Will cockerels fight

Bryce Thomas

Songster
Mar 21, 2021
731
707
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Gilbert, AZ
I have 4 chicks from 2 of my silkies, the parents are in a coop but the chicks are 7 weeks old and are in a seperate coop. If 2 chicks are roos will they fight? I need to know this soon because I dont want them fighting too badly. I have noticed some of them pecking eachother a little bit more often and flairing their hacke feathers even though they barely have neck feathers just yet
 
A little. I'm not an expert but when I got my first two chicks (both boys) they grew up like brothers. A lot of the times we would let them out they would flare up their necks like you said and maybe peck each other a bit. I had them for about 3 months before we had to give them away. I don't think they'll fight too badly. Best to just monitor them and see what happens.
 
Yes they will fight if they are boys. They may fight more if there is not many hens or enough space.
Some boys are quite placid and work out things with a minor fight here and there and others will inflict serious injuries.. you won't know till they grow up how they will behave unfortunately. Some people can have multiple roosters no problems and others will fight till the death. Just monitor the situation and have a backup plan if things get bad. At the moment I have a rooster and cockerel and they do fight occasionally but a little bloody comb is the extent of the injuries.. But things could still get worse and I may have to seperate them.. Just wait and see and have a plan.
Also you can post some pics of your Silkies for people to help identify the sex if you like?.. I do like pics of Silkies :D
 
Yes they will fight if they are boys. They may fight more if there is not many hens or enough space.
Some boys are quite placid and work out things with a minor fight here and there and others will inflict serious injuries.. you won't know till they grow up how they will behave unfortunately. Some people can have multiple roosters no problems and others will fight till the death. Just monitor the situation and have a backup plan if things get bad. At the moment I have a rooster and cockerel and they do fight occasionally but a little bloody comb is the extent of the injuries.. But things could still get worse and I may have to seperate them.. Just wait and see and have a plan.
Also you can post some pics of your Silkies for people to help identify the sex if you like?.. I do like pics of Silkies :D

20210507_180017.jpg

Mommy shadow next to the kids. Yes she took in fertile eggs of my other silkie hen that was white, that was fertilized by a white rooster
 
All chicks will squabble, regardless of sex. Heck, I have a tiny frazzle pullet that's dominating a breese and an Asian black (both males) that are almost 6 times her size currently.

Roosters will squabble when they stay getting those darn hormones, but that doesn't mean they'll injure or kill each other. If you don't want them to fight, just sell the extra males
 
if they are living together and turn out to be boys, there might be some squabbling but nothing too serious in my experience, this is in fact the best way to raise males, from very early on.
If you then start seperating them and reintroduce them then there might be more serious problems.
And as I just discovered trying to see what would happen if I introduced my 6 week old male to my 11 week olds. Yep the male wanted to have a go but omg the females seemed even more intent to kick out the little intruder. Didn't wait to see what was going to happen, need to think of a plan B.

So yeah raised form small, generally no problem but then if you seperate them and introduce them again there will be problems. The older they get the harder it will become to introduce new males.
 

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