Roosters fighting each other

[sue turpin]

Looked out the window today and Oreo and Big Foot were covered in blood. Oreo came with my Americaunas, Big Foot is a Wyandot. They have been together for close to a year with no problems? Oreo was exhausted and let me pick him up, that never happens, so I put him in a small pen I have and put it inside the coop. Such a shame but it's to the stew pot for both of them, it's just too upsetting for the girls. They free range, I have an acre and I have 28 hens. The only change, I guess, is the young hens I got in August for next years eggs just became interested in the Roos. I guess my plans just got moved up because I really didn't need or want to winter over all those birds. Saturday will be busy, a task I don't enjoy but a necessity. As always, found all the info I ever need on BYC!

 

[dustinmommy74]

So, we just lost a Maran hen the other day due to a prolapse. Her brother is now in hiding in the hen house because the other three roos are beating him up! We now have 4 roos and 5 hens. Bottom line is that I need to get rid of at least two roosters. My question is should I get rid of the Maran rooster that is being abused or the two prime offenders, two Olive Eggers? I don't want to get rid of any of them, but I can't wait for the Olive Eggers to kill the Maran so I need to make a call soon. Please help!

 

[bobbi-j]

So, we just lost a Maran hen the other day due to a prolapse. Her brother is now in hiding in the hen house because the other three roos are beating him up! We now have 4 roos and 5 hens. Bottom line is that I need to get rid of at least two roosters. My question is should I get rid of the Maran rooster that is being abused or the two prime offenders, two Olive Eggers? I don't want to get rid of any of them, but I can't wait for the Olive Eggers to kill the Maran so I need to make a call soon. Please help!

If it were my flock, I'd get rid of at least 4 roosters. And yes - make that call ASAP. You're the only one to decide which roosters to get rid of. What breeds are your hens? What are your goals for your flock? How do the roosters interact with you? Do you have kids? Are any of these roosters aggressive toward them or anyone else?

 

[JJSS89]

Just to make this thread totally confusing...sometimes adding more roosters helps.

I kept all my Seramas and Gamefowl together for two months while I built new facilities. They never really fought because there were 25+ roosters together and they weren't always face to face with their "nemesis"

In all birds this too applies...it is often just a personality conflict with two specific birds. For instance I have a turkey hen that never hurts any bird except for one Rhode Island Red Rooster. She pecks and flaps the living daylights out of him if he comes around but she'll share space with every other Rhode Island Red Rooster around.

 

[jtn42248]

So, we just lost a Maran hen the other day due to a prolapse. Her brother is now in hiding in the hen house because the other three roos are beating him up! We now have 4 roos and 5 hens. Bottom line is that I need to get rid of at least two roosters. My question is should I get rid of the Maran rooster that is being abused or the two prime offenders, two Olive Eggers? I don't want to get rid of any of them, but I can't wait for the Olive Eggers to kill the Maran so I need to make a call soon. Please help!

If you want fertalized eggs to hatch then you obviously need a rooster. However, with only 5 hens you need ONLY one rooster. If you have hens just for eggs to eat then you don't need any roosters at all. You have to determine your wants and needs and decide what to do based on that.

 

[sue turpin]

If it were my flock, the offenders would be in a soup pot. I had to do that with two of my Roos, Oreo and Bigfoot. Baby Roo has stepped right into the lead and blossomed. I also hated to do it but this is livestock after all.

 

[IttyBiddyRedHen]

Hmmm...roosters like to stir up things a bit. I have 5 adult roosters. 2 for breeding, 2 in the main coop, and 1 free ranger. They mostly keep to their own territories. If they get too close, then a fight will occur. Someone usually wins. But not to the extent of serious injuries.

My main problem has been the juveniles. The cockerels. They are allowed to stay with the flock till they reach that aggressive stage. That happened Friday afternoon. The last round of hatched chicks...has 2 cockerels. Aug 1st hatches.

Anyway, they have been challenging the main roo in the main coop. He has been able to keep them under control. Till this past Friday. Then it got bloody. I went into lock them up at bedtime..and it was a bloodbath. I had to find out who lost. The head roo lost. His head and comb were bloodied and plucked. He was alive but I could tell he was whooped. So I removed the cockerel, and the head roo. The head roo coming inside so I could evaluate his injuries. The main flock would have pecked him to death anyways, with all the blood.

So I brought him in, washed him up a bit, and tucked him in the critter crate for the nite. Yesterday morning, he got a warm water bath and a blow dry treatment. And some goodies...to see if he would eat.

