TWO! Roosters. Questions about Bullying!

[KWChicks]

Hello -

Our chickens are almost 4 months old. We have three rhode island reds and three buff orps. Two of the buff orps have turned out to be roosters. One of them is already crowing (and has been for 2 weeks). All of our chickens live in an open air coop. Plenty big for the hens - but perhaps not two roosters! The crowing rooster is the boss - but he and the other rooster stay down low in the coop and seem to be forcing the hens onto the roost for big parts of the day. The hens are sweet as can be and I've been taking them down periodically to make sure they drink and eat (and they do so with gusto when I do this!). I also see some chasing of the hens and grabbing onto their neck. The hens are not injured or pecked on the head, but I am concerned that they are being bullied. Is this normal? If I remove the dominate rooster, will that help? We are happy to have 1 rooster, for protection and because we love the crowing! : )

All of the chickens get lots of good air, fresh water, there are several roosting spots, and snacks along with feed. They get apple cores to peck on and cracked corn ocassionally.

Soup pot is not an option for the roosters, my boys would be devasted, and so would I.

Thanks for any thoughts, advice.

Traci

 

[Chick15]

That was one of the reasons we got rid of our roos, they were getting agressive towards the females. I agree that taking out a roo may work. Personally I would get rid of all of them. I suppose my dad convinced me they were a waste of space. (we didn't need chicks, and our coop and run has appropriate protection.)

 

[KWChicks]

How does one go about finding a home for roosters? LOL. I mean, who wants them? Unless they only have hens and wants chicks?

 

[sourland]

Well, it's normal mating behavior, and it is not going to stop. Two roosters for four hens is a bad situation. Eventually your hens are going to be physically injured. Those are some pretty big roosters.