why my cockerels start pecking each other

[alanbrown]

Hi, i have some young roosters (cockerels) and they start pecking each other i try to stop them but after a short time they start again, why i this happen, i dont know much about chicken ( im a begginer) any advice would be helpful!

 

[Birdinhand]

most roosters will go at each other and sometimes to the death. it starts when they are young as a "fun" sparring thing and gradually gets more serious. unless you are getting into breeding, it's really not worth having more than one rooster, they will constantly fight for dominance to rule the coop.

 

[Silkylover12]

Well, you're not alone. I raised a few cockerels some years ago, and they loved to fight. The best answer I can give you is that they fight because they want to find the pecking order. If you plan on having roosters, I highly suggest you start thinking about getting rid of one, because it will cause you quite a hassle. What breed of chicken are they? Maybe I can give you some more information that way.

Good luck, and welcome to the forums!

 

[aart]

most roosters will go at each other and sometimes to the death. it starts when they are young as a "fun" sparring thing and gradually gets more serious. unless you are getting into breeding, it's really not worth having more than one rooster, they will constantly fight for dominance to rule the coop.

Ditto Dat^^^

 

[rebrascora]

They are fighting for dominance, as others have said.
I see at least 4 cockerels and 1 hen/pullet.... how many more females do you have because that may become more of a concern than the males fighting. If you don't have enough females.... and even if you do..... 4 young males are going to be mating the life out of your hens/pullets and stressing them to death. Your best bet is to get rid of all the males or select the best one and keep that. If you insist on keeping all of them, then for the sake of your hens, make the boys a separate coop and run (a bachelor pad) to protect the girls from their unwanted attentions. Adolescent roosters are at the whim of their raging hormones and will grab and repeatedly mate any pullet or hen they can catch hold of. Often ganging up on her so that there are several males holding her at once, usually whilst she shrieks and tries to escape. It is not uncommon for them to get injured and scalping or broken bones can occur or gashes under their wings as well as the more usual feather loss and raw skin.
Too many cockerels is one of the easiest mistakes to make in poultry keeping and for the sake of your hens, one that needs rectifying sooner rather than later. Butchering them is the most sensible option since you have already spent money raising them to that size. If you eat chicken, then you should comfort yourself that these birds had a far better and longer life than any store bought chicken. Some people can't bring themselves to do that and advertise them for free on Craiglist etc or as stated constructing a bachelor pad.

Good luck sorting the problem out.

Barbara

 

[alanbrown]

They are fighting for dominance, as others have said.
I see at least 4 cockerels and 1 hen/pullet.... how many more females do you have because that may become more of a concern than the males fighting. If you don't have enough females.... and even if you do..... 4 young males are going to be mating the life out of your hens/pullets and stressing them to death. Your best bet is to get rid of all the males or select the best one and keep that. If you insist on keeping all of them, then for the sake of your hens, make the boys a separate coop and run (a bachelor pad) to protect the girls from their unwanted attentions. Adolescent roosters are at the whim of their raging hormones and will grab and repeatedly mate any pullet or hen they can catch hold of. Often ganging up on her so that there are several males holding her at once, usually whilst she shrieks and tries to escape. It is not uncommon for them to get injured and scalping or broken bones can occur or gashes under their wings as well as the more usual feather loss and raw skin.
Too many cockerels is one of the easiest mistakes to make in poultry keeping and for the sake of your hens, one that needs rectifying sooner rather than later. Butchering them is the most sensible option since you have already spent money raising them to that size. If you eat chicken, then you should comfort yourself that these birds had a far better and longer life than any store bought chicken. Some people can't bring themselves to do that and advertise them for free on Craiglist etc or as stated constructing a bachelor pad.

Good luck sorting the problem out.

Barbara

Hi, thankyou for the informations
i have 8 cockerels and 1 matured rooster, for the mating of young cockerels with the hens the matured rooster doesn't let them make trouble he pecks them, but can they fight with the matured rooster for dominance because if the matured rooster will be defeated there will be a problem for hens, can this happen?

 

[chickens really]

The Cockerels should be Culled from the flock....I have 3 that leave Saturday...My huge Rooster takes no funny business from them so they get a few good beatings from him...Way too much hormones and injuries will happen...

 

[aart]

Hi, thankyou for the informations
i have 8 cockerels and 1 matured rooster, for the mating of young cockerels with the hens the matured rooster doesn't let them make trouble he pecks them, but can they fight with the matured rooster for dominance because if the matured rooster will be defeated there will be a problem for hens, can this happen?

Having that many males there is going to be fighting.
Get rid of all the males but 1 or 2 of the males and things will calm down.

 

[MageofMist]

I have 3 males, one roo, one matured cockerel and one cockerel about 5 to 6 months of age who hasn't matured quite yet, but is looking more and more like a cockerel each day and has started getting more shy around me, which is pretty good. Also unlike Peep-Peep, the hens have ensued little Scruff knows his place in the pecking order from a young age by chasing and bullying him whatever opportunity they get, though they never pull feathers or draw blood, which I find rather sad yet amusing as his only safe spot is with Rooroo and Peep-Peep who keep Scruff safe from the mean hens and the three guys almost always move as a trio... they do try to wing-dance and mount him every now and then, but Scruff is fast enough to avoid that while he isn't quite fast enough to avoid the flock of hens as he tends to run into one hen when fleeing from another.

Mine are Silkies and are all born from the rooster, who is a total marshmallow, so they inherited that trait from him it seems. The only time that Rooroo and Peep-Peep ever fight, is when one gets a little rough with a hen and the other comes in to peck or kick the offender off and the fight lasts roughly a few seconds at the most.

They don't hound the hens and most of the time just laze around in a dustbath or watch the sky, and normally wing-dance, tidbit and mount if the hen squats, sometimes the hen will just walk up to Rooroo and Peep-Peep and squat without them even needing to do their little dance, but during certain times of the day they can get a bit feisty and try and sneak up on and hop on a hen, which then leads to the 2-3 second scuffle that is mostly showing off how big their neck flares are and maybe 1 or 2 kicks, before they calm down. If one woos a hen with dancing and tidbitting and mounts her as she squats for him, the other roo/cockerel doesn't care.

I am a tad nervous on how Scruff may shake things up once he matures and comes of age as we have 9 hens, 4 of which are still too young to lay, and he crowed (... Or more like honked) twice one day but hasn't done it again yet, but judging from how Rooroo and Peep-Peep interact and how they look after Scruff, their son and little bro, I am not that concerned. Even when Peep-Peep came of age, his hormone rush was fairly short lived before he mellowed out, the worst being when it just started and it seeming to just vanish after 2 days, but he never challenged his dad, just the lead big mama hen who was the only mature hen at the time and was a big bully, who gave him a bloody earlobe in the 2 second scuffle they had, but now they get along and she will boot any chicks or pullets out from between Rooroo and Peep-Peep on the perch so she can sit there between them.

Having multiple roos/cockerels in a flock can work, if you have a close family unit that grew up together with the pecking order already set in place from a young age, doubled with good temperaments in the birds which can be quite hard to get, especially in young cockerels.

I doubt things would work as harmoniously if I had 8 roos/cockerels though, especially if they weren't all blood-related as that'll lead to the genetic competition to escalate the potential fights, them wanting their genes to be passed down and not another roos/cockerels genetics, while if they are related, they seem more lax as it is still technically their genetics being passed down even if it isn't themselves mating.