young roosters fighting- no hens

[chickengeorgeto]

when should I break up a rooster fight/give up on trying to get them to get along? I have two brothers that were born in June. I have them in a separate pen from my other chickens because I had heard roosters usually will get along without any hens around, and they get along for the most part but the other morning they were both covered in blood and one was missing some feathers. They were fine after that but I let them outside today (they don't have a run yet) and they tried to fight each other again.

Separate pens does not work for rooster peace unless the hens and roosters are completely out of sight and out of hearing of each other.

Even then you need a big macho adult rooster in the pen with the juveniles to break up any skirmishes before they get out of hand. Part of pecking order behavior is the fact that the uber chicken does not tolerate any other rooster, or hen for that matter doing any heavy fighting in the presence of the top bird..

 

[shannoncat]

I've decided to try putting one of them back in with his dad and the hens. I've been letting him free range around the coop for the last view hours and his dad is acting dominant and he's shying away. At one point they tried to fight through the chicken wire but then walked away from each other. I think this might work out.