Two Roosters One Hen House

[Lucas Smith]

Hi All
I have the issue of having 2 Roosters and 8 Hens/Pullets

One of the roosters (Barnevelder) is 2+ yrs and the other (Wyandotte) is about 6 months or so
As you would imagine the older is the dominant Bird and bullies the younger one out of the yard
What i am asking how can i calm them down or will i need to get rid of one of them
A mate told me to Trim the Spur of the older bird and this will make him less aggressive towards the other rooster
I think i should let you know that both Roosters have a great temperament and are not aggressive to any of us or the other chickens​

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[DancingWthDucks]

Ideally you should have around 10 pullets to 1 cockerel- otherwise the girls get over mated and the cockerels constantly get in to fights. If you have space you could either get more girls or split them in to 2 flocks. If not, keep you favourite cockerel and rehome the other.

 

[Lucas Smith]

Will be breeding more soon but getting rid of a rooster is like choosing a favorite child that's the problem

 

[aart]

Trimming spurs will not lessen aggression....it will just remove a weapon sometimes used in aggression.
Losing a cock/erel is nothing like losing a child.
Multiple males can coexist with ample room and sometimes careful management,
but the competitive environment it creates can also cause undue stress and possibly injury to the females.

You may have to separate one of the males, you actually should have a separate enclosure ready for if/when things get bad,
because if it happens it can happen very fast and violently.
If you are going to 'breed' birds, you must be ready to deal with excess males.
If you want to breed 'pure breeds', not sure what breed of females you have, you'll need to separate them anyway.

 

[Folly's place]

x2. If you want to keep both males, you will need much more space, two pens, and more females. Actually breeding chickens will produce at least half males; what are your plans for all of them? Most cockrels do end up in someone's freezer, so be ready for that. Mary

 

[carlf]

X3.
Most likely need to have a seperate bachelor pen/run for the beta roo. Or he could end up injured or dead.
You can try it for while and see how they do, but be prepared to seperate them.

 

[Mrs. K]

When you think about loosing one of them, consider a fight to the death of either of them.

It can work, for a while, for a bit, or not at all. Be ready to separate them, have that set up. Once they start fighting, it can be a one time deal, they can fight several times, and they can fight til lone or both of them is dead. Cock fighting is rather an easy thing to get going, as it uses the natural hormones and tendencies in roosters. Most people deplore the idea. However, a lot of backyard chicken owners just want to keep both, and set the situation up, with two or more roosters in too small of area and not enough space.

People that have multiple roosters successfully, generally have much larger flocks (25-23+ head) and larger coops and runs than the general backyard flock of a dozen or less hens.

Wishing they would get along, is just wishing. It might work, but if or when it doesn't, you need a plan B, like immediately.

Mrs K