3 gentle roosters in solitary bachelor pad pen, suddenly aggressive, and injuring one another.

[Snowborn]

Hello, we relocated 3 young roosters from our flock to their own coop, and run, out of sight of the hens, a little less than 2 months ago. They had one tussle early on, and then all has been very peaceful. A few day ago they began fighting with each other, and two of them had little bloody pecks on wattles and combs, but this evening, the rooster who we have been guessing is the alpha(but not sure) got attacked..luckily we were outside and ran to lift the electric fence so that he could escape. The attack was very aggressive... He was being repeatedly jumped on and pecked, and has big cuts on wattles and comb, and one torn wattle. We were able to catch him, bring him inside and clean him up, and give him some water to drink. Once the other roosters had put themselves to bed we snuck him in the little coop with them, hoping that all would be forgotten. They are sleeping peacefully now. But what happens in the morning, and how do we prevent this from reoccurring!?
Much thanks for any advice

 

[sourland]

Sadly, it's the normal progression of things. Frequently two subordinates will team up to depose the dominant bird. Once this behavior starts, it is unlikely to stop. If it were me, I'd get out there early tomorrow as it is very likely that he will be attacked.

 

[Snowborn]

Thanks for the reply..how exactly do we tell who is the dominant rooster? It's not totally clear. And in this recent bout of fighting(last 3-4days), this was the first time that this guy got attacked. Previously it was just between the other two.
Is there NO solution possible to salvage this trio of roosters?
We have one older rooster with the 17 hens in another area. Would it be silly to attempt to integrate this attacked rooster in with the flock like that?
Thanks

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

how exactly do we tell who is the dominant rooster? It's not totally clear.

If you watch your chickens, it is totally clear. A dominant male will chase away the males who are below him on the dominance hierarchy, or at least peck them to make them go away when they come too close. The dominant male will also have spurts of aggression where he grabs the weaker one by the neck and continually pushes and drags them to the ground until they are able to wriggle out of his grip. More uncommonly but still present in flocks with only males, the dominant one will mount the other males and mate them, as this makes them look weak and pathetic in the eyes of a chicken. All of these behaviors that a dominant male exhibits is to show that he is definitely the boss.

Is there NO solution possible to salvage this trio of roosters?

No, not really. Once males start showing immense aggression to each other, it will continue to be like that, as every day they will feel as if they have to prove their position in the hierarchy. They may calm down a bit, but not much at all will change.

We have one older rooster with the 17 hens in another area. Would it be silly to attempt to integrate this attacked rooster in with the flock like that?

Yes, it would be silly. The older rooster would only see the attacked male as a threat and beat him up worse. Furthermore, the hens in the existing flock would also see the new male as a threat, as they already have a male for themselves, and they would want to challenge him.

 

[Snowborn]

Thank you..phew, this is so hard. Our 6 year old has tenderly raised these 3 since they were chicks. We thought we had a solution with the bachelor pad..and they were doing so well these last couple months!

But what happens with the other two if we remove the attacked rooster?

And after your description of the dominant rooster it is still so unclear. They all exhibit some of those tendencies. Chasing each other, not mounting, but "side dancing" each other. It feels like maybe they have not sorted out who is the top yet. Is it possible thst they will and this could die down?
Thanks

 

[Snowborn]

I forgot to mention that just before this big fight, 2 hens had escaped from their pen and were within sight of the 3 roosters(sorry to leave this out, still recovering from fight trauma!) Could this have been a factor in this super aggressive turn of events? Should we give the roosters another chance to make the bachelor pad a success?
Thanks so much

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hello, we relocated 3 young roosters from our flock to their own coop, and run, out of sight of the hens, a little less than 2 months ago. They had one tussle early on, and then all has been very peaceful. A few day ago they began fighting with each other, and two of them had little bloody pecks on wattles and combs, but this evening, the rooster who we have been guessing is the alpha(but not sure) got attacked..luckily we were outside and ran to lift the electric fence so that he could escape. The attack was very aggressive... He was being repeatedly jumped on and pecked, and has big cuts on wattles and comb, and one torn wattle. We were able to catch him, bring him inside and clean him up, and give him some water to drink. Once the other roosters had put themselves to bed we snuck him in the little coop with them, hoping that all would be forgotten. They are sleeping peacefully now. But what happens in the morning, and how do we prevent this from reoccurring!?
Much thanks for any advice

We were able to catch him, bring him inside and clean him up, and give him some water to drink. Once the other roosters had put themselves to bed we snuck him in the little coop with them, hoping that all would be forgotten. They are sleeping peacefully now. But what happens in the morning, and how do we prevent this from reoccurring!?

Thanks for the reply..how exactly do we tell who is the dominant rooster? It's not totally clear. And in this recent bout of fighting(last 3-4days), this was the first time that this guy got attacked. Previously it was just between the other two.
Is there NO solution possible to salvage this trio of roosters?
We have one older rooster with the 17 hens in another area. Would it be silly to attempt to integrate this attacked rooster in with the flock like that?
Thanks

I forgot to mention that just before this big fight, 2 hens had escaped from their pen and were within sight of the 3 roosters(sorry to leave this out, still recovering from fight trauma!) Could this have been a factor in this super aggressive turn of events? Should we give the roosters another chance to make the bachelor pad a success?
Thanks so much

Not likely the hens caused the issue.

Some roosters will just fight.

Having separate pens for each rooster is one solution. Rehoming them another. Processing for food another.

I agree, I'd get out there early and get the pen open. While it may seem peaceful in the dark roosting, there's no guarantees that things will be calm once the sun starts to come up.

And no, personally, I don't think it's a good idea to try to try to integrate another rooster into an established flock. The rooster that is with his hens will surely fight, it will just create more drama.

I'm sorry you're having to deal with this.

 

[Buckeye Amy]

I'm curious what breed(s) these roosters are?

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

But what happens with the other two if we remove the attacked rooster?

They will have to fight each other to see who is the top among them.

And after your description of the dominant rooster it is still so unclear. They all exhibit some of those tendencies. Chasing each other, not mounting, but "side dancing" each other. It feels like maybe they have not sorted out who is the top yet. Is it possible thst they will and this could die down?

If it is still unclear, then they are still learning who is more dominant than the others. Whoever runs away from attacks instead of fighting back and stays by himself more than the others is going to be the weakest male. The "side dancing" you are describing is the wing-dance, which is often just called the dance. Males wing-dance at other males as a challenge－it means they are trying to intimidate their opponent and are willing to go into combat if their opponent attacks.

Fighting in males dies down when they sort out who belongs where in the hierarchy, but do not think that means they are not going to have any other fights. They are still going to be aggressive to each other, just not as much. The difference could be slight, or it could be great.

I'm curious what breed(s) these roosters are?

Good question. Males of gamefowl breeds continually fight no matter if they have already sorted out who is the boss, and if these males even have slight gamefowl in their genetics then they could still be highly aggressive.

 

[FrostRanger]

Bachelor flocks are a gamble. They either work, they don't work, or they work until they don't. If you attempt one you NEED a plan in case things go sour as they can go bad very quickly. I would separate the boys and make alternative arrangements for them. Whether that's separate pens, rehoming or culling. The iffy success rate is why I don't generally endorse bachelor pen. If you make one, you make them at your own risk with the knowledge that it could fail at any time