Rooster problem

[wailingbones]

About a year ago I was given a dozen chicks. 5 of them became roosters. 4 Buff Orpingtons and 1 Rhode Island Red. I was able to find a home for two of the guys but I still have three. At dusk when all the birds are heading in to the coop (I let them free range during the day when I can) one of the Orpington roosters chases out the Rhode Island Red. I will be introducing 7 more hens two the flock in a week. I know I have to get down to one or two roosters, my question is which one do I remove from the flock the dominant rooster or the one who gets chased out at night ? Or is there no signifigance ?

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Doesn't really matter. Keep the roosters that you like best, that are non-aggressive, and are good to the hens. The chasing is just the Orp reminding the other rooster who is boss.

 

[wailingbones]

thanx for the reply !

 

[missnu01]

Yep...keep the one you want and take out the other one...if you leave the dominant rooster then he will remain the dominant rooster, if you remove the dominant rooster then the underling will take over. I have 3 roosters and only 7 hens right now...so I can understand needing to get rid of a couple. I'm going to keep 2...and get rid of one. I have 2 more coming in May, and one in the brooder right now. Not sure if I will get rid of or keep him. I think I might get rid of the barnyard bantam mix rooster and the silkie rooster, and keep Bruce my big White Rock rooster, and then keep the Buff Orpington Cockerel that is in my brooder now. I will be adding 16 hens and one cockerel so that would give me 2 roosters and 21 hens...then I will add 10 more hens and 2 more roosters...hmmm still seems like a whole lot of roosters...Oh well. We'll eat whoever doesn't work out. Lol.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Bruce my big White Rock rooster,

Hey, my big rooster is named Bruce, too! But he's a RIR.

 

[wailingbones]

the hens where getting tore up ! to much "hanky panky" had to thin out the boys. got one more to go. Any advice on introducing the 7 new birds? planning on next week.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I’m going to be a little different here even though I usually agree with the other posters. If you have a specific reason to keep one of them, then do that. You need to keep the rooster that has the traits you want the offspring to have, whether that is appearance, behavior, or something else. You really should be OK with either of them, but I’m being a bit nit-picky, just throwing out what would be my tie-breaker in deciding which one to keep.

If they are otherwise equal in your eyes, I’d keep the one that is now dominant as long as he is behaving right. What I’m talking about by “behaving right” is that he is not human-aggressive, dances for his ladies, finds them food and lets them eat the best parts, breaks up fights and otherwise keeps order in his flock, things like that. If your current dominant rooster is not behaving the way you want him to, get rid of him and give the other a chance.

To do his job as flock-master, a rooster has to be able to dominate the hens. Most roosters can do that once they mature, but occasionally you get a wimp. If a rooster can’t dominate them, he might have trouble mating or keeping order in his flock. One of those roosters has shown more ability to dominate.

You have seen your dominant rooster in action. There is a lot of stress in that dominant position. Absolute power can corrupt absolutely. You don’t know how the non-dominant rooster might behave once he gets in the dominant position.

As I said I’m being nit-picky. Chances are really good that you’ll be OK with either of them. But in case of a tie otherwise, I know which way I would go.

 

[wailingbones]

I will watch for one more week and take notice of these good bird traits. Thank you

 

[Ridgerunner]

I just saw your later post. I’m not sure exactly what you mean by “torn up”. Them losing a few feathers during mating is not a big deal. But if they have bare patches where they could get cut by the claws or you are seeing blood or actual cuts, that is a big deal and needs to be dealt with.

Also, is it just one or two hens or is it pretty general with all of them. Is it a flock problem or an individual hen problem? I’ve had that happen before to one specific hen. When I removed her the problem disappeared. How could I blame the rooster when the problem went away with the hen?

Sometimes the hen has brittle feathers. They just become easily damaged. Sometimes the rooster is at fault. These things are often not as simple as we would like them to be.

I’ve kept several roosters with the flock to where I had what was a really bad rooster to hen ration and never had those problems. I’ve had that problem with only one rooster and a really good ratio. My normal recommendation is to keep as few roosters as you can and still meet your goals. I agree it is a good idea to get rid of as many roosters as you can stand.

As far as introducing new hens there are a few things to consider. One is that chickens might be territorial. They can recognize which chickens belong in the flock and which ones don’t. A chicken might attack a stranger. It doesn’t happen each time and usually it is a hen that does this, but it can happen. If you can manage to house the new chickens next to your flock for about a week behind wire where they can’t get at each other, they’ll get used to the others right to exist. It can really help with this.

The other thing is the pecking order. They have to determine where each chicken ranks in the flock. Sometimes this can lead to pretty rough fights, but what normally happens is that when one invades the personal space of another and the pecking order has not been established, one pecks the other or somehow tries to intimidate it. If one chicken runs away from this confrontation all is well. Order has been established. But if one does not run away then a fight can break out. In this, it really helps of they have enough room to run away. The less space they have, the more likely this is to get messy.

Another thing is to try to help avoid the confrontations. Other than just pure room, set up different feeding and watering stations so they can eat and drink without challenging the dominant chickens. This is another form of intimidation. The dominant chickens may try to keep the less dominant from eating and drinking just to show they are boss.

I never see this behavior with a dominant rooster, though I’m sure it’s possible. We are dealing with living animals so anything is possible. It’s always been hens and non-dominant roosters that exhibit this behavior. A good dominant rooster can actually help this go better. Not all are good, but a good one will break up fights and help maintain order.

Lots of people do what you are talking about and it usually goes pretty well. Sometimes it goes so well you wonder what all the worry was about. But sometimes it gets really messy.

I do wish you good luck with it.