two roosters - ?possible without trouble

I am new to chickens and want to do the best I can for them. Last night I was told if I have two roosters, they will "fight to the death" of one of them. Two weeks ago we got 5 Rhode Island Red hens and 1 rooster age 5 weeks old and 6 Barred Rock hens and one rooster aged 10 weeks old. (We were told by the seller they should do well together.) Our goal was to have eggs and pets and my husband loves to hear the roosters crow.

They have been together for over two weeks now and seem to be doing well together. I have, however, seen the Rock rooster nip the back of the one of the Red hen's neck on a couple of occasions but without seeming to cause any damage. We have them in a 8'x12' house with a 4'x8' screened porch and an attached 8'x8' screened backyard pen which we move around, so I think they have plenty of room and attention. We keep plenty of food and water and are trying out different treats, suggested by folks on this forum.

I somewhat understand about the pecking order and accept that. BUT I am having a bit of a problem with this "fighting to the death." If that is the case, then the little Red Rooster will have no chance. Do you have suggestions or advice?

I do love this forum and appreciate it and any help I can get. Thanks. Geeze

Hi Geeze. I think it depends on the breed (game breeds are more aggressive), whether they were raised together and the individual birds. A lot of people have two roosters that get along fine--they may just divide up the hens between them.

Thanks for the good words. I think I am a little nuts about these chickens but that's the way it is. I will try not to worry about the roosters but continue to ejoy all of them. Geeze

Hi, geeze. I have a flock with three roosters. Two of them were raised together and the other one is the "old man" of the flock. The two young ones have decided the "pecking order" and the old man is master over all. He is the dominant rooster from the first flock. He doesn't take any guff from either one of the youngsters. One of them (Bruno) is dominant over the other (Clyde). And that is usually the way it is.

When I was a child, we had two roosters in a flock that my parents had. The youngest was a Buttercup/Black Minorca. He was the offspring of the Buttercup. We did have a problem with them fighting and my dad finally decided they would kill one another and so we ate the youngest. The older one was a pet, but not the younger one. That is the only time that I have seen two roosters fighting that much.

GG

You're right about game birds. You can't put 2 of the roosters together. But most other types of roosters get along well together. They'll divide the hens themselves, or one will take the whole flock.
We had a white rosecomb pet rooster when I was a kid, Daddy brought home a fighting cock, he killed our pet. We had him for dinner that night!
Audrey

We have 3 roos as well and ours is similar to Grannys. In fact that first part she wrote I could just copy and paste and change the names and the story is basically the same. One older roo that is king of the yard and two younger ones. They all get along fine. The older roo will not let the young roos mess with his hens and he will not mess with the young roos hens.

Glad you ask Geeze , because I don't know alot about chickens either.

My little ones are really friendly now, especially a little blackish one .

What birds are game birds ? I have bantams far as I know ,[ and have no clue what ducks are ] .

Hi whatsupdoc. Game birds are the breeds that were originally developed for cock fighting. Some of them are very beautiful, but they are inclined to fight each other, especially the roosters. Malay, Shamo, Asil and Sumatra are examples along with most breeds with the word "Game" in the name. There are bantam game breeds, but I think they tend to be less aggressive than the standard versions.

Thanks Catscan .I hope I don't have the game bantams.

What kind are hardy , not too big and don't fight ?

The only game bantams I know of are Old English Game (OEG). They are really pretty. Here is a site that says the bantams are not agressive:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_Game

I didn't know that about bantys. The ones we had were beautiful, like minature gamecocks, but they didn't fight, as far as I know. Of course we kept them seperated in groups of 2 or 3 hens and one rooster for breeding purposes, so they'd breed true.
Doe

Thanks for all the responses. I feel much better about my Sam and Jesse, my roosters. It is great to know so many people care about helping those of us who may need help. Someday I will be one of those to write of my experience. I am so surprised at how completely nuts I have become over these birds. Geeze

Geeze is right. I mean, "geeze, I too am nuts over my birds"... Hope they continue to bless you, and never forget to pass on your experiences...

tf

Of course, love your chickies, they will love you when everybody else is mad at you!
Doe

or when you are mad at the world, and feel like going to eat worms, you can just watch THEM do it LOL

So are Buttercups game birds too? Or just inclined to fight in which case the males will end up in Camp Freeze. Buttercups are one of the breeds we are getting soon.

