Roosters separated from hens at night

[Okieyank321]

Hi everyone and thank you for keeping this forum. I am a first time chicken keeper and have three Bantam roosters that are 11 weeks old and 1 bantam hen and 4 bigger black type hens same age but twice as big not sure what they are. The roosters are starting to beat each other up in the coop not in the run. So I would like to separate all three roosters at night from the hens. I would like to do dog crates and just keep them in the shop at night. Can I keep them in a dog crate together or should I separate? Also Is this something feasible where I can just keep letting them out together into the run? I’ve got one top rooster in the run and no one challenges him there but in the coop even the hens are getting beat so I think it’s just not big enough and I don’t have a way to make it bigger right now. I’ve tried to rehome them with no luck and right now they are way to small to eat. Please advise. Thank you

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I would separate at least 2 of them. They will start making life stressful for the females real soon, and you don't have enough hens. More than likely they will repeatedly mate the one pullet, or even start mating each other if separated. We have put bantam cockerel in the freezer. Once you see how bad they can get you might think otherwise. If you can pair two up that don't fight they can be long term housed together if you are wanting to keep them all.

 

[Okieyank321]

yes that makes sense and is helpful. thank you. I separated the three males tonight and the middle guy in the pecking order is beating up the bottom guy so I took out the middle guy for now but this is really complicating my chicken care. And as you said I don’t have the number of hens for this. Nor the coop room to add more.

 

[Mrs. K]

They will become pretty difficult to get rounded up at night. I think this is a good temporary solution but it should be a very short solution.

 

[LaFleche]

Do you want to keep one of the cockerels at all?
If not, just butcher them. Even smaller birds can be eaten or make a great chicken soup.

 

[Okieyank321]

Do you want to keep one of the cockerels at all?
If not, just butcher them. Even smaller birds can be eaten or make a great chicken soup.

No I can’t keep even one because I only have one batham hen. The rest are some kind of medium size bird. My husband brought home tractor supply chicks so they were mixed. Yes you are right. Should just get it over with. Thanks

 

[Okieyank321]

They will become pretty difficult to get rounded up at night. I think this is a good temporary solution but it should be a very short solution.

 

[Okieyank321]

Hmm yes it’s already difficult thanks