Is she a he?

[MaeM]

The BR is exerting his dominance over the NH mix.


Usually, separating cockerels or roosters from each other and thus preventing continuous contact and interaction, will lead to enormous amounts of stress in both, the separated and the one remaining with the hens.
The separated will try everything to get back to his flock pacing up and down the fences of his enclosure and flying up until exhaustion, while the other will pace as well to put the agitated one in his place and prevent him from coming back.

And finally, the idea of alternating the cockerels/roosters will stress the hens, as each cockerel/rooster will start a mating marathon as soon as he "finally" gets the chance to do so.

The best solution for all your chickens would be rehoming the surplus male to where he can have his own flock of hens.

And... if the roosters get along, would keeping them both separated from the hens work or be too cruel?

 

[LaFleche]

And... if the roosters get along, would keeping them both separated from the hens work or be too cruel?

Why would you want to submit them to such a life?

Would you be willing and able to provide a nice second coop of good size with an attached big and well structured run for the cockerels?

It would have to be situated far away and out of sight of the hens coop and run, or else the cockerels will get agitated/excited and start to mount each other, which can end in a bad way for the less dominant male being chased and raped the whole day long.

 

[LaFleche]

With limited space and only four hens, you and your hens would be much better of if you rehomed both cockerels.

 

[nuthatched]

I personally wouldn't keep a rooster at all with 4 hens. I'd keep the Rock since he treats his ladies right.
Keeping the roosters separated or 'switching them out' just so you can get away having them both is more than slightly selfish on your part and cruel to your hens. They seem to be doing good now but flock politics can change over night.

 

[MaeM]

Why would you want to submit them to such a life?

Would you be willing and able to provide a nice second coop of good size with an attached big and well structured run for the cockerels?

It would have to be situated far away and out of sight of the hens coop and run, or else the cockerels will get agitated/excited and start to mount each other, which can end in a bad way for the less dominant male being chased and raped the whole day long.

I have two coops. The second one was built for the Rhode Island hens because we thought the others would never stop bullying them. And now there's still some bullying, but overall I'd say they're integrated and they don't need that coop anymore. They actually sleep with the others in the first coop, so the other one is just an extra space I could use for the roosters, or at least that's what I thought.

I just didn't know they could mount each other... I guess that idea is discarded.

I don't really have a problem with space, you know? The problem is my mom (we share the backyard where the chickens free range). And I can't have 10 hens for each rooster either, but maybe I can talk to her about this situation and see how many more we can get.

I'm aiming at having 2 flocks now, in 2 separate coops (with more hens for each rooster, naturally). Would that work? And how would that affect the free range thing? I have around 20 meters for them.

I know that you're probably reading this and thinking "just get rid of the roosters", but besides the fact that I'm attached to these birds, it's not that easy to find a good home for them where I live. The BR chickens were actually rescued from a farm where they were being neglected (to the point that one of the BR hens is super afraid of humans). If I had a trusted friend capable of raising chickens I'd give the roosters to him/her, but "rehoming" around here means getting rid of your chickens and pray for them to be better than at your own home.

 

[FrappcinoObsession]

Mixed breed rooster. I can’t believe it hasn’t crowed yet.

Im not sure hes a mixed breed. Hes definitionally a new Hampshire red tho.

 

[LaFleche]

I have two coops. The second one was built for the Rhode Island hens because we thought the others would never stop bullying them. And now there's still some bullying, but overall I'd say they're integrated and they don't need that coop anymore. They actually sleep with the others in the first coop, so the other one is just an extra space I could use for the roosters, or at least that's what I thought.

I just didn't know they could mount each other... I guess that idea is discarded.

I don't really have a problem with space, you know? The problem is my mom (we share the backyard where the chickens free range). And I can't have 10 hens for each rooster either, but maybe I can talk to her about this situation and see how many more we can get.

I'm aiming at having 2 flocks now, in 2 separate coops (with more hens for each rooster, naturally). Would that work? And how would that affect the free range thing? I have around 20 meters for them.

I know that you're probably reading this and thinking "just get rid of the roosters", but besides the fact that I'm attached to these birds, it's not that easy to find a good home for them where I live. The BR chickens were actually rescued from a farm where they were being neglected (to the point that one of the BR hens is super afraid of humans). If I had a trusted friend capable of raising chickens I'd give the roosters to him/her, but "rehoming" around here means getting rid of your chickens and pray for them to be better than at your own home.

I understand the predicament.

Sharing the backyard with somebody else might cause problems along the way, as free ranging chickens will easily turn the greenest and nicest garden space into some kind of military training ground, digging holes and pooping everywhere and ruining plants and flowers. At least the breeds that you have are known to be persistent in rearranging/remodeling the landscape.

Which leads me to the next issue: BR, RIR and the like need lots of space to roam freely to exhaust their high energy level, or else they develop nasty and aggressive habits such as bullying, feather plucking, egg eating etc.

So I would consider at least 6-8m² per bird to be appropriate, as they need to be able to get out of each others faces and out of sight of the cockerel/rooster. To keep the yard green for some time it should be approx. 10m² per bird.

From your initial post I assume you are a rather inexperienced chicken owner, and I therefore would strongly advise against keeping both cockerels, as you will probably be apalled when hormones begin to rage and the previously nice and sweet cockerels start fighting each other and assaulting the pullets and maybe even attacking you and/or your mother.

 

[MaeM]

Which leads me to the next issue: BR, RIR and the like need lots of space to roam freely to exhaust their high energy level, or else they develop nasty and aggressive habits such as bullying, feather plucking, egg eating etc.

That's why I let them free range all day long (unless I'm not at home, but I work from home, so I'm almost always there to supervise them). And that's why I was wondering if I could still let them free range if I split them into 2 flocks. I imagine the roosters could have problems if one of them tries to mount a hen from the other's flock... Would letting them out by "turns" help in this case?

From your initial post I assume you are a rather inexperienced chicken owner, and I therefore would strongly advise against keeping both cockerels, as you will probably be apalled when hormones begin to rage and the previously nice and sweet cockerels start fighting each other and assaulting the pullets and maybe even attacking you and/or your mother.

I had another flock in the past and I had the worst rooster ever. He never attacked me, but he used to keep my mother hostage in her own house; as soon as she got out to the yard, he attacked her. We never knew why he hated her so much.

Then, that rooster had babies with one of the hens and one of those babies turned out to be a male. At that time, I never thought about any other possibility than rehoming one of the roosters, because the first one was very aggressive and he wasn't even merciful to his own son. But at that time, my grandmother was alive, and although she didn't want to keep the aggressive rooster for safety reasons, she accepted to keep the son.

Later, the father killed one of the hens. That's why a while ago, when I realized I had a cockerel, I nearly panicked, thinking there would be a murder again. But people here told me that I had an exceptionally aggressive rooster and that not all roosters are like that.

My point is... I know they change when they grow up. But we can say that, as unpredictable as they are, no rooster can be worse than my mixed breed, bad genetics Isaac Newton (that was his name ).

I still want to do what I can to avoid problems.

 

[LaFleche]

What else can I say other than wishing you good luck.