody because one broody makes them all seem to want to go broody. Its contagious. Lucille lost all of her chicks, but I think my son's cat may have been responsible for that. Lucille had accidently killed one of them herself and then something got the other 4. Hens usually get better at being mommies with every clutch. I have rarely ever had a 1st time mom do a good job at keeping her chicks alive. Its something they get better at with each clutch. Not all hens make good moms though. If a hen eats the eggs she is sitting on or kills her chicks as they hatch I dont let them try to hatch again.
Good luck with all your chicken drama! I hope it all settles down and works out.
Sometimes they just make you want to.
Dang, your roosters never fail to impress! Beautiful!
Thank you!
The picture I included in the post is the pretty boy. He just stayed on the roost during the battle, he looked terrified and I know he would have given anything to be out of that coop. Antonio would not let up on the other cockerel and he is a bloody, squinting, dirty bird. I feel very sorry for him. I don't think the cockerel would have been allowed to eat or drink. He wasn't allowed out of the corner. He was crouched on the ground and every time he moved Antonio went after him again. Now the two cockerels are together in the big coop. I have a 5 by 8 coop for Antonio. I am going to lock him up at some point and give the cockerels a day out. One at a time that is. It all worked out.
