Roosters

[bakbak003]

Hi! I have had chickens as pets and egglayers for almost 8 years. In my latest batch of birds, I decided to get silkies ( which are amazing and I have always wanted some), but are hard to sex as chicks. I raised them with a few other full sized breeds and we had no issues. Then we found that one of them was a rooster. I have never owned a rooster before, but I figured it would be fine because I have had chickens for ages and can handle one bantum rooster. Now we believe that the second silikie is also a rooster. The second one doesn't look like a rooster but he/she crows and chases hens all around and stands on them like a rooster would. The two roosters are not enemies. They are always hanging out together, and do occasionally get into minor scuffles, but mostly just peck order type fights. I don't know what to do about two roosters. They are still young (5-6 months). Will this become a problem? I love them both and wouldn't want to get rid of one of them if I don't have to.

P.S. Their names are Merry and Pippin (for all of you lord of the rings fans), and both are buff silikies



P.p. S. I have a total of 9 birds. 2 roosters 9 hens. They are from various age groups. Three young hens same age as roosters, three older 4.5 year old hens, and a seven and a half years old.

 

[HuskerHens18]

How many hens total do you have?
You'll just have to observe their behavior closely. Roosters can and will get along if they have good personalities, but you also need to look out for your girls. Too much mating is unhealthy and can be painful.
If the roosters seem to get too rough with your girls, just separate them both from the hens for a while. (But keep the males together! If the forget eachother, they will fight) Young roosters hit a stage where all they want is to mate mate mate and it can injure hens. It will pass eventually.
Just use your smarts, do they all seem happy? Is anyone's getting bullied or picked on?
I have 5 roosters with my main free range flock and it couldn't be more perfect, so yes it can work out under good circumstances.

Something else to consider if you feel it's not working out, is to separate both roosters from the hens permanently. It's called a Rooster Flock, and I have them too and it's great!

Those are cute names!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You didn't say how many hens you have or total number of chickens.

 

[aart]

You didn't say how many hens you have or total number of chickens.

Looks like that info was edited in...so no prompt of thread update.

P.p. S. I have a total of 9 birds. 2 roosters 9 hens. They are from various age groups. Three young hens same age as roosters, three older 4.5 year old hens, and a seven and a half years old.Last edited: Yesterday at 7:23 PM

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined.

You don't get guarantees with living animals and their behaviors. You might have no problems of any sort, you may have any of several different problems. The only way to find out for sure is to try it, but have a plan B ready.

The only reason you need a rooster is if you want fertile eggs. Everything else is just personal preference. I generally suggest you keep as few roosters as you can and still meet your goals. That's not because you are guaranteed problems with more but that it is more likely. You have expressed a personal preference to keep both, let's work with that.

You don't have roosters right now, you have cockerels. Normally cockerels are pretty hopped up on hormones and pretty rambunctious. It sounds like yours are calmer than most. Their behavior can and probably will change as they mature, but usually for the better, not the worst. But remember, no guarantees.

My suggestion is to try it and observe. You might be fine. But have a place to isolate one if you need to on short notice. If you get in that situation you'll need to decide your next step (keep one permanently isolated, keep both males in a bachelor pad with no females, or get rid of one or both). You will base that decision in what did happen, not what might possibly happen.