My roosters are pecking each other

[LhickenChicken]

Hi all,
I have two roosters, one is (I think?) a prairie bluebell roo, and the other, I'm not sure, but he is white with speckles and iridescent black and blue tail feathers. The white one is Sam and the grey one is Nekbother, or Neeky boy for short. So Sam was dominant over Neek, and so I had Neeky seperate. And then one afternoon, I noticed black spots on Sam's comb, and then I noticed Sam and Neeky pecking at each other through the chicken-wire. I think the black spots are scabs. Sam has more of them. I seperated Sam instead and put Neek in GP. Then Sam stayed seperated with some rabbits for a day. The next day, I released Sam to be with Neeky and they were both trying to kill each other, literally. I don't know what is going on. Can you help me make my roos less aggressive towards each other?

 

[alwaystj9]

How old are they, how many hens and how much space does the flock have?
Separation may be all you can do.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You can't make them less aggressive towards each other.
Some may work it out, but most of the time you will need to house them separately, keeping them away from fencing so they can't reach in and peck one another or fence fight - you don't want to patch up feet either.

 

[SourRoses]

Once separated it's very hard to reintegrate roos.

No one can make living creatures get along. These boys have decided.
Now what you get to decide is if you want to rehome one, or separate them.

 

[Mrs. K]

Thing is, cockfighting is a very ordinary outcome between two roosters.

You can’t make them nice and get along. They have started fighting through the fence, and this will get more violent. All that aggression will upset your hens too.

If you are a truly backyard set up, one needs to go. If you have huge amount of space and can give different territories it might work, but it might not, because they have already started fighting. Once that starts, they tend to keep on with it.

Mrs k

 

[LhickenChicken]

How old are they, how many hens and how much space does the flock have?
Separation may be all you can do.

They are around a year old. I have 20 or so hens and they have, well, 100 sq. ft and on the other side where my injured hens and rejected hens and one of the roos go. That's about another 100 or more sq. ft.

 

[LhickenChicken]

Thing is, cockfighting is a very ordinary outcome between two roosters.

You can’t make them nice and get along. They have started fighting through the fence, and this will get more violent. All that aggression will upset your hens too.

If you are a truly backyard set up, one needs to go. If you have huge amount of space and can give different territories it might work, but it might not, because they have already started fighting. Once that starts, they tend to keep on with it.

Mrs k

Unless if I cull both of them and replace them with cockerels from my new batch of chicks?

 

[Isadora]

Unless if I cull both of them and replace them with cockerels from my new batch of chicks?

Is there some reason you need more than one rooster? I would rehome your least favorite unless you have some kind of breeding project you have going on, in which case, I would provide separate housing that's completely seperate for one of them.

 

[alwaystj9]

What everyone says is true. I think Isadora's reply is a good idea, keeping one roo until your new batch of chicks matures. Your described set up sounds good except for the shared fenceline. Can you fasten some tin or plastic to the shared fence for a barrier they can't see each other or peck each other through until you make a decision?

 

[LhickenChicken]

Is there some reason you need more than one rooster? I would rehome your least favorite unless you have some kind of breeding project you have going on, in which case, I would provide separate housing that's completely seperate for one of them.

I have a roo that has the white gene and one that has the dark gene and I am running several batches of chicks so that's why I want both for diversity in breeding.