Will my rooster kill his son?

[Allie Grace Sanders]

I have a fully grown rooster with a flock of about 27 hens. One of the hens went went broody a while back. She only hatched on hatched one chick, and he was a boy. He is feathered now and I'm afraid he will try to crow. Will my rooster kill him if he does?!

 

[DobieLover]

No. It is also unlikely he will crow in front of his father. If at some point Junior decides he wants to try to take over that large flock, he will challenge his father. They may spar. But it's very very rarely fatal. It's also fairly rare that it is bloody.
It's also likely they will split up the flock and share the hens. But Junior is a long way from that.

 

[chickens really]

I also hatched out Chicks this summer and one is Cockerel. I usually get rid of them. This time I'm keeping the Cockerel too. If things go sideways I'll get rid of him. Until then he will be in my Flock. He follows his Dad around all day now. I don't think he will confront my Rooster being my Rooster runs a tight ship with his flock.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You can never tell for sure what will happen with living animals. That's just part of them being living animals with their own personality. Many of us raise cockerels with a flock that has a dominant rooster. Many have multiple adult roosters. Do disasters happen? Of course, you are dealing with living animals. Do disasters always happen, no, chickens are not extinct. If roosters killed all male chicks they would have long been extinct.

One of the ways to make it more likely that they will get along is to raise the cockerels together with the flock. That can be as siblings or with a mature flock-master rooster. The more room you have the more likely it is to be peaceful. The more crowded it is the more likely you are to have issues, some really serious.

In the wild the normal sequence of events is that the dominant male runs the cockerels out of his flock when they reach a certain level of maturity and start trying to breed his hens. The boys form a bachelor flock until one matures enough to carve out his own territory and and tries to attract females. Or maybe he challenges another rooster, his dad or another one, and fights to try to take over the flock.

But your chickens are not wild, they have been domesticated. If you have enough room it is possible they will follow the "wild" model, but most of us don't have enough room for that. It is possible they will fight to the death. But it is also possible that they will reach an accommodation, knowing which is boss but working together to take care of the flock. I've seen roosters split the flock into harems. I've seen roosters be best buddies and hang out together all day. The hens still get fertilized.

Most hatcheries use the pen breeding method. If yours are hatchery birds that's probably the system yours came from. That's where maybe 20 roosters are kept in a pen with 200 hens to get fertile eggs. They have more room than many broilers or laying hens kept commercially but they are in one large pen, not as much room as you might think. They may spar or fight to determine which is boss but they don't kill each other that often. Is it guaranteed that yours will kill each other? No, no guarantees. I'd still suggest you have a plan B, a pen ready where you can put one of them if you feel you need to.

 

[Shadrach]

They should be fine together. As the cockerel gets older he will test dad to make sure he is fit to lead the flock. They may even fight but I've never had a father and son try to kill each other.
Two brothers from the same clutch are more of a problem.
An introduced rooster unrelated may end up in a fight to the death.

 

[Mrs. K]

In a flock of 28 birds, I would assume that you do have adequate space. Often times Father / son ( or really any male chick raised in the flock) will do very well together. I had such a pair in my old set up, which is smaller than the one I have now.

However, sometimes it doesn't. Be aware, watch their interactions, watch the society of chickens. Do have a plan B, a place to change something or move them apart. Do not get your heart set on keeping them both, just let it evolve.

In your set up, I would expect it to work. I am trying this very thing in a flock of 12. Eventually, I want to pull the old rooster. He is getting some age on him. Meanwhile, I want him to raise my next flock master.

I would not try this in a flock less than seven birds. Small set ups compound problems.

Mrs K

 

[chickengeorgeto]

No. It is also unlikely he will crow in front of his father. If at some point Junior decides he wants to try to take over that large flock, he will challenge his father. They may spar. But it's very very rarely fatal. It's also fairly rare that it is bloody.
It's also likely they will split up the flock and share the hens. But Junior is a long way from that.

Roosters fight among themselves for power over the flock A.k.A. sexual dominance.
While it is true that a submissive rooster will often sneak around on the edges of the flock and assault the unwary hen or two, especially if the cockerel in question thinks that his papa isn't looking, but when both of these bad boys refuse to fold their tent and slink away or acknowledge defeat then the result can be quite bloody and even deadly. This is especially true once the effects of exhaustion kicks in. This is true for all breeds of chickens and not just game chickens.

It is quite true that the two male chickens in question may agree to disagree and split up the flock or share the hens but without a big enough walk or chicken run this is unlikely. It is however likely that your pair of roosters will only have two eyeballs between them.

 

[RodNTN]

I agree with @Ridgerunner, it can easily go either way. I hatched a cockerel who is the son of my favorite rooster, "Charlie" a Dominique. They get along fine. On the other hand, Charlie's brother "Linus" also had a son that Linus hated, it was his own son for goodness sake I ended up rehoming Linus and his son.

Just keep an eye out and have a plan B

 

[Chickassan]

The young ones here crowed right beside dad and just made a sport of it. To be frank the elder hens handled much more of the young fellas disipline than the rooster. I'd worry more about that, hens work together.

 

[Aries_B_]

I also hatched out Chicks this summer and one is Cockerel. I usually get rid of them. This time I'm keeping the Cockerel too. If things go sideways I'll get rid of him. Until then he will be in my Flock. He follows his Dad around all day now. I don't think he will confront my Rooster being my Rooster runs a tight ship with his flock.

Unfortunately I made the decision to keep one cockerel. The father son were fine till one day the son challenged the father. The father was left bloodied and his eyes shut. He was hiding behind the a pile of wood. I am nursing him hoping he doesn't lose his sight.