Please help! Should a roo go?!!!! Which one????!! Desperate!!!!

[bluie]

We ended up with two silkie roos and 5 large breed gals, all exactly the same age, nearly 20 weeks. From day one, Boss Man acted like a roo. He was larger, more erect, and, well, kind of the boss. Onigiri was a spoiled and pampered little girl (we thought). She would peep loudly when cold, push under the others to get warm, was always at center of the bedtime huddle, and would push her way into the center of the food. Both grew into beautiful chickens. Boss Man is a partridge and Onigiri is white. Unfortunately, a couple of months ago, we realized Boss Man had a cross beak. We loved him and thought he was our only rooster, and we decided to keep him, and just not let any eggs hatch. Now, just two weeks ago, Onigiri started to look like a rooster and started to crow. Two roosters. Days ago, we noticed that Onigiri was really attacking two of the hens, pretty viciously. (Boss Man has always been kind to the hens, looking out for them, letting them eat first even though he has the cross beak). Now today, the two roos went at it. I came home from work, about 3:00 and they were circling and tussling and fighting. I went to the store and then to pick up the kids, and when we came home, Onigiri was bloody on the head. We cleaned HIM up, and agonized about what to do. First, we just put the two roos back in the coop for night time, but within seconds they were fighting again. Finally, we put Boss Man in the kids play house by himself for the night. My daughter is very attached to Onigiri, but is repelled by his violent treatment of the hens.

Boss Man, partridge silkie roo
Cross beak
Gentle roo
Protective (Maybe too protective? pecked my son's hand hard yesterday when he was trying to catch a hen)
Bloodied Onigiri today

Onigiri, white silkie roo
Perfect formation
Mean to hens

What do we do????!!!!! We put Boss Man back in the coop! We couldn't stand it. Should we just let them fight it out and let one establish dominance no matter how bloody things get? Should we cull one? (

) Should we rehome one? (Personally, I am rooting for Boss Man.) This is the first time since owning chickens that I have felt so unsure of what to do.
Opinions and advice please!

 

[chookchick]

Boss Man, no question. Why have a roo if he doesn't take good care of your girls. Fortunately since Onigiri is a silkie you should be able to find a home for him. If you need a really nice roo, get rid of both of them and I have the guy for you....

noticed they are only 20 weeks old--Boss Man may become more aggressive as he matures, so hopefully your kids are old enough to be aware of that and protect themselves if necessary (probably not a good idea to have them pick up hens until he is mature).

 

[Guitartists]

Maybe Onigiri will get better with the hens as he matures..... could just be raging hormones... If you will be breeding them, I would go with him over Boss Man because you won't want to breed a cross beaked roo to your hens unless you know for certain that it is NOT genetic.

If you're not breeding them, well, keep the Boss Man if he's a good roo otherwise.

 

[bluie]

Thanks for the offer, Chookchick! I wish you were closer. Guitartists, I definitely would not let Boss Man breed with his beak like that, but I would love for the kids to experience the hatching of chicks, so that is a big downside to keeping him. I wonder, if, after fighting it out for a while, will one of them then dominate and the fighting be over. Then, I could keep both of them. Or, will it be an ongoing power struggle forever. Also, a friend of a friend of mine at work has lots of silkies. I am going to see if I could buy a white silkie hen and a partridge roo from her as replacements for both of them, if this is acceptable to my family. Then, consider alternatives for the original two. Anybody else have any other thoughts?

 

[bluie]

Any Long Islanders out there with Silkie experience?

 

[speckledhen]

I would not reproduce the crossbeak since it's usually genetic. If you only want him for protection of the ladies, sure, keep him, but I wouldn't hatch any eggs from him to perpetuate that fault.

 

[silkiechicken]

If there's a girl in the picture, I've had roo's fight them selves silly. So silly that the normally skittish leghorns were laying on the ground bloody and I could pick them up like wet noodles. They just would not quit! I've had silkies dual it out too and one had a head so bloodied it crusted his eyes shut by the end of the work day. They were buddies in the morning and then went to bed next to each other on the roost that night... just to start dueling it out in the morning again! And then I've had the pair of silkies and pair of standard boys who'd get along just fine. Had three in a coop once, and the head roo got along with number two, but as soon as number three got near, he'd shoo him away and beat on him.

In short, if they can live together depends on the individual roos. They will have to dual out who's top though. I personally would rehome the crossbeak... or remove him from the gene pool. Often they just get worse as they age. The second in command can then develop his ego and become the big strutting roo. He's probably rough with the girls now because he wants to "get in and get out" as fast as he can before the top roo comes and beats him up for touching the ladies.

 

[bluey]

hey bluie!!!!!

I'd keep the one you like best. Honestly, unless you plan on going into the business of breeding, do what makes you happy.

 

[rooster-red]

If you want your kids to see a hatch from your stock, but don't want crossbeaks in the genetic pool you could put Onigiri in a seperate coop & run until you want to hatch, put some hens in with Onigiri for a few weeks, collect & incubate the eggs and rehome Onigiri.

Boss man would be your alpha roo living with the hens.

Or just rehome Onigiri and buy eggs to incubate.

 

[bluie]

Thanks everyone! I am happy to get a variety of opinions and different takes on the situation. They have been together since last night and its 1:30 now and nobody is bloody right now, so at least I don't have the desperate need to make a decision right now.

And a big shout out to Bluey!!!