Two roosters...

[red horse ranch]

Why not keep them both until they are fully mature. You don't really know what their personalities will be until they are 6 or 7 months old. If they start fighting one of them will have to go. But with 15 hens two roosters is not too many. I have two roosters now and as long as one of them is willing to be #2 they seem to get along okay. If they both want to be the#1 rooster then they may fight to the death.
I know a lot of people don't like roosters but I have had up to 7 of them at a time with no problems as long as there are enough hens to go around.

 

[Mrs. K]

Because...

I will answer this, because I agree with Beckachicka.

Cockerels take experience. Often times inexperienced people do not pick up on the signs of aggression, or make excuses for those signs, and an attack comes out of nowhere. This forum is full of posts where the darling becomes the nightmare.

Most inexperienced people vastly underestimate the violence of an attack. Generally the attacks become more and more violent. Aggression can be towards other cockerels or roosters, the pullets, and people. They tend to attack children first, and if the child in under the age of 6, he/she can take the attack in the face and head.

People also often underestimate how much space chickens need. IMO cockerels need more space than recommended for hens. As you have 15, I am assuming you are not in a pre-fab set up, so space may not be an issue. However, what was more than enough space for chicks, often becomes not enough space for adults - and that causes problems.

There are hundreds, thousands of posts on how to get a good rooster. I have believed and tested several - but as I enter my 15th year of keeping a flock, I am more and more confident that it is the luck of the draw. When you get a flock master - it is a fantastic addition to the flock and a joy to watch. But a lot of roosters are never going to be a flock master. There is a slight prevalence of an idea, that you get the worst roosters being raised with flock mates (like you are doing) and a slightly better chance of getting a good one if he is raised up under a broody hen in a multi-generational flock, but it is still pretty darn iffy.

You have years to enjoy this hobby. Work into it slowly. Adding a rooster next year is a better idea. Most inexperienced people want to keep all their darling rooster chicks, so at least you know that you should only keep 1. And certainly it is your flock and you can try it.

But the best way to get a good rooster is not to keep a rotten one.

Mrs K

 

[Folly's place]

@Mrs. K has good advice here, as usual. We've had chickens a lot longer, and our first rooster was a miserable little beast, kept too long. We learned!
Your cockerels are so far behaving well, and if you want to keep one of them, it's too soon to really know which (if either).
Raising cockerels with adult birds does help smooth out their 'rough edges', very true. And it does take experience, gained the hard way, to see early ugly behaviors.
Your pullets will be less stressed if you move one on now, but see how things develop. Be ready to act immediately if difficulties happen!
Mary

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Roosters in general can be a terror if your not familiar with correcting situations when it pops up. Just extra work and worry.

Because...

One bad apple can ruin the batch. Roosters are not male hens. They have language differences in vocal and especially body, that if responded to the wrong way, can yield very poor results

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Most inexperienced people vastly underestimate the violence of an attack.

Even experienced people can be caught off-guard, or injured if not prepared. I'm nursing a nasty cut on my arm from handling a feisty hen (not even a rooster, this was a HEN) - who wasn't attacking me, just trying to get away - but one of her wing feathers actually SLICED into my skin, enough to draw blood and require bandaging. Imagine if that had been my eyes.

 

[-Chanticleer-]

This is our first flock, 19 weeks old: 5 Reds, 5 Buffs, 4 Barreds, 1 Americauna and 2 Americauna roosters
Which rooster to keep:
Rooster 1 is a bit bigger, quieter and doesn't seem overly interested in the girls. However, when the other rooster tries or successfully mates with a girl, he runs over and tries to interrupt.
Rooster 2 is our favorite coloration. He crows a ton! He starts at 4:30 in the morning and crows a lot throughout the day and evening. He is very actively pursuing the girls. He chases them frequently and is rather successful in mating with them. He's kind of obnoxious in that way.
Neither rooster has been aggressive towards us. I think since they are small, they mostly run away from us. Rooster 1 let my son barely pet him the other day. Rooster 2 we couldn't catch to put in the coop the other night and so we left him in the completely fenced (top and bottom) yard.
I am assuming that activity level is not a indication of mating success and reproduction. But I would think that the rooster that is more actively trying to mate, would be more successful in eventually giving us chicks. But on the flip side, he has the more annoying, loud and obnoxious behaviors. If we remove him, might Rooster 1 step up his game? Also, should the roosters be removed from the girls at this point? I'm thinking it will make him crow more if he can't get at them.
Thoughts?

I’d keep the quiet one. I had the same issue and I had three cockerels. The big quiet one was really good with the girls. He didn’t try to mate them until they were five months. He also danced for them and showed them where the treats were. He did intervene several times when the loud, mating crazy one would try and mount the girls. He even reared up a few times when the other cockerels would pull the girls feathers. We got rid of the two cockerels and he stayed the same gentle cockerel and even would take no for an answer when he did his mating dance. Crowed in the morning and when he saw squirrels or cats.

 

[-Chanticleer-]

What signs show they may prefer him?

