Which two roosters look the most promising?

[Cheekychook12]

As to cues - the big one is don't make excuses for behavior, such as: "I startled him, I am wearing the wrong shoes, I picked up a hen..."

Cues as to aggression:

• Jumping up on something when I come into the run, making himself taller
• Fluffing his feathers, flapping his wings at me
• excessive crowing when I come into the run
• the stink eye - he glares at you
• sneaking around to the back of you, a lot of them will attack from behind. If you catch him, he will suddenly act innocent
• approaching you if you bend over or down, or have something in your hands
• flying up at you or bumping a bucket I was carrying

Good signs:

• casually moving away from you - about 5-6 feet away from you
• often times he will be between me and the hens - it is a quiet maneuver, not hysterical, not panicked.
• He has his head up and is the first to see me,
• He keeps the hens together
• he does the wing dance for chickens - not me
• he goes with a hen to lay, offers nests to her (I have only had one that did this)
• He likes chicks
• He breeds gently, with out feather displacement

Now, I have had 3 good roosters, one of which I would have called a flock master, Bye had all of the good traits. I still miss him. I have had a lot of so so roosters, some I kept, some I didn't.

Mrs. Feathers raised up Bye, so I have high hopes for Sargent who she hatched out last summer. Today, I am not sure if he was giving me the stink eye. We will see. One never gets to keep a perfect flock, it seems like you need to adjust it one way or the other as the year goes by.

Mrs K

They aren’t showing any of these aggression signs yet but they are still young so I’ll keep an eye out for these signs

 

[Cheekychook12]

Chonky boy has taken command of the flock! Didn’t see that coming he’s quite small but also beefy so maybe that’s why
The buff roo backed down in a stare off

 

[Folly's place]

It's just too soon to choose as far as behavior is concerned. Listen to @Mrs. K !
We had a cockerel who started attacking my hand in the brooder, at eight weeks of age! A truly nightmare bantam boy, who only got uglier over time, and left the scene well before his first birthday.
At the other extreme, a one year old rooster, and a two year old rooster, who both decided to become human aggressive, just because. Also not at all good.
Most often, nastiness develops as puberty hits, and only gets worse over time. We no longer try to reform these boys, and have learned what to look for before actual attacks happen.
Temperament matters first, along with actual structural defects, and then finally how the bird resembles the breed standard, and of course, again, temperament.
Mary

 

[Ridgerunner]

Chonky boy has taken command of the flock! Didn’t see that coming he’s quite small but also beefy so maybe that’s why
The buff roo backed down in a stare off

Size doesn't matter, personality does. There are plenty of bantams that are dominant over full-sized chickens, male and female.

 

[Cheekychook12]

Size doesn't matter, personality does. There are plenty of bantams that are dominant over full-sized chickens, male and female.

They are all bantams but that’s interesting
He was far from being in charge last week

 

[Ridgerunner]

He's 9 weeks old, still a baby. A lot of things are going to change as they grow and mature.

Enjoy the journey, it can be fascinating.

 

[Cheekychook12]

He's 9 weeks old, still a baby. A lot of things are going to change as they grow and mature.

Enjoy the journey, it can be fascinating.

It sure is interesting
The buff one that we likely won’t keep started crowing this morning

 

[Cheekychook12]

@Ridgerunner do you think it’s time to put my young cockerels in with my adult laying hens so they don’t go after the pullets and so they hopefully learn some manners?

 

[Cheekychook12]

I gave it a go putting them together for a few minutes to see how they handled it, all the boys hid in the corner, the girls didn’t like them unsurprisingly
The only one brave enough to stand up to the hens was chonky boy, he kept glancing at his friends like he was asking for backup, and one of them did eventually
Really interesting to watch the social order

 

[Ridgerunner]

I know, you see that manners thing on this forum a lot. If it is OK for them to teach the boys manners, why isn't it proposed to let them teach the young girls manners? I've never seen that recommendation. I never expect to.

My cockerels grow up with the flock. By the time they are 23 weeks old I have reduced the numbers of boys to one. What happens getting there can vary a lot.

Everything may remain pretty peaceful. No bullying or violence by the boys, the mature hens, and certainly not the pullets. This does not happen often but it occasionally does.

Sometimes the mature hens seek out the boys to do violence to them. Again, this is relatively rare.

Occasionally the boys mate the pullets and leave the mature hens alone. The mature hens leave them all alone. This is pretty normal for a while but eventually the boys mature to the point where they involve the adult hens. Sometimes the boys going after the pullets is fairly peaceful but often it involves chasing them down and forcing them. As long as no one is injured this does not bother me. It is the boys teaching the girls to submit to the boys' dominance. You might call it teaching the girls proper flock manners. I call it chickens being chickens.

At some point the boys will be interested in the hens. Some hens may willingly submit but often they resist. This resisting may involve running away. Sometimes the boys may chase them and force them, sometimes not. Some hens may fight back, not willing to let the boys dominate them. What I generally see is that some of the lower ranked hens willingly squat for the boys while the dominant hen and some of the more dominant hens fight back. The dominant hen may knock the boys off of a willing hen to show that she is still dominant.

I have never seen this but many people I respect on this forum say they have. The boys may gang up on a pullet or hen, taking their turn mating her. I believe this can also happen.

As long as no one is being injured I let mine go. About once every three or four years it gets rough enough that I isolate most of the boys in a grow-out pen until butcher age. I do have my limits.

I have no idea what will happen with your flock. I don't know what will happen with my flock from one year to the next. I cannot say that there is any right way or wrong way to go about this. Just try something and observe. Take action if you feel the need.

Good luck!