Silkie Roosters fighting and now one bald rooster

[nevrenufanimals]

I have 3 silkie roosters in my flock of 12. (had more hens, but lost them) Two of them are siblings (Zeus and Titan) born and raised in the flock and only ever mildly posture at each other. never had an issue. The third younger silkie roo I named LOKI (god of mischief). He was unintentionally purchased as a sexed chick that unfortunately wasn't a pullet! He is a beautiful, BIG boy, blue splash. I kept him because he is so pretty. He was raised by a hen in my flock, along with the other two mature males (4+ years old). Now that he is mature (1 1/2 - 2 yrs old?), he is now instigating fights with the older guys. When he starts with one, the other one always joins in. He apparently got into a fight with Zeus ( a very very calm White silkie), which left Zeus with a bloody comb. Then apparently others decided to peck at the bloody area till he was literally bald. There is a 1 inch bald strip down the middle with feathers sticking out on both sides of his head! My coop is 5 x 5 ft area with a 5 x 10 ft pen underneath, and also a 24 x 13 ft extra enclosed yard that they access everyday. I also free range in the warm spring and summer months. (Like now). Zeus is now unhappily in a wire dog crate in the pen while he heals. Once Zeus comes out of the cage, I am thinking of putting LOKI in it for a few days to maybe calm down his aggressiveness some. Any ideas would be appreciated. I am trying not to rehome LOKI but I will if I must. I also have two more pullets ( 9 weeks olds) integrating with the flock right now.

 

[sourland]

When you reintroduce Zeus it is very likely that both his brother and Loki will attack him. If they were mine, I would remove Loki and reintroduce Zeus as soon as is possible and hope for the best. Good luck.

 

[nevrenufanimals]

zeus is still in the coop/pen, just in a cage where they cant get to him. they can still see him, smell him, hear him and get next to him just not peck him.

 

[chickens really]

You have to many Rooster/ Cockerel so decision needs to be made. Hormones are high because they are maturing.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Yeah, they do that.

Your coop isn't big enough. For 12 birds, you need at least 48 square feet of coop, and you only have 25. If they spend more than a couple hours a day with access only to the 5x10 run, that's also going to cause problems, because you need a 120 square foot run for 12 birds.

You need to split your flock up into groups. You can have 6 birds in that size coop, so I'd put 5 hens and one of your roosters into that. Then, build another couple of coop/run assemblies, and give each roo his own few hens and his own space. When you let them out into the larger area, only let one group out at a time.

 

[nevrenufanimals]

yeah..... I know that,,,,,, I was giving him a chance before I did that...

 

[nevrenufanimals]

Fishkeeper:
did you miss the part about the extra 312 foot yard they all have every day? they only sleep in the coop (and all piled up in one corner of it anyway) They are also bantams....

 

[Fishkeeper]

How long every day? Just an hour or two isn't enough time to compensate for the run being too small.
If they're bantams, that gives you more wiggle room in the coop, but there's a reason there are minimum coop space requirements recommended in every decent care resource. You need a coop that's big enough, even if they only sleep in it.

You have too many roosters. I'm not saying to shut one rooster up by himself for the rest of his life, that would be cruel. They're social. I'm saying separate your flock into groups so that you have 1 rooster and some hens in each group. They're fighting because you have too many roos, and the lack of personal space is really not helping at all.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I read it as 12 hens, 3 rooster and 2 more pullets.
Having 17 in a small coop and run is not good.

 

[nevrenufanimals]

there is an attached yard/pen/run of 24 x 13 ft that a door opens to every morning and closes at night in addition to the run under the coop. they have access to this all of the time.
I was afraid that I had too much testosterone …….most of it packaged in one young male!!