Young Rooster help!?!

[briannajustine]

Hi all,
Needing advice on my two handsome young roos. Out of a recent lot of unsexed chicks, two ended up being Roos. We originally were not going to keep any but have ended up falling in love as are both very sweet boys
They are around 6ish months and hormones have kicked in a few weeks ago. They continue to be very sweet and friendly boys, and are best friends and pretty much inseparable (one is much more dominant so it works at the moment).
Only thing is, now thay hormones have kicked in, both boys have taken a particular liking to out little Easter egger Bonnie, who does not feel the same.
Poor Bonnie gets stalked a lot, and when one boy tries to start something with her, the other will often join in after she gets free of the other. The poor thing screams a lot and ends up getting her neck feathers pulled out as she tries to run away as the boys have NO idea what they are doing haha. They are bigger then her and I don’t want her getting hurt as they seem to be only interested in her and the poor thing is terrified of them.
Is there anything I can do or should be doing to help? Or is it the kind of thing I just have to let happen until they all figure it out? I don’t want to get rid of either boys at the moment as they are very sweet and will be good roosters and we have no other problems with them at the moment! Pic of my boys and Bonnie on the left in second photo with one of the roos on the right

 

[Tonyroo]

Keep tabs on Bonnie everyday, she's prone to getting severely damaged by those two roosters.

I would separate the roosters from the hens for a while till there close to a year old or when there hormones calm down.

When they're at an older age they are more careful handling the hens. Which lessen the potential harm to them.

Fore thought on injury prevention is something everyone should practice with chicken keeping.

 

[3KillerBs]

I advise that you separate the cockerels until all the pullets are old enough to lay.

But just on the other side of the same fence so they remain a familiar part of the flock.

2 boys and 7 girls is unlikely to work well over the long term, however. Not impossible, but unlikely,

 

[sourland]

Keep tabs on Bonnie everyday, she's prone to getting severely damaged by those two roosters.

I would separate the roosters from the hens for a while till there close to a year old or when there hormones calm down.

When they're at an older age they are more careful handling the hens. Which lessen the potential harm to them.

Fore thought on injury prevention is something everyone should practice with chicken keeping.

Excellent advice.

 

[briannajustine]

How many hens do you have?

We have 7 girls at the moment but a few are only about 3 months old

 

[Mrs. K]

Roosters are so darling, and steal your heart away, but you need to look at the flock as a whole. Always solve for peace in the flock. Your pullet can loose weight and confidence in this situation. Don't be tempted to pull her out and leave the boys in. It will cause bigger issues later on.

Do separate the boys for most of the day, 2 months will make a big difference. It will give the pullet a chance to grow up. This is a problem with flock mate roosters - they get bigger earlier and can become bullies. And the days are getting longer, and that daylight is going to crank up their hormones.

With roosters, you need a plan B set up and ready to go. Most people vastly underestimate how violent roosters can be. Do you have young children? Under the age of 6? Be very careful with roosters around them. If you look, this forum is full of stories where the darling becomes the nightmare overnight.

Do know with roosters:

• being raised together has no influence on long term behavior
• how they are acting today is no indication how they will act tomorrow
• two roosters can get along, but a lot of the times they don't
• the more roosters you have the larger the chance of it not working
• always have a way to separate birds, such as a long handle fish net and a dog crate at hand and ready to go
• wishing they will all be nice, does not work
• roosters take more room than the space recommended for the hens

If it is working well, it is just so hard to imagine it not working. But a lot of time it does not work, be prepared.

Mrs K

 

[Perris]

As other pullets redden up the boys will spread their attention to them too. At the moment it would seem that poor Bonnie is the only one catching their eyes.

 

[briannajustine]

Such handsome boys! Do they have names?
Which girl is Bonnie?

I agree, things will get better when the rest are laying.

They do but we named them as chicks hoping they were girls hahaha, so they are Hattie and Lottie and the names have stuck too much to change them

 

[Lenny loves chickens]

Handsome roosters...I would just watch amd make sure they dont get to excessive but they will figure it out

 

[briannajustine]

As other pullets redden up the boys will spread their attention to them too. At the moment it would seem that poor Bonnie is the only one catching their eyes.

We have a couple of girls that are a few months older and have been laying for a few months now, but they are much more bossy so maybe that’s why the boys haven’t touched them haha