My 2 chickens/roosters are fighting.

[Folly's place]

Any cockerel who's attacking the humans who bring food is NOT useful, or doing his job. He's spending his time stalking people, not looking out for real threats, or otherwise interacting with his flockmates.
And he can and will cause injuries, sometime serious injuries, to you, or worse yet, to a visitor.
Hope you have really good liability insurance, and that your policy actually covers poultry. Many don't, even some farm policies.
Our first rooster was a little bantam, who could and did fly up to adult eyeball level to attack us. Every day. And we put up with him way too long!!!
Only polite roosters are worth having, something we figured out over time.
Mary

 

[Chickboy1234]

Well, I don't think you want this advice. Most people don't when they first start with chickens, they want to keep everything, and just hope it works out, but it seldom does.

I would get the 10 pullets and remove the rooster by re-homing him. An all pullet flock is best for your first time out. You have a lovely amount of space, and should have a lovely flock soon.

The thing is, roosters take experience, and they are not like puppies which are true pets, and develop relationships with people. Roosters are often very outgoing and appear quite friendly, but that is really inexperienced people mis-judging their response. They often times can get very ugly, and this forum is full of where the darling became the nightmare.

Would you post a picture of both of your birds? I am wondering, considering their ages if they are both cockerels?

At 6 weeks - you still have pullets and cockerels, very immature birds. Adding 10 chicks should really help get that integration done, but do set up some hideouts, and one way gates, that the chicks can get into, but the opening is too small for the older birds.

Mrs K

I totally understand why I should re-home the cockerel. I know a place or two where he would fit in perfectly. As for the pullet… if it even is one, I’ll add another ten chicks following this week. Below is a photo of the “pullet” and the cockerel. One of them (the first image) has a smaller body, smaller comb, and less floppy wattles, making me assume it’s a female… but I’m really not that sure.

 

[Mrs. K]

They are both roosters with combs like that at 6 weeks.

 

[Chickboy1234]

They are both roosters with combs like that at 6 weeks.

That explains all the fighting... but why does one have a smaller body, comb, and wattles than the other?

 

[Mrs. K]

Even birds develop at different rates. If you walk into a 7th grade classroom, not all the kids are the same size. About 5 weeks + a red comb is almost always a sign of a cockerel.
l could be wrong, just looking at a picture, but I don't think I am.

 

[DebbieMarler]

If you're intent on keeping the cockerel, then yes you need to get more girls for him. He should start mating around 15 weeks or so and it's very intense. Like 20x a day intense. If you haven't seen chickens do it.... it's not exactly romantic. Our cockerel has been a handful. But he's also taken good care of the flock. Yes he chases us and does plenty of sneak attacks on us, but we're ready all the time for him now. I have a saying.... DON'T TRUST THE ROOSTER! He's a liar who will sit there and pretend he's just a chicken while you're watching him. Then he'll run like heck to claw the back of your legs as soon as you turn your back.

Still unsure if we're going to keep him around honestly.

So I am trying to raise a small cockerel n the hopes He would behave. Our last 1 was very mean hence he departed. Are you saying, that no rooster can be Tame. I'm just wondering now if I'm wasting my time.

 

[Mrs. K]

DebbieMarker I have raised cockerels, a lot of them do not turn out. Sometimes you get a gem. I do think that you get better cockerels if you pretty much ignore them, and they are raised in an multi-generational flock where there are bigger birds than them. The older birds school them into some manners.

But even then, you can get one that is not good. Roosters are a crap shoot. The best treatment is a sharp knife, only keep the nice ones.

Mrs K

 

[drdoct]

I'm just holding out for a year or so to see if he mellows out some. It's not an all the time thing with this cockerel. He just goes through moods. Other times he's perfect. So realistically he could end up either way once his hormones settle more. I realize after I'm done with this one, it will be easier to weed out the next bad cockerel. I just feel like giving him a longer chance which also lets me understand what to look for more as well.

 

[Chickboy1234]

Even birds develop at different rates. If you walk into a 7th grade classroom, not all the kids are the same size. About 5 weeks + a red comb is almost always a sign of a cockerel.
l could be wrong, just looking at a picture, but I don't think I am.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[sdm111]

How much space do you have these birds in? Often times in the interest of keeping them safe, people tend to keep them in too small of space.

What are your plans? One hen and one rooster is not a good combination, and often leads to heartache later on. You need to consider what you will do. I don't really think of this as pecking order, but rather dominance in too small of an area. It is not a good sign that your cockerel chick is this aggressive this early on.

For the short term, getting them more space, with clutter will help. But not for the long term. Wishing they would just get along won't really work for chickens. You need a plan and a place to totally separate the male from the female, if that is what she is? It could be you have two males, and their behavior kind of indicates that. Pictures would help us give better advice.

Mrs K

I've had one or two hens with a rooster for years with no issues at all.

It's very possible poster each chicken is different so just cause one does something doesn't mean all will do something