I bought fourteen chicks (Buff Orph and Delaware) that are now twenty three weeks old. One of the chicks was a rooster. They threw in a six week older rooster at the time. The older rooster runs the flock well and is in complete charge. The younger rooster is afraid to come in the coop at night, cannot mate with other hens and sits on the sidelines when I give them treats. The question I have is, should I leave the older rooster in the pen for a while when I let them out to free range? The younger one, gets pecked half to death if he comes near the flock, however I like the way the older rooster protects. The hens are starting to lay now and I want to hatch out my own. Any advise or should I just leave it alone and it will work out. Thanks in advance. franko
Okay, so that's thirteen pullets to two cockerels if I am reading your post right. That's pushing it on the roo to hen ratio. There's a good chance that the younger roo will always live on the fringes of the flock, unless he decides to challenge the alpha when he grows up a bit. If you could find a good home for cockerel #2, I would do it. He'll never have a happy life being the odd man out. If you want to keep both, think about a seperate pen for #2 with a few hens of his own. I used to have two roos to 16 hens, with my subordinate roo being the odd man out. My flock is happier, more peaceful with just one roo and the roo I gave away has his own flock to tend to now. Just MHO.
I think that's the answer. The older roo runs the flock with an iron hand so I don't want to get rid of him. I have had flocks before but never with two roos. Thanks so much. Franko
Franko- What kind of rooster is the 2nd string rooster? We are wanting a rooster and I will be in Kerrville on Friday. If you are wanting to re-home him.
definitely leave top dawg alone! he/s made his mark and if the girls are receptive to him and he takes care of them don/t punish the whole flock for one lone cockeral. it could be bad to get rid of him though if something were to happen to the first rooster. you wouldn/t have a backup
