Young Rooster and old rooster fight and don't fertilize egs

[VPerfeito]

Good afternoon. I am from Portugal and I have 2 bantam rooster and 6 bantam hens. I recently added the new rooster (young). Most of the time they get along nicely, but when one of them tries to mate, the other comes running and pricks the other. One prick and the fight is over. Sometimes the older rooster goes after the younger one but no real fight ever occurs so there isn't a dominant rooster. Because of the fight between rosters during mating, the hens are not fertilized. I wish they fought and one of them became the dominant one. What can I do ? Will they have a fight and finally stop this picking during mating? (they are together for 3/4 weeks now)
thanks

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

Having 2 roosters for only 6 hens is a recipe for disaster. The “said” number of hens per roo should be at @ least 10:1. Either get rid of one of your boys or get more hens!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

How old is the young rooster?

 

[VPerfeito]

I know there should be more hens, I am waiting for one of them to hatch. The older rooster shared a flock of only 4 hens with another rooster who died. In the beginning, they fought but then one of them became dominant and they live and happy life together. I share the concern about over mating and that didn't happen. Only one of them mated. I was hoping for the same thing with this new rooster (son of the older).
I have tried to put the younger rooster with other hens (bigger race) and that didn't work. He mates with them if they are alone but when they are together the hens fight him and he runs. Maybe he needs to get older.

 

[VPerfeito]

How old is the young rooster?

6/7 month.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I don't really know. Maybe one of our rooster experts has a suggestion. @Shadrach, what do you think?

 

[Shadrach]

Good afternoon. I am from Portugal and I have 2 bantam rooster and 6 bantam hens. I recently added the new rooster (young). Most of the time they get along nicely, but when one of them tries to mate, the other comes running and pricks the other. One prick and the fight is over. Sometimes the older rooster goes after the younger one but no real fight ever occurs so there isn't a dominant rooster. Because of the fight between rosters during mating, the hens are not fertilized. I wish they fought and one of them became the dominant one. What can I do ? Will they have a fight and finally stop this picking during mating? (they are together for 3/4 weeks now)
thanks

It is normal behavior with bantams in particular and as you've realized, the chances of fertile eggs is reduced.
The two bantam roosters I have here are much the same with their seven hens. There doesn't seem to be a marked division between which hens belong to which rooster.
With the Marans and cross breeds I have here the is obviously a more senior rooster and the junior may get to mate with one or two hens if he's quick and out of sight of the senior.
Despite the bantam roosters trying to prevent each other fertilising the hens eggs I still get about 60% of the eggs fertile here and have had numerous broodies sit and hatch.
I don't know if all bantam breeds tend to be like this and you don't mention what breed yours are.
I assume from you concern you want fertile eggs to hatch (?) I would leave things as they are; not having the two roosters constantly fighting is a bonus, and wait and see what happens when a hen goes broody.
If you find that the egg fertility rate is very low, then separating out the roosters with 3 hens each an hour before roosting time might help.

Edit, by the way, the idea that you need 10 hens per rooster is complete rubbish. None of the 6 roosters I have here have more than 3 hens each.

 

[VPerfeito]

It is normal behavior with bantams in particular and as you've realized, the chances of fertile eggs is reduced.
The two bantam roosters I have here are much the same with their seven hens. There doesn't seem to be a marked division between which hens belong to which rooster.
With the Marans and cross breeds I have here the is obviously a more senior rooster and the junior may get to mate with one or two hens if he's quick and out of sight of the senior.
Despite the bantam roosters trying to prevent each other fertilising the hens eggs I still get about 60% of the eggs fertile here and have had numerous broodies sit and hatch.
I don't know if all bantam breeds tend to be like this and you don't mention what breed yours are.
I assume from you concern you want fertile eggs to hatch (?) I would leave things as they are; not having the two roosters constantly fighting is a bonus, and wait and see what happens when a hen goes broody.
If you find that the egg fertility rate is very low, then separating out the roosters with 3 hens each an hour before roosting time might help.

Edit, by the way, the idea that you need 10 hens per rooster is complete rubbish. None of the 6 roosters I have here have more than 3 hens each.

Thank you...I will wait!

Regarding fight with bigger hens...any advise ?

 

[Chickassan]

Pity him from afar.
That is one problem he will have to fix on his own.
You can cheer for him if you'd like, it can't hurt.

Thank you...I will wait!

Regarding fight with bigger hens...any advise ?

 

[Shadrach]

Thank you...I will wait!

Regarding fight with bigger hens...any advise ?

Your roosters are still cockerels and have not reached full maturity yet.
The hens here tend to bully the new cockerels. This all stops when the cockerels grow up.
However, even when fully grown and particularly if there is a more senior rooster, some hens will still fight the junior rooster off. The hens are interested in passing on the best genes to their chicks and the best in such circumstances is from the rooster that manages to maintain the senior position.
You might find this article helpful.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/understanding-your-rooster.75056/