We have been separating the cockerels for processing...but as we both got sick with the flu last month, processing is still on hold. We already have a trio of 3 other cockerels waiting for processing.

so, we ended up buying a 10'x10' dog kennel. For the cockerels etc.....anyone who might need to be isolated. The head roo went back to his little flock of 17 girls last night. He chirped and hopped up to his spot on the roost. Everyone is back to normal this morning.


Bottom line. Roosters will do what they are meant to do. Sometimes it involves aggressiveness and blood. It is good to have a plan for when it happens. Roosters don't usually get buddy buddy with other roosters.

My initial flock was all half wild game birds. Bad idea. We were chicken ignorant on the first flock.

 

[Jacqdiva]

I have a rooster pen. They all get on fine, as long as they obey the boss Orlando ( a huge Blue Orpington). He does crowd control for me. He is smart and isn't mean with the younger ones, however they sure do learn their place. He doesn't ever beat anyone up, or draw blood. Just a natural born leader I guess. Breaks up any squabbles amongst the other boys. Lucky to have him.

 

[CAjamieb]

I'm just so bummed out this morning---yesterday we integrated 5 hens and one young roo into our existing flock of 17 hens and one Serama roo. It hasn't gone well with the roosters

The new roo is a Phoenix/maybe Game? mix and is, of course, larger than the Serama roo, but that little booger is mean and isn't happy with the new addition. We have a large run and coop, very large, enough room for all and plenty of hens so that's not the problem. I left them all together for about 3 hours before time to roost and the Serama continually chased and attacked the other. My husband quickly decided to clip the aggressor's spurs off so as to avoid as much damage as possible but he never gave up. The new roo just kept running away and would bury his head in the grass or anywhere he could to protect himself. I thought they might settle down but really didn't. They all spent the night in the coop together and emerged OK this morning but then the fight was on once again. Our run is designed with the coop in the middle with a separate run on each side which can be left open for total access or each closed off. I finally got one roo on each side each with several hens and just shut the doors. I can't stand to see the one being beat up, he never defends himself, just runs away and tries to hide. There was a small amount of blood on this morning and that was my final decision to separate them. During the day, I can easily keep them apart but they must share sleeping quarters with the current set-up. I cannot just allow them to "fight it out" so I guess I'm just not sure what to do.....ugh. I hate stressing out the hens as well and they all seem to be getting along just fine. It looks like I'll either have to re-home the new roo (hate to do that, I like him) or talk the hubby into building another small coop in the one end for him and some of the hens to sleep in. I'm pretty inexperienced at chicken keeping and this is even stressing me out.

 

[junebuggena]

I'm just so bummed out this morning---yesterday we integrated 5 hens and one young roo into our existing flock of 17 hens and one Serama roo. It hasn't gone well with the roosters

The new roo is a Phoenix/maybe Game? mix and is, of course, larger than the Serama roo, but that little booger is mean and isn't happy with the new addition. We have a large run and coop, very large, enough room for all and plenty of hens so that's not the problem. I left them all together for about 3 hours before time to roost and the Serama continually chased and attacked the other. My husband quickly decided to clip the aggressor's spurs off so as to avoid as much damage as possible but he never gave up. The new roo just kept running away and would bury his head in the grass or anywhere he could to protect himself. I thought they might settle down but really didn't. They all spent the night in the coop together and emerged OK this morning but then the fight was on once again. Our run is designed with the coop in the middle with a separate run on each side which can be left open for total access or each closed off. I finally got one roo on each side each with several hens and just shut the doors. I can't stand to see the one being beat up, he never defends himself, just runs away and tries to hide. There was a small amount of blood on this morning and that was my final decision to separate them. During the day, I can easily keep them apart but they must share sleeping quarters with the current set-up. I cannot just allow them to "fight it out" so I guess I'm just not sure what to do.....ugh. I hate stressing out the hens as well and they all seem to be getting along just fine. It looks like I'll either have to re-home the new roo (hate to do that, I like him) or talk the hubby into building another small coop in the one end for him and some of the hens to sleep in. I'm pretty inexperienced at chicken keeping and this is even stressing me out.

If they have to share sleeping quarters, then you must allow them to sort things out, or get rid of one. Usually, you can't just toss a bunch of new birds in with an established flock and expect things to go smoothly, especially if there are boys involved. Integrating two flocks is usually best accomplished by taking things slowly, by keeping the flocks in separate areas, but close enough to see each other. This gives everybody a chance to get to know each other, without anybody getting beat up.