Roo aggressiveness

WickedChicksNH

Crowing
Oct 2, 2017
1,022
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New Hampshire
I read the article that was on here and some posts about when roos started to fight.
I have a pair of almost 1 year old roos.
Bantam. Buff brahma and mille fleur d'uccle
Jinxie my buff got attacked by a racoon when he was still little and had damage to one eye and has always Been nervous my ducks were making him nervous too. I gave my ducks to a good home hoping it would help him
And it did.
Very sweet rooster. Even after hitting puberty
However Bob my d'uccle hit puberty and stated getting feisty to me.
But still a sweet guy

though they have been fighting once or twice it drew some blood. And it is an fight maybe once every week or 2

tonight I went to shut up the coop
Patted them goodnight (I have a 3 year old NH red hen too) and I just started leaving my younger 3 standard chickens outside but they do not sleep in the same section of the coop and they only get supervised play time with my other
So after closing the coop I noticed blood on my hand I went in picked up jinxie and he was a wreck eyes swollen feathers missing from his neck wattled torn and some other injuries
However Bob didn't get away without some bad injuries too.

I took jinx inside gave him a bath to get all the blood off him washed his wounds, gave him a blow dry and put neosporin on his wounds
(He loved this whole routine so that made me feel good he didn't think I was torturing him)

I have him indoors in a canvas dog play pen and he seems quite content
I wanted to let him rest, and lucky for me he Isn't the one that crows alllll the time

Should I put them back together? Tomorrow or in a couple days
They do free range but today I just had them in the run
It's a big run

I will point out that when I introduced my 3 other chickens to them jinx the usual sweet as pie guy viciously attacked my brahma pullet. And I've put them out many times before for them to see and get to know each other but they couldn't get to each other

And Bob was a little overly sweet to my lt brahma the boys seem to single her out. Bob to constantly flirt and jinx to attack

So you think this is just them showing dominance or does it seem more than that?

Thanks
Sorry this was long
 
My bantam roosters fight yearly in the spring. Sometimes once, sometimes over and over. I've seen some big fights. I generally let them work it out. As long as the loser can escape it usually is fine. Sometimes they get pretty beat up, but heal up fine.

Both Brahma and d'uccle have lots of bravado. They are feisty boys, so expect lots of drama with them. If you separate it may make it worse. I would only separate if it looks like they won't stop. Than plan to keep them separately.
 
You need to separate those boys or find one a new home. With two adolescent/almost mature roosters and only 4 hens (?), they are going to run your girls ragged. It's very likely they will constantly be hounding those girls. I have noticed that when I have more than one rooster, they will "gang breed" the girls. One will start, the other will knock him off and take over, proving his dominance. Personally, I'd keep the sweet one and rehome or eat the other.
 
There really are rules to keeping a happy flock of chickens, and if you cheat on them, your flock will become highly stressed. Stressed birds do not live as long, and are prone to illness. For the health of the entire flock, the human has to make decisions in the interest of the flock.

In a truly backyard set up, no roosters are best. Roosters take a lot of space. Or only have roosters, they are a fun bird to watch.

Basically what you have now is cockfighting, wishing they would just get along, won't work. I vote with the above, for sure remove one rooster permanently. It is not just enough to keep them, you have to manage a flock, and that means making decisions on which birds stay and which ones go. Not all birds will work in a flock or a specific set up, some will work better in someone else setup and to keep them in yours is a disservice.

You will enjoy the flock more too, when they are not fighting. Fighting is upsetting to people and birds.

Mrs K
 

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