My pullets would run behind my bigger cockerel when the other boys would try to get her. So maybe see if they hang out with one more than the other?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Which rooster to keep:

Unfortunately you don't have roosters yet. You have immature cockerels that are still maturing. They are juveniles trying to find their way. As they mature they can change. They know which one is dominant for now but that can change as they mature at different rates. To further complicate it, they affect how the other behaves. The competition between the two can intensify their behaviors. Doesn't sound like that is much of a problem for you yet and it may never be. The more dominant one can suppress the behaviors of the other. The submissive one may not try to mate the girls nearly as much as he normally would if the other were not around. He may not tidbit (find them food) or break up fights. You never know how he may change if you remove the dominant one. The submissive one may go from the sweetest thing ever to a real brute if he wakes up one morning charge or he may remain great. The dominant one may calm down some with the competition removed or he may turn into a brute.

To me we are talking about two totally separate things. One is how he interacts with the pullets. At 19 weeks the cockerel is immature and so are the pullets. Though it may look like it, he is not a sex crazed fiend trying to fertilize eggs. At that age the mating act is more about dominance. The one on bottom is accepting the dominance of the one on top, either willingly or by force, even if just temporarily. The pullets generally don't want to be dominated so they run away. His hormones are telling him to dominate, become the flock master, so he chases. When the girls grow up they often want a male that will act like a good father to their babies. Immature cockerels have real problems meeting those standards. When the males and females grow up they tend to settle down in behaviors and become a very peaceful flock. But not all males mature as we wish they would. Most can impress the girls with their self-confidence and magnificence, no force required to take over as far as the girls go. But some never have that maturity and cannot impress the girls, they have to rely on brute force. Some hens will never reach the point that they accept the dominance of a rooster. When you combine a weak willed rooster and a really dominant hen it can get violent.

The other thing is human aggression. Part of a rooster's job is to protect his flock. (Some are much better at this than others but that is a different discussion, nothing to do with human aggression.) Many roosters can handle humans around their flock with no problems, but some can perceive humans as threatening the flock. In some cases it can be understood. Several years back a five year old boy would chase hens around the yard. It did not take long for the rooster to attack that boy wherever he saw him, even way on the other side of the yard. What had been a perfectly good rooster had to be permanently removed. Sometimes though a male will attack about anybody for no understandable provocation. He might leave you alone but attack your spouse or family members. There are several theories on how to raise a cockerel so he doesn't do that. Sometimes they work, sometimes they fail. Many people can train a rooster to not attack them but that doesn't mean they have trained them to not attack a spouse or kid. Sometimes they attack someone wearing a certain color or article of clothing, boots or a certain pair of shorts can be the culprit. Things can be fine until all of a sudden they are not. Just to be clear, a human aggressive rooster or cockerel has to go.

For both of these, I think it is a crap shoot. Some behaviors are learned, some are inherited, some may just be from random circumstances. I personally don't see any reason to think getting one next year will be any less of a risk than trying one of the ones you have this year. As to which one this year I don't know. It does not mean that either one is a good choice. If it doesn't work out you may need to start over next year anyway.

I am assuming that activity level is not a indication of mating success and reproduction.

I would not expect it to be. To keep a hen laying fertile eggs they only have to mate once every 9 days to two weeks. It can vary a little. With a flock of 15 hens most roosters can easily manage that.

Also, should the roosters be removed from the girls at this point? I'm thinking it will make him crow more if he can't get at them.

I don't think it will affect his crowing. As long as no one is getting injured I don't see any advantage in temporarily removing him. If one is getting injured during his adolescent phase I could see removing him for a couple of months to see if he matures enough to overcome his juvenile hormones. I've never done that.

 

[Folly's place]

Our cockerels are raised in our mixed aged flock, and we watch them. Human aggression is a cull point, as is any health or conformation issue. Not to show standard necessarily, but health and a lack of physical defects are important. Then, there's time to sort out individuals, as long as the hens and pullets aren't being harassed.
We now have two breeding groups, so two to four roosters are what we'd like to have. One each mature, and one youngster.
Mary

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Our cockerels are raised in our mixed aged flock, and we watch them. Human aggression is a cull point, as is any health or conformation issue. Not to show standard necessarily, but health and a lack of physical defects are important. Then, there's time to sort out individuals, as long as the hens and pullets aren't being harassed.
We now have two breeding groups, so two to four roosters are what we'd like to have. One each mature, and one youngster.
Mary

Mary, I've been doing that too. Only this year did I separate the cockerels for slaughter, since I had an extra pen doing nothing this time. I do still raise the cockerels I intend to keep in the main flock. I usually have 40-50 layers at any time, and have found that 3 roosters is the magic number for my setup. I try to keep one older rooster, one or two younger, and one cockerel and a bunch of pullets coming along for backup. If the run starts to sound like a fight club, I cull one.

I've just started a closed breeding group of Bresse chickens, so there's three pullets and one more cockerel in their little pen. Fingers crossed this goes as well as I hope. (My backup cockerel in the main flock is Bresse, also - so he's backup for both flocks as needed.)

I'm always amazed how instantly peace and harmony are restored to the flock when I cull an excess rooster. The whole flock suffers when there's too much testosterone going around, eh?