OK all you roo-keepers....

[Goose and Fig]

Worst case scenario: nobody takes any of these rooster chicks I have been trying to rehome.

Sooo....we are pescatarian: don't eat chicken, let alone my own chickens. If I have to keep them- can I make a new coop just for the roos? I've heard as long as they can't see the hens they won't fight. Is this true? So- theoretically I could build a new coop with all of the windows up by the roofline. Light could come in- but they couldn't see the hens. Maybe I could do a free-range rotation like I do with the banties? The banties only come out 1 or 2 days a week because of the RIR roo.

Am I crazy...or could this work? Anyone else tried it? Noise isn't an issue. We're on 40 acres in the middle of nowhere. Any advice appreciated! Thanks!

 

[krazycow6]

I do know that if they cant see the hens they should be fine together.

 

[Goose and Fig]

OK- thanks! I might have to give it a shot. What if they can hear the hens? My girls are NOISY- especially if I don't let them out one day. We call them "the hecklers".

 

[gritsar]

It should work, with minimal fussing. It's seeing the hens that really irks them.

 

[mocchickfarm]

We split our pen in two and our roos can see the hens and they crow all day long and follow them all day long. They usually start around 4am and don't stop until the sun goes down. Your's may be different but only time will tell.

 

[RhodeRunner]

I let all my roosters free range with my hens. No issues. I did however at one time have one junglefowl that had the fight till death thought, and I got rid of him. Thankfully my other birds behave, and some of them are even fighting breeds.

My thought is that if you have them all together, even if in a different pen they are going to fight just as much as if they were with the hens, maybe more as they are in each others bubble more. If you raised all these boys together you should have no major problems.

These boys sound young, raise them togther, and incorperate them into the flock before they are full grown, and I don't see any issues. Sometimes, there are bad roosters (that attack people, or a just mean to the other chickens), it is up to the flock owner, to get rid of these.

If you really want to pen them than that is fine, but they will be happier free. Also, I have had some issues with the roosters in a pen together situation. I had two bantam roos(brothers) raised together and then have their own flock of hens. They got along till I had to take away the hens for a few weeks to breed to another rooster. The next thing I knew the tougher rooster was trying to make a hen out of the other one. Of course the other rooster refused, so his brother almost killed him.

Hope you can find some nice homes, for you little buggers,

 

[GardenerGal]

I have 4 Japanese (Chabo) bantam roosters that all came as a package when they were 5-month-old cockerels. 3 of them get along but chase the 4th one away (he's doing fine because he has two Chabo ladyfriends... the "Chabettes"... as company). But the other 3 are okay together most of the time and while they have free run of the barn and outdoor run during the day, they get cooped in their own coop at night. When they behave I call them the Three Muskateers (Porthos, Athos and Aramis), but when they peck each other I call them the Three Stooges (Moe, Larry and Curley). ;D

 

[Goose and Fig]

Thanks everyone! I'm going to post an add for the boys one more time, but I know we'll still have most of them. We decided to make another coop for the little guys. They'll be able to free-range every couple days. The hens get priority in the yard because they lay the best orange-yolked eggs. I'm pretty sure the Orps and Cohinswill get along- just worried about the Black Stars that were hen raised. They're too big to be integrated with the chicks. Hope this works out!