More than one rooster

[sashasmom]

By a couple different incidents, we have ended up with 2 roosters. At first it was fine but now they fight. Any way to make that work peacefully, short of keeping them separated (which is what we are doing now). Thank you for your advice.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

They will normally work it out on there own, sometimes with blood letting unless they are fighting breeds.
What breeds are they and how many hens do you have?
The real downside is that while they are fighting, they aren't doing their 2 most important jobs - breeding the hens and being on the lookout for predators.

 

[sashasmom]

They will normally work it out on there own, sometimes with blood letting unless they are fighting breeds.
What breeds are they and how many hens do you have?
The real downside is that while they are fighting, they aren't doing their 2 most important jobs - breeding the hens and being on the lookout for predators.

So, one is a bantam silkie (we think.... we adopted (thinking he was a hen) him as a baby that someone didn't want. The second is when we let our hen hatch some eggs and he is one of the babies.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Well, what breeds of eggs did your hen hatch? Is he a descendent of the bantam silkie?

How many hens do you have?

How big is your coop? The run?

 

[sashasmom]

Well, what breeds of eggs did your hen hatch? Is he a descendent of the bantam silkie?

How many hens do you have?

How big is your coop? The run?

Yes, he is the son of the Silkie and we think his mom was our Salmon Faverole. He is much bigger than our silkie (dad). Our coop is 18' x 5' and we have 8 hens. Plus they free range nearly every day. They start to fight if they are together for one second. Perhaps if I monitor time together it will get better??? My vet says you can never have more than one rooster. Hoping that is not the case, we love them both and want to keep them but juggling to keep them apart is kind of a drag.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That's not the case. However too many roosters can be a problem for many reasons.
I have a that fight from time to time but I've had many roosters with lots of hens that didn't fight at all.
I saw the chickens at the Purina Mills farm. A big pen with many breeds of chickens of all sizes and probably at least 12 roosters, all living together peacefully.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

We ended up with 2 roos following a hatch last year. They fought a bit, but once the dad roo established dominance the younger one keeps his distance during the day. They seem to have worked things out in the coop as well, as I don't see evidence of damage on the younger one. All the hens hang out with the older one and poor Silverwings seems as if he is invisible to them. Funny thing happened the other day, though. Silver hid under a potting table and when an unsuspecting biddy happened by he leaped upon her before she knew what was happening, then ran off before Daddy Roo could come to the rescue! With the new chicks growing quickly there should be enough girls to share by fall.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Your coop is 18' by 5'? Do you mean the run?
The coop is the chicken house that they go into during the night, to sleep. The outdoor part is the run.

If you want multiple roos, you'll need more like 10 hens per roo. Probably that's your issue, not enough hens to share.

 

[sashasmom]

Your coop is 18' by 5'? Do you mean the run?
The coop is the chicken house that they go into during the night, to sleep. The outdoor part is the run.

If you want multiple roos, you'll need more like 10 hens per roo. Probably that's your issue, not enough hens to share.

Sorry, that is the run. The coop is about 5 x 5. Most of them don't sleep in there though. Some out some in.

 

[Fishkeeper]

That's a 25-square-foot coop. For 10 birds, you need a minimum of 40 square feet, more since you have multiple roosters. If your birds aren't all sleeping in the coop, something is wrong with it.
Can't guarantee it'll fix your problem, but your coop is too small and you should do something about that.