Rooster fight

[Doc1960]

I have a rooster that had a damaged eye when he came to me. I kept him separated till I could make sure his eye was completely healed. He can’t see out of one eye but it’s no longer in the healing process. Plus I wanted to keep him separate till I made sure there was no disease going on. I finally let him out after being close to the other ones in his own separate cage for a while. When my other rooster came over and acted like he wanted to jump on him he instantly just rolled over on his back with feet in the air playing dead basically. But because I didn’t want him to somehow get his other eye damaged I picked him up and put him back in the cage. But what I’m wondering is how long will the dominant rooster bother him if he’s laying over in the dead position. I would like to give them the chance to get along. and for the dominant rooster realize he still king is a roost so that they can coexist. Is this possible and if so how long should I just let them do their own thing before I worry or before the other one quits. Like I said the little rooster with the damaged eye won’t fight back he just rolls over feet in the air and plays dead.

 

[Geena]

Is this possible

It's possible they may work it out, but IME it's more likely that your existing rooster will either severely injure or kill the new one. Roosters aren't usually like other animals that may fight until one submits and then dominance is settled. Quite often they'll just keep going at it until one (if he can't get away) doesn't get back up again. How many hens do you have? Are they free range or penned up?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I would not recommend having two roosters unless you have a lot of extra space in your coop with either a huge run or free ranging during the day, have an ample amount of hens for both and actually need two roosters. Roosters will fight that’s just in their nature. It’s not always constant, but it definitely can be at times and even the nicest roosters will have confrontations if kept together. A half blind rooster will not fair well with another rooster.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

It is not possible for a chicken to roll over. Are you sure he wasn't sunbathing?

 

[Doc1960]

Free range and 21 hens!

It's possible they may work it out, but IME it's more likely that your existing rooster will either severely injure or kill the new one. Roosters aren't usually like other animals that may fight until one submits and then dominance is settled. Quite often they'll just keep going at it until one (if he can't get away) doesn't get back up again. How many hens do you have? Are they free range or penned up

 

[Doc1960]

I

I would not recommend having two roosters unless you have a lot of extra space in your coop with either a huge run or free ranging during the day, have an ample amount of hens for both and actually need two roosters. Roosters will fight that’s just in their nature. It’s not always constant, but it definitely can be at times and even the nicest roosters will have confrontations if kept together. A half blind rooster will not fair well with another rooster.

I have actually 2 houses. The only time they would be close is free ranging! And thats 50 acres. But they usually stay with in sight of the houses! The dominant rooster I should say was not beating him up just mainly holding