Question About Chicken Hierarchy

[BackyardDove]

Now that the chicks are grown and have been sold, it's time to start breeding the hens again. My breeding hens are in a separate pen from the other chicken pen that has my roosters and laying hens, and please don't question me on why they're separate, and so when it's time to breed the roosters are taken out of their pen and put into the hen's pen with their specific hen. The hen's pen is right next to the other chicken pen, so they can see each other.

In the chicken pen with the roosters and laying hens, I have 4 roosters and 4 laying hens. The dominant chicken of the flock is Gertrude, my Amerucana laying hen. She was the first chicken I got and I got her before I got any roosters. She keeps the others in check and reminds them of their social status. Second in command is Jester, my silver partridge Silkie rooster. He has breeding rights with the three other hens, but Gertrude doesn't tolerate him trying to breed with her. He makes sure the other three roosters know he's the dominant rooster. Third is my two Austrolorp laying hens. They don't enforce much, but they don't allow the three lowest-ranking roosters to mate with them. Now, the first time I separated the roosters there wasn't an issue with reintroducing them into their flock after the breeding hens had gone broody and no longer needed to breed. This was because I only used the three low-ranking roosters as breeders for the breeding hens. So, there wasn't really any changes to the social hierarchy. However, this time, I'm changing some things. This time, one low-ranking rooster and my dominant rooster will be used as breeding. This means that the two other low-ranking roosters will be left alone with the laying hens. How can I make it to where my dominant rooster will stay dominant, despite being away from his flock for a couple of weeks? Should I separate the two other low-ranking roosters from the laying hens, preventing them from taking over as the dominant roosters, then reintroduce all the roosters at the same time? As I said, Gertrude is the true dominant chicken of the flock and so separating the dominant rooster won't screw up the hierarchy too much. But, because Jester is the dominant rooster, he's always kept the other roosters from fighting since there's no hens to fight over. If he loses his position as dominant rooster, that means I'll have four roosters fighting for dominance and terrorizing my laying hens(Minus Gertrude, of course. She doesn't tolerate anybody picking on her). I'd rather that not happen.

 

[GitaBooks]

Don't worry, I'm sure there's a good reason for them to be separated.

You could try removing the lower ranking rooster. Also, if Jester is housed near the others he may keep his position just by being there.

Chicken hierarchy is really complicated. For example:
I have five roosters. Two silkies named Flo and Azul that get along, two standards (a barred rock named Dominator or Domni and a New Hampshire named Smaug) and an OEG bantam named Acorn.
Domni is the top rooster, but Flo sometimes fights with him, as he use to be second in command before Smaug. The silkies get chased by Smaug and Domni but chase Acorn. Acorn chases Smaug but gets chased by the silkies and Domni. What I don't understand, is how tiny Acorn can scare Smaug when the larger silkie duo can't.

Chickens are really complicated.

Smaug


Acorn


Flo (he was suppose to be a hen when I bought him, hence the name)


Dominator

 

[Spangled]

However, this time, I'm changing some things. This time, one low-ranking rooster and my dominant rooster will be used as breeding. This means that the two other low-ranking roosters will be left alone with the laying hens. How can I make it to where my dominant rooster will stay dominant, despite being away from his flock for a couple of weeks? Should I separate the two other low-ranking roosters from the laying hens, preventing them from taking over as the dominant roosters, then reintroduce all the roosters at the same time? As I said, Gertrude is the true dominant chicken of the flock and so separating the dominant rooster won't screw up the hierarchy too much. But, because Jester is the dominant rooster, he's always kept the other roosters from fighting since there's no hens to fight over. If he loses his position as dominant rooster, that means I'll have four roosters fighting for dominance and terrorizing my laying hens....

Based on my experience, such as it is, if I wanted things to go back to normal, with Jester as top cock, then I'd probablymove #2 and #3 away from the group. Hopefully, you have a pen of some sort for that. They can stick together, of course, but I'd keep them pretty much out of sight. Then, as you said, I'd put all 4 back together at the same time.

My guess is that Jester will remain at the top, but the lowest may move to #2 position since he will have been so long with Jester. But it makes sense that Jester should remain #1.

That's my guess.

I have been dealing with rooster rankings for a number of years, as it sounds like you have. I move them back and forth, trying to keep the same situation going. I couldn't this spring because of the way I needed to arrange the chicks, breeding pairs, etc., etc., etc. I had to put my #2 rooster in the main coop 1 day before my #1 rooster. That one day was all it took for my #1 rooster to end up being #2. They get along perfectly, and we've been having a great summer, but it didn't take much to upset the apple cart. (#3 remained #3. Ha!)

Chickens are really very cool. They've got a great system going.

 

[BackyardDove]

Thank you both for helping me! I took the two remaining roosters out of the pen and they're now in their own cage. The cage is far too small for two fully grown roosters to live in, but it'll have to do for the next couple of weeks. However, now I have a new issue. Jester doesn't seem to want to breed with the hen I put him in with. My other roosters are calm and don't hesitate to breed(Perhaps because they're so low on the totem pole), but Jester doesn't seem to have an interest in her an keeps pecking at her, even when she's hunched down. Twice she's escaped from her pen with him because he won't let her leave the corner of the pen without tormenting her. If she keeps getting stressed like this, she won't be laying any eggs. I've seen him do the same thing with new hens that I put in his pen, and he doesn't leave them alone/show any attempts to breed for a few months after they've been in the pen with him. I can't exactly wait a few months for him to deem that she's okay to breed with, so what should I do?