Roosters fighting

[Breeskies1]

Hi there,
I currently have a happy flock with two roosters and about 30 hens (and 20 more on the way) . I am trying to integrate two more roosters into my flock (I have a big 5acre lot with lots of room for these babies). Well I kept my two new guys in a large dog kennel to start the integration process (I raised them in a separate pen as I was going to be processing them). After about a week and a half I let out one of the rooster and of course there was a fight between one of my existing boys (ayam cemani) and the new one (blue splash lavender Ameracauna). I separated them again when it seemed like the fight wasn’t going to stop and my ayam cemani had a few crow wounds. I figured I would wait a bit longer and try again. Now, my lavender Orpington is beating up my ayam cemani when previously they were getting a long great. I came out this morning to blood in the coop (from crow wounds) and a terrified cemani. Do you guys have any suggestions on how to get the integration to go smoother and any explanation as to why the two who lived in harmony over the last year are now fighting? Dave, my lavender Orpington is the most mellow of all male birds I’ve ever had, I hold him all the time and am shocked he’s being so mean to my cemani. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am really attached to those two boys and don’t want there to be any issues in the flock.

 

[Aapomp831]

Don’t add 2 more roosters... 4 is way too many. You were lucky to have the original 2 get along and even still it’s only a matter of time.

 

[Breeskies1]

The ratio is one to ten hens from all of my experience and from all of the forums I’ve read.

 

[Finnie]

I think your problem was raising the two new roosters separately from the main flock. If you would have integrated them as young chicks, and raised them alongside the older roosters, it would have been fine. But trying to bring in an adult rooster doesn’t work.

As for why your two older roosters aren’t getting along with each other any more, well you stirred the pot. They got into challenge mode, when faced with an intruding rooster, and now they are challenging each other. Hopefully they will settle down and work it out soon, and go back to their old pecking order.

Two roosters is NOT too many for your flock. I try to keep a ratio of 5 hens per rooster, but I don’t always have quite that many hens. The key is free ranging. They are fine crowding together to sleep in the coop at night, but they need room to move away from each other during the day. You could probably easily have a few more, but they would have to grow up within the flock so they are accepted by the older roosters while they are little. Then expect some jockeying for position when the cockerels reach maturity, but it is usually (not always) mild, and the junior roosters give way readily to the senior ones.

People get all worried that multiple roosters will kill each other. But you would be surprised that they can actually get along fairly well. Of course, individual animals don’t all follow generalizations. Not everyone’s situation will work for multiple roosters. Just keep in mind that they are usually fine if they grow up together, but don’t ever introduce an adult rooster into an established group of roosters.

Good luck with your boys. I hope your two will work out their former relationship again.