Is there a way to try and get the roos matched with the hens of their own breed so they think of those as theirs? I don't want to find myself building a pen for each breed if I can avoid it. Lets them have a bigger area for all.

MollyD

Molly, buttercups aren't a game bird. They are a gentle breed. The one we had was a pet. He used to follow my brother down the street when my brother went to school. He was smart enough to stop at the alley and come back home without getting hurt. Of course, since this was in the '40s, there weren't that many cars on the roads. When my dad moved the chickens out to the country (he moved his shop there), he hatched a clutch of eggs. One of the hens we had was a Black Minorca. That was the rooster I am talking about. I kind of guess it was just a case of dominence. But, since my dad didn't want them fighting, we culled the younger rooster and he went into the pot. (My sister couldn't eat him, said he was too pretty.)

GG

Minorcas are HUGE and very protective.

we have had many roosters at one time. when are hen population dropped, i separated the eating roos into a pen and let the breeding roos free range with the hens. we didn't have fights, except from the brown leghorns, who were at the bottom of the pecking order and just oculdn't accept that as fact LOL.

all the roos had been raised together. i regretted penning up the eating roos, because they didn't fill out and taste as good.

this year the eating roos are free ranging, and will be butchered before any major problems break out. they are PBRs. and seem very quiet and gentle, but are starting to crow, a sign of hormones on their way...

our Black Jersey Giant is penned separate. like the Minorca, he is very territorail and not interesting in playing well with others. he seems quite content to be fenced in, since that defines his territory. his offspring and the JGs from the breeder are all being raised and housed together, so hopefully we won't have fighting problems before i de3termine who to keep, who to sell, and who to eat...

tf

TF, I remember that the Minorca was a large roo. The Buttercup wasn't that big, but was very sweet tempered.

Geeze, my "GG" is for granny-goody, not my initials, which are EH. But can you see me signing stuff EH? Like eh, what did you say?

GG

EH?

Okay TF, ROFLMAO/

GG anyway!!!

K!

Thanks GG and TF. I wondered if I had made a mistake when I read about the Buttercup fighting LOL. I have enough fighting with the chickens, ducks and geese already.
Now I have to figure out how I want to handle all these birds. I know that 99% of the roos will go to Camp Freeze but I'm not sure how I want to house them till then. You think it's best to separate them from those who are staying? No one will be entirely free range here. Too dangerous.
MollyD

roos without hens fight very little. nothing to fuss about...

ah like guys away camping without any gals.

Wouldn't know...always camped with the guys. Was the only lady in hunting camp. and because I was...I DIDN'T WASH DISHES!!!

GG

About worrying about when someone tells you something can't be done, like putting two toosters together, don't worry about it. I've done LOTS of things, only to find out, "you can't do that"! Like planting flowers under a tree! I found out after I left my husband, I can do anything I want to, as long as I don't know I can't do it!
Doe

because when you think you can't, you are right, and when you think you CAN, you are also right!

Got a good one for you folks.

Happened to look out the window a few minutes ago and saw Bruno and Clyde getting into it big time. The were putting on a great show trying to act like fighting game birds going at it. They did this for about five minutes when Rocky came around the side of the building, stood to the side of them looking as if he was listening to each side of the argument and then all of a sudden, chasing Bruno off. Since Clyde is at the bottom of the pecking order, I just had to stand there and laugh. I guess Rocky was taking up for the "underdog".

GG
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Rocky is a good guy LOL`

Yes he is, TF. He's also about twice their size. That's why my DH isn't please with the BAs because they are small. The sex-links I got from TSC are 4 1/2 weeks old and are almost the size of the 9 week old chicks. And they are almost the size of the adult chickens. I am disappointed in the size of the BAs, so I am going to breed the sex-links and BAs, and see what kind of roos I got with my keets. They are starting to get their feathers and seem to be mottled like the sex-links. Of course since I got them from Ideal, I wonder if they ARE roos and not maybe sex-link pullets. That would be something.

GG

let shope not!

Oh, I don't know about that. It would give me more pullets and since I hatched out at least a couple of roos from my self-hatch, I will have young roosters to use if they are. Plus, remember...they were FREE!! LOL.

But, it doesn't matter what they are, there is a very good chance if they are roos, I will keep two of them for breeding to get my hens larger so DH will be happier with the stewing hens we get.

GG
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