Two roosters bloody heads and combs

[brianne1215]

I have 3 buff orpington roosters that I got from a straight run of 8 this past march. The girls all stay in a coop with other hens and the roosters have a smaller coop next to it. All the chickens are out during the day and closed up at night because of predators. Ive never had a problem with my roosters fighting each other or being rough with the other hens they are easy to handle and very docile.

This morning when I went to let everyone out two of my roosters were bleeding from several different spots on their heads and combs but the third was fine. The one is also missing its feathers by the top of his neck. I do have some smaller predators in the area that could have gotten into the coop but since it is only the two boys im assuming they did this to each other.




So my question is....
Are these common wounds when roosters fight? Also where do I go from here. Will the fighting only get worse or can I leave the coop door open so if a fight starts one can flee. My flock is for food purposes but I don't want them all stressed or wounded on a regular basis.

thank you!
Happy New Year

 

[centrarchid]

Typical wounds and they appear minor. They will heal rapidly. My suggestion is you leave your choice with hens and isolate / relocate / eat the rest. Deathloss can occur occasionally if allowed to progress. Your setup maybe a little too tight for a small group of roosters. Such problems can sometimes be reduced by having even more roosters but many if not most will always be dinged up.

 

[COChix]

I have 3 buff orpington roosters that I got from a straight run of 8 this past march. The girls all stay in a coop with other hens and the roosters have a smaller coop next to it. All the chickens are out during the day and closed up at night because of predators. Ive never had a problem with my roosters fighting each other or being rough with the other hens they are easy to handle and very docile. This morning when I went to let everyone out two of my roosters were bleeding from several different spots on their heads and combs but the third was fine. The one is also missing its feathers by the top of his neck. I do have some smaller predators in the area that could have gotten into the coop but since it is only the two boys im assuming they did this to each other. So my question is.... Are these common wounds when roosters fight? Also where do I go from here. Will the fighting only get worse or can I leave the coop door open so if a fight starts one can flee. My flock is for food purposes but I don't want them all stressed or wounded on a regular basis. thank you! Happy New Year

How many hens do you have? The fighting will only get worse and can result In the roosters fighting to death. If you got 8 chicks in the spring and you got three roosters from it, I assume you got 5 hens then. I would say you only need one rooster based on my assumption, we had 28 birds all chicks, two buff Orph roos, 25 straight run chicks and one meal maker from our order. Out of the 25 chicks we got two Rhode Island roos that were mean and agressive, they use to chase the lower of our Buff Orph roo's around and keep him off the feeding stations. We ultimately culled the RIR and kept the Buff Orph roo's, as we ordered them for a reason. Their size and docile personality is what made us pick them for our flock protectors. Good luck, oh and our Buff Orph's get along great but they have 23 hens between them as well.

 

[brianne1215]

Thats also my concern I dont want them fighting to the death. I have 7 hens I had more but in the last few months I lost a few. Two older hens died from coccidiosis (everyone has been treated and tested negative now), I lost one to a hawk and two to a raccoon (I got it the next night). So now the flock is a lot smaller then it was. Before I wrote this post I had taken the male in the picture to check him out and put him alone for a little bit while the rest of the birds were out. I just now brought him back outside ands stayed to watch and he immediately got into a fight when I broke it up the other rooster came in and started fighting so I put him in the coop alone it was obvious it wasn't just a scuffle. I've always had two roosters that stay together and the one that stays with the hens so I believe the one that is always with the hens is the one fighting with the other two. If I start keeping this single rooster with the hens do I have to worry about him hurting them if they are cooped together? Ive had chickens for many years but never roosters.

 

[centrarchid]

Make so roosters can not fight through wire of coop. If need be make so they cannot see each other. Photoperiod is getting longer so conflicts will be more likely.

 

[brianne1215]

I might just slaughter the two the are always off alone in the woods. I don't see a reason in keeping roosters that don't watch after the hens and feel like if I get rid of the one that does the other two that get along now will end up fighting when one steps up to watch over the flock. Also the one that cares for the girls is very easy to handle he let me clean up his head and mouth this morning without any thought about it. So you think it will be safe to lock him in the coop with the hens at night?

 

[COChix]

The roosters should not be mean to a hen, per se. However they also have a job to do based on instincts and that sometimes means them trying to keep a hen in line. Such as chasing a girl into the coop at night after dark. Ours have done that, caught the girl and grabbed her by her head feathers. He didn't hurt her but was attempting to keep his flock safe. Some people consider their mating as aggressive it is all a mater of what you believe your roosters job is.

Are your hens laying? What is the flock dynamic like? Who is the alpha rooster and why do you believe he is the alpha?

Our alpha is a gentleman with the ladies, meaning he isn't too rough when he mates. He does break up fights between the hens, calls the girls over for food and treats and is always the last one in the coop at night. If a girl is out once dusk hits he finds her and chases her back to the coop. I

Both our roosters roost with the hens at night and all in the same coop. I don't think he will hurt the hens in the coop, why do you think that?

 

[centrarchid]

I might just slaughter the two the are always off alone in the woods. I don't see a reason in keeping roosters that don't watch after the hens and feel like if I get rid of the one that does the other two that get along now will end up fighting when one steps up to watch over the flock. Also the one that cares for the girls is very easy to handle he let me clean up his head and mouth this morning without any thought about it. So you think it will be safe to lock him in the coop with the hens at night?

Two in woods were ejected from flock by dominant bird. Scrap you are dealing with is their effort to improve their situations.

Any of the roosters would likely be OK with hens.

 

[brianne1215]

I think he will be good with the hens he's like your rooster takes care of the girls and not very rough I was just asking because he's never been closed in with them and when I was a kid I always remember the rooster staying out and only the hens getting locked in the coop for the night. No eggs right now since everyone was sick a few weeks ago...

 

[brianne1215]

Also the two can have bad attitudes when they feel like it I just liked having more roosters around because they tend to cut back on my loosing hens to hawks