Three roosters, two are fighting each other. What would you do?

I have the same situation - one head rooster, plus 2 junior roosters from the same hatch. They did their fair share of posturing, and a little actual fighting between the 3 of them, but mainly just the 2 younger boys against each other. I only ever had to do a little doctoring one time.

Somewhere between 1 year, 1 1/2 years of age, they calmed down considerably. There's still a little chasing, but no one is getting hurt. My birds free range most of the day; I also have 2 separate runs - all throughout this journey, I have never hesitated to separate anybody who's acting like a jerk. Either they go in the ICU run by themselves, or I bring the flock back in to the main run, and leave the jerk out to free range by himself for the rest of the day. All roosters are well-behaved otherwise, great with people, and all the other animals; maybe they just don't have that hard wiring for fighting like some have.

I'd say you could give it more time, to see if the hormones even out, but there are no guarantees they will mellow with age. The guineas could be part of the problem, too. Have you tried housing the guineas with the Maran for awhile, see how that changes things?
 
Yes i am very nervous I’d dispatch the Marans only to have the barred rock have issues with the guineas and have to dispatch him too. I have one male guinea and two females. I didn’t even want the guineas lol. Everyone constantly tries to dump their animals on me.



All three have been such good roosters and the barred rock especially was the offspring of my sweetest hen who passed away while i was incubating three of her eggs. He was the only the only one to hatch.

I don’t want to separate them permanently because my second coop isn’t as secure, isn’t as human-user friendly, I prefer to free range my flock, and I usually use that extra coop for growing out Cornish cross. I actually have a third coop that is much more secure but I don’t have a run for it nor do I feel like building one.

On a more personal rant my boyfriend of six years decided to take a job where is literally never home. I’ve been functioning totally alone for months now and at my wits end. I can’t take on anymore work than what i already have and my greenhouse needs major work and I need it basically now so that’s my primary priority. Oh, and he decided to pile two heavy furnaces in the meat bird coop that I can’t even move myself at all so actually I can’t even use that coop. I’m about to throw them out in the yard and leave them there but I need help just to do that. Okay end rant. Sorry.
Sounds like you want to keep it simple then! The Barred Rock wins due to sentimental value. Very frustrating that your situation has changed to derail your plans, hopefully things get better soon. I have a pile of greenhouse parts that have been staring at me for weeks too. I’ve just been focusing on getting ready for chicks and baby goats cause those will bring me the most happiness so I hope you’re able to find some happy too! Making the decision to end a life is hard, but you’re doing right by the rest of your flock!
 
How are the cockerels with humans? I would try to keep both of them a bit longer (separated somehow), and make sure neither is human agressive. They only have a problem with agression against each other, right?
 
How are the cockerels with humans? I would try to keep both of them a bit longer (separated somehow), and make sure neither is human agressive. They only have a problem with agression against each other, right?
They are great with humans and all of my hens have their back feathers except for one but she didn’t molt this fall
 
two heavy furnaces in the meat bird coop that I can’t even move myself at all so actually I can’t even use that coop. I’m about to throw them out in the yard and leave them there but I need help just to do that.
Maybe ask a neighbour to help you clearing the coop.



don’t want to separate them permanently because my second coop isn’t as secure, isn’t as human-user friendly, I prefer to free range my flock, and I usually use that extra coop for growing out Cornish cross. I actually have a third coop that is much more secure but I don’t have a run for it nor do I feel like building one.
With each rooster having his own coop well separated from the others, free-ranging them together might work out well.

But it helps to keep them with their designated hens for a while prior to free-ranging all together , so they stay within their own group and will not fight over which hen belongs to whom.

Observe closely the friendships and aversions in your flock to be able to group them accordingly.
 
With each rooster having his own coop well separated from the others, free-ranging them together might work out well.

But it helps to keep them with their designated hens for a while prior to free-ranging all together , so they stay within their own group and will not fight over which hen belongs to whom.

Observe closely the friendships and aversions in your flock to be able to group them accordingly.
I never considered this as a possibility! Because I have barred rock hens too and once humored the idea of keeping OG rooster with my main flock, barred rock with my two BR hens, and then my Marans hens and roo with a couple of my olive eggers and a splash Ameracauna, but I was terrified I would cause them all to fight and wanted to one day put the hens all back with the regular flock. Plus all of the work of prepping the coops, but honestly I can put fence up myself it's just so much work and really kicks my butt.
 
I never considered this as a possibility! Because I have barred rock hens too and once humored the idea of keeping OG rooster with my main flock, barred rock with my two BR hens, and then my Marans hens and roo with a couple of my olive eggers and a splash Ameracauna, but I was terrified I would cause them all to fight and wanted to one day put the hens all back with the regular flock. Plus all of the work of prepping the coops, but honestly I can put fence up myself it's just so much work and really kicks my butt.
Maybe this might work for you:

Choose the individual birds and/or separate just one breed for breeding true per year and leave the others together.

In your case this would mean, that either the BR or the Marans will be with the dominant senior rooster, so no fighting over hens and the breeding flock will not be molested or stressed.

The next year select the individual birds for your breeding flock, and the other young rooster will be under the guidance of your dominant senior rooster.

Ask some friends or/and neighbours to help you setting up the coops and fences properly, and in case they are interested, reward them with hatching eggs, chicks or even a hen or two. Others might prefer homemade cakes or a good old barbecue...

And of course, offer to help them in return whenever they will be in need of some extra hands.
 
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Maybe this might work for you:

Choose the individual birds and/or separate just one breed for breeding true per year and leave the others together.

In your case this would mean, that either the BR or the Marans will be with the dominant senior rooster, so no fighting over hens and the breeding flock will not be molested or stressed.

The next year select the individual birds for your breeding flock, and the other young rooster will be under the guidance of your dominant senior rooster.
I'll try separating the Marans first since I can do more of a "rainbow" egg bunch and still have some pure bred Marans. That way if it doesn't work out, I will be less emotionally upset over him and tackling the coop that already has a run that has furnaces stored in it may be easier. I'll try not to hold out too much hope that things will calm down, but it will also give me a chance to figure out whats going to happen with the guineas and the BR rooster.
 
I have a going-on two year old rooster who has been a great rooster. Last spring I hatched out seven males and decided to keep two. So now I have three roosters, 20 hens, and three guineas. The two new males are a barred rock and a blue copper Marans. The guineas are about 9 months old and were raised until six months old nearly completely isolated from the chickens, but took to the barred rock instantly. So the Marans and the barred rock fight CONSTANTLY. Bloody combs and waddles all the time. Coop constantly looks like a blood bath. I've had to cut dangling shreds of comb and wattle off of them and the guineas are like the body guard side-kicks to the barred rock, always backing him up. I am not a stranger to dispatching a rooster, and I'd probably dispatch the Marans for sentimental reasons, but I was wondering if time could sort of help things calm down or is waiting for them to figure things out too risky? The original rooster is never involved, and none of the roosters bother people or overly bother the ladies either. So what would you do?
We ended up with 8 Roosters and 4 Hens from our Australorp Silkie mixes. They got along fine until they were about 7 months old. The hormones kicked in and they got very aggressive towards the hens and each other. Rather than get rid of the Roosters we turned 5 of them out of the lot. A fox got one but the remaining 4 tolerate each other pretty well. They free range all day and we put them up at night. They do fight when they are let out first thing in the morning and right before they go up. The rest of the day they follow each other around the yard in their little Rooster pack scaring off the Squirrels. Separating them from the hens was the only option to keep them.
 

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