Well If these are both roos then I will have 18 hens. I have 20 chicks. 15 RIR and 5 BR.
I can tell they already have their moments but not for long. They seem to get along ok so far. Guess ya'll are right will just have to wait and see how it goes. I am just excited I have a Roo. Thanks for the help!
You "should" have no problems. Cockerels (and pullets, too) will fight and spare a bit, especially as chicks. As they grow up, the roosters might actually have a few scuffles. Usually there is no damage, especially with young cockerels. Most of the time all you will see is some feathers in the yard that have obviously been pulled out. Their fighting is mostly symbolic, lots of posturing, flaring and chest bumping but not a lot of damage. Except for the more aggressive game breeds, most roosters who have grown up together can usually be housed together. Your problems are when neither bird backs down. As long as there is one bird they both agree is the stronger more dominant bird, they'll scuffle and stop with the weaker bird quickly backing down. "Weaker" isn't always physical weakness, but more mental.
I had four large fowl cockerels running with three pullets until one ran away from home, jumped my fence into my back yard with my Silkies, including my Silkie roo. He happily lived there until I finally got around to slaughtering all the excess cockerels at about 10 months. (I am THE Queen at putting off slaughtering.) Before I slaughtered them, I separated the large fowl pullets from the front yard into a separate pen away from the three cockerels. That left three boys in the front alone until two of them were finally slaughtered. I had no problems with them together, although they kept jumping in the back yard where the Silkie girls were. The Silkie girls loved them--they are such hussies!
I grew out a bachelor pen of Silkie cockerels I kept together with no problems until I got around to slaughtering them at 6 months of age.
That has been my experiences with cockerels. I still have three roos that are about a year old (and one 6-month old still in quarantine, so he doesn't count) The Silkie and the Cochin are in the back yard and the large fowl Ameraucana in the front with four pullets.
Occasionally the remaining large fowl cockerel will jump the fence into the back with my Silkie cockerel and my bantam Cochin cockerel. Both bantams are smart enough to not challenge him.
My two bantams roosters, now a year old, have been housed together on and off all winter. The Cochin is a double-copy frizzle, so has
very poor feathers and cannot survive in the cold without supplemental heat. He was in my house all winter. I've been able to reintroduce him to the bigger Silkie cockerel several times. There has been some sparing, and some blood (from biting of the comb) but I watch to make sure no one gets hurt, and if things aren't working out that day, I'll put one in a double-walled pen so they can be together but not able to hurt each other. At most, it takes me a day to get them together again after they have been separated. They should be good all summer now. I expect the same issues next winter on warm days when I get the frazzle back outside. Both breed the Silkies hens without a problem.
I did find my large fowl Ameraucanas to be people aggressive. I don't know if that is because there were too many of them for the number of pullets. They weren't sexually aggressive with the pullets. My remaining Ameraucana rooster is soup waiting to be cooked. He's gorgeous and I am just waiting to get some chicks from him and for the new chicks in my brooder to grow up enough to take over his job as protector of the flock, which he does very, very well. I will never put off slaughtering cockerels that long again, but there were legitimate reasons for putting it off, besides my superb procrastination skills.
Hope that helps.
