Keeping roosters

[Christina.Rich]

Hi all,

I just recently created a thread to find out that 99% of the time, 2+ roosters cant really co exist together in the same run, no matter how many hens there are. I'm still new to things, and am learning something new every day from you awesome people.

So, now that I am educated on the fact that roosters cannot really coexist without them wanting to kill each other, I now would like to know how all of you people keep your roosters when you have more than 1. I am open to creating separate runs, coops, whatever works. I love my roos and would like to have a few of them, but also don't want to keep them in a cage all day. I want them to still have the ability to be outside, happy, and have a run of some sort. For the past week or so (since I got rooster #2) I have just been rotating them. One is in the run for 1/2 the day, the other is in the coop and vise versa. However, its not a good long term solution.

Long term, I want to specialize in bantam cochins so I will definitely have a couple cochin roosters too.

Show me your pictures, give me your advice & help a girl figure out what the best setup is for her birds


Thank you!

 

[RWise]

I keep 2 extra roosters for breeding, 1 on the flock and the other 2 in their own private quarters where they can see each other, talk to the girls, box at the fence. When I want chicks from "this one" I change places with him and the roo on the flock.

 

[Christina.Rich]

I keep 2 extra roosters for breeding, 1 on the flock and the other 2 in their own private quarters where they can see each other, talk to the girls, box at the fence. When I want chicks from "this one" I change places with him and the roo on the flock.

That’s not a bad idea. I’ll probably do the same! Do you by chance have a picture(s) of their quarters? Where it is located? How much space do they have?

 

[RWise]

They are nothing fancy, made from 2x4 welded wire, covered, in the shade, each one is about 12'x10', 2x2 for a roost (stuck through the 2x4 wire in a corner), location is next to the coop. Another is built from an old camper shell, it has more room, about twice as much.

 

[Krazyquilts]

I have two roosters in my Orpington pen, two 1-year-old roosters and a teenager with my free range layers, three young roosters and several teenage roosters in with my pastured chickens, and an all-boys flock in with my sheep. For the most part, all the boys get along fine. Any that don't, get rehomed (hard to do) or butchered. I think the key is having a lot of hens for them and plenty of room to get away from each other. There's always going to be some who absolutely loathe each other and just don't work together, but it is entirely possible to have several roosters work together.

 

[Christina.Rich]

They are nothing fancy, made from 2x4 welded wire, covered, in the shade, each one is about 12'x10', 2x2 for a roost (stuck through the 2x4 wire in a corner), location is next to the coop. Another is built from an old camper shell, it has more room, about twice as much.

Do they stay in these cages overnight?

 

[RWise]

Yes, they are dry, I put up wind blocks for storms (old siding), food and water, grass clippings, dirt to scratch in, they do take extra care. Larger areas would be better,,,

 

[TheTwoRoos]

I usually keep just two.I love roosters and have had several.Mine are pets.Never have had an issue with a rooster trying to kill me.Other than one I got as an adult and had no time to socialize it.
From experience,I have had two incidents where things just didn’t go as planned.My first ever rooster was named Joe.Great guy and had soem long spurs and yes indeed used them on me.Sooner or later we hatched out soem chicks from him.One turned out to be a rooster.As they got older things just got worse and worse.Things had got to the point where someone had to go.Joe actually lived with probabaly over forty other chickens along with a ten of roosters so I thought he would get along with other males but that wasn’t the case,one day he spurred his son in the eye,exiled him entirely out of the flock into one part of the yard,along with his daughter.One day,I forgot to let the flock out and went outside to find the son with both eyes spurred and a sprained neck,unfortunately I had to put him down.He wasn’t friendly but never attacked me,probably would have made for a great guy.Come Along a year or two later I then ended up with two more roosters along with joe,he treated them the same way he treated his son.With there being three roosters there was a ton of tension and competition in the yard,adventually the brothers tried killing each other.No serious injuries but a lot of blood,that’s when I decided to get rid of one brother along with joe.I now have Zeus the other brother and he has been great.Besides all the horror stories,I now have two who got alongn just fine.A few fights during spring but they were just the normal kicking back and fourth and occasionally peck a head,but never any blood drawn.They have been together for awhile now,I’d say two years,or going on two.

Giving them their space to roam and a fair amount of hens really helps the situation.Roosters cause a lot of tension in the flock sometimes,but mainly isn’t he spring.I trim tips of spurs and use to put electrical tape on the tops of spurs,that way no serious injuries are made if anything does happen.
I also hatched out three sons from Zeus.Kept one and they did just fine together,but adventually we did get rid of him for soem reason don’t remember exactly why though.

 

[Backyard Bruce]

Wow, Just me and not judging you but I don't think Joe the Roo would have lived very long around me with that behavior, not even a little.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Yeah which is why I sent him to someone else,he was great for the girls but hated other males and at the time I was new to roosters so I pretty much just put up with his bull till it stopped.