Should I be concerned about my rooster?

[trentoldenburg]

I have a flock of 7 (2 roosters and 5 hens), 2 of the hens I introduced recently and one of them hurt a younger hen I originally had. So I separated the injured hen for 3 or 4 days. I brought her back and now the roosters will not leave her alone. They keep chasing after her and the dominant one is grabbing her by the neck to try and bring her to the ground. I imagine that he is trying to establish dominance, but she is raises all kinds of hell when it happens and acts like she's being hurt. Even though he has never drew blood. Is this something I need to worry about? These roosters we're also raised with the hen as chicks

 

[rjohns39]

He's trying to mate her and she's not ready. 2 roos to five hens is going to be a problem. 1 roo to 10 hens is a good mix. Typical mating behavior is for the roo to mount the hen and grab her by the neck signaling her to raise up to support the action. young hens aren't ready for such things.

 

[bobbi-j]

How old are your chickens?

 

[Chickassan]

You've got at least one too many roosters and hatchmate roosters usually cause the most trouble unless you've got older hens or an established rooster to put them in their place. So short answer yes you should be concerned two young roos could hurt your hen.

 

[Hope Hughes]

I agree you have 1 to many roos. I typically only have 1 full size roo for my flock and 1 bantam. I have a mix flock of bannies and regular size. About 20something chickens total. Its funny to see the bannie try to mount the big gens, doesn't always work out for him lol.

 

[trentoldenburg]

Alright thanks for the replies everyone. My 2 roosters and 2 younger hens are 4 months old and I have one hen that is 1-1.5 years old as well as another hen that I do not know the age of. I suspect she is older. Would the two older hens keep the roosters in check? And correct me if I am wrong, but I read that 2 roosters that we're raised together have a good chance of living in peace as long as dominance is established early on. And one is clearly more dominant than the other. I appreciate the feedback

 

[rjohns39]

The issue isn't the roos, it's how they mate the hens. too many roos will overmate hens.

 

[Hope Hughes]

(What was ment by the other post was No an older roo is what puts them in their place. The two hatchmates will fight over the hens and fight with each other. )If I was you I would just have 1 roo. There are not enough hens to satisfy both roos.

 

[SeaPolka]

Alright thanks for the replies everyone. My 2 roosters and 2 younger hens are 4 months old and I have one hen that is 1-1.5 years old as well as another hen that I do not know the age of. I suspect she is older. Would the two older hens keep the roosters in check? And correct me if I am wrong, but I read that 2 roosters that we're raised together have a good chance of living in peace as long as dominance is established early on. And one is clearly more dominant than the other. I appreciate the feedback

When the cockerels get older the hens won't boss them about like they will do pullets. Raised together or not, once they start competing over mating they'll hurt themselves and the pullets and the hens. And I agree with previous posts, unless they're a breeding group I'd recommend you lose one rooster or separate them, it's maybe best to separate them both until the pullets are older

 

[trentoldenburg]

Dang that's what I was afraid of. Now I'm gonna have to decide which one to part with. They are both so nice, one is literally sitting on my lap as I'm typing this lol. Thanks for the feedback everyone, much appreciated