What to do with Bantam Roos?

[sweetpea03]

In one of our coops, we have newer 10 chickens...4 EE hens, 1 silkie bantam hen (I think it's a she!), 1 cochin bantam hen, and 4 bantam roos. They are all 14 weeks old and have been raised together up to this point. Everyone has been quite calm...well, except for a little cochin bantam girl who is a bit aggressive, but she's cute!

However, I noticed one of the roos looking a bit "odd" yesterday. My husband thinks he might have been injured. This evening I noticed the other bantam roos being very aggressive towards the EE girls. Even though they're twice the size of the little roos, they were having troubles defending themselves. They seemed a bit stressed to say the least.

I'm worried the EEs might get injured by the bantam roos even though they are bigger. The EEs are quite docile. We had two barred rock roos last year that became aggressive so we had to "deal" with that problem.

I really want to keep the bantam roos...they are just so darn pretty! However, I'm concerned about the safety of the girls.

Can the roos live together in a separate pen or should I keep them with the hens? Maybe the best option is to get rid of them. Any suggestions?

TIA!

 

[Mattemma]

I would sperate them.Possibly keep 2.Once 1 roo puts the other in his place they should be ok.I would get rid of any roos that hurt the girls bad.

 

[donrae]

I also have a weakness for the pretty boys. I'd just keep them in a seperate pen and give the girls a break.

 

[sweetpea03]

Thanks! Hopefully, I'm not overreacting, but I'm going to separate them. I don't want any casualties! They've been so docile up until now so I was just hoping that it would stay that way. I was crossing my fingers that bantam roos were more gentle than standard roos. Guessing I was wrong!

We have two other hen "coops" that do not have any roos. The girls are all standard size breeds. Should I try putting the bantam roos in there or just make them their own run? That is, if I end up keeping them.

Why can't they all just get along?!