Two 6 month+ old hens crowing and not laying!

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

You don't have to get more chickens. The 2 boys will get along ok without a female in the mix. It's when you add females that fighting will start. If you want hens for eggs, keep them out of sight of the boys and you'll be ok. Or get rid of one male. You can have 3 or 4 females to a male, you just have to watch for overmating.

Earlier in the thread, the OP said that the cockerels were squaring up to eachother. They might be establishing their dominance?

 

[aenea_flower]

You don't have to get more chickens. The 2 boys will get along ok without a female in the mix. It's when you add females that fighting will start. If you want hens for eggs, keep them out of sight of the boys and you'll be ok. Or get rid of one male. You can have 3 or 4 females to a male, you just have to watch for overmating.

They do get along well right now! The occasional squabbles only happen over food, and very very rarely. So they’ll be fine as long as I don’t introduce hens to them right?

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

By never do you mean out of sight or just not interacting with each other?

Out of sight. The second they see the hens they will probably go ecstatic and/or aggressive toward one another.

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

They do get along well right now! The occasional squabbles only happen over food, and very very rarely. So they’ll be fine as long as I don’t introduce hens to them right?

Precisely.

 

[Mylied]

Earlier in the thread, the OP said that the cockerels were squaring up to eachother. They might be establishing their dominance?

Yes normal pecking order behavior. Even young chicks will do it. It's when they keep going at each other and draw blood that it's a problem.

 

[Mylied]

They do get along well right now! The occasional squabbles only happen over food, and very very rarely. So they’ll be fine as long as I don’t introduce hens to them right?

They should be fine. Several people on here keep bachelor pads without problems. Of course, every chicken has their own ideas in their tiny brains, but you should notice if a problem develops.

 

[aenea_flower]

Precisely.

Ok! That helps!

Honestly I don’t think we’d be able to manage keeping the hens entirely out of sight of the two, so I doubt we’d ever get any.

They’re such sweet little children right now, I really don’t want to lose that by introducing hens to them. As for dominance, I’m not entirely sure who’s winning right now haha. The white one (Henrietta) is much more dominant when it comes to snatching food away but she follows the black one (Nugget) all the time and can’t be too far without running after Nugget so it’s a little unclear right now?

 

[aenea_flower]

Ok, we’ve decided that we’ll keep them for as long as we can! Since we’re not too adamant on eggs, and if there aren’t any problems with the neighbours, Henrietta and Nugget are here to stay! But if we do get an official complaint, we might have to say goodbye to the two and try and get two actual pullets :’( hopefully not though!

So should I get them some no-crow collars? It’ll keep them quieter and lessen the chances of that second scenario happening, but I’m not too sure how to go about it. Can I just make my own using some wide, soft Velcro bands?

 

[Mylied]

Ok, we’ve decided that we’ll keep them for as long as we can! Since we’re not too adamant on eggs, and if there aren’t any problems with the neighbours, Henrietta and Nugget are here to stay! But if we do get an official complaint, we might have to say goodbye to the two and try and get two actual pullets :’( hopefully not though!

So should I get them some no-crow collars? It’ll keep them quieter and lessen the chances of that second scenario happening, but I’m not too sure how to go about it. Can I just make my own using some wide, soft Velcro bands?

I live in a rural area, so don't know much about those collars. You can do a search on here though. There's been a lot of discussions on it.

 

[aart]

Odd, I don't see pointy saddle feathers on either bird.
Hackle feathers aren't clearly male either.