Typical behavior of 2 cockerels raised together?

[DobieLover]

As the title reads, I ended up with 2 cockerels in my flock of 11 that I purchased as chicks from Meyer. The Delaware, Dexter, is the dominant. The salmon Faverolles, Fabio, the submissive.
They get along well enough although one morning Dex woke up rather full of himself and really put the boots to Fabio. Dex crows, Fabio does not.
I assumed that only Dex would mate the pullets. Wrong. As soon as Dex hops off, Fabio hops on with no objection from Dex. Hmmm. Now I'm really concerned about the pullets being overbred. Maybe the hormones will calm down with time and they will divide and conquer the ladies?

 

[Pork Pie]

I'd suggest getting rid of one of the little fellas and considering a few more pullets for the remaining cock bird. Your pullets do run the risk of being overbred, even with one male.

You could separate the cock birds from the pullets to ease the situation temporarily.

 

[Shadrach]

In my experience the senior rooster will have his favorites; usually three or four hens.
He isn't really bothered about the others. He'll mate with them but he won't give them the same protection as his favorites.
I get new groups form from just the situation you describe. The junior rooster will try to entice the 'spare' hens away from the senior rooster.
If you built another coop, you would probably end up with two distinct groups.
Here at least, it doesn't make any difference how many hens a rooster has, he still over-mates the favorites if any.

 

[Chickassan]

They are teenagers and are going to get "it" whenever they can. Dex is getting the happy meal and Fabio is eating the leftovers so to speak. You won't have much fighting "at least on Fabio's part" but both those boys are equally randy. They will get their own favoriate hens later when their brains and bullocks are the same size but for now everyone is on the menu. If you're worried about overmating you'll either have to choose or seperate both boys from the ladies. @Shadrach is right though the favoriates will be bred alot no matter how many hens or roos you have.

 

[DobieLover]

I'm in no position to have 2 flocks/coops. I am currently advertising Dex for rehome. I'm one of the softies who doesn't want him to go to freezer camp just because he was an unexpected cockerel. He is very nice. So I'm still hopeful I can find him a new flock.
I went to see what I thought would be a suitable temporary coop/run to put the boys in until their hormones calmed down and/or found a home for Dex but it turned out to be not big enough for a pair of gerbils let alone two young cockerels.

 

[Shadrach]

I'm in no position to have 2 flocks/coops. I am currently advertising Dex for rehome. I'm one of the softies who doesn't want him to go to freezer camp just because he was an unexpected cockerel. He is very nice. So I'm still hopeful I can find him a new flock.
I went to see what I thought would be a suitable temporary coop/run to put the boys in until their hormones calmed down and/or found a home for Dex but it turned out to be not big enough for a pair of gerbils let alone two young cockerels.

I wish I could take him. He sounds like my kind of rooster.

 

[Chickens4Life101]

We had the same issue.(We had 3 roos though) we got rid of the two more dominant ones and kept our lower one. Things have been working out so much better know. So I say get rid of Dexter and keep Fabio

 

[DobieLover]

We had the same issue.(We had 3 roos though) we got rid of the two more dominant ones and kept our lower one. Things have been working out so much better know. So I say get rid of Dexter and keep Fabio

I'm trying to rehome Dex. He is still a very nice boy. He eats very gently from my hand and has never shown one ounce of aggression. Fingers crossed for him!

 

[DobieLover]

My boy Dex found a wonderful home tonight. He will be the new flock leader of a group of six one-year old hens. Every mans dream! To come into a harem of lonely slightly older ladies.
My girls will breath a sigh of relief! Those two boys were ridiculously going after them. I have hopes that Fabio will rule his girls well and relax a little now that he isn't constantly looking over his shoulder for Dex.
Bye my sweet Dexter. I'll miss you. But at least I retained visitation rights!!

 

[New2Chicks97]

Glad you found Dexter a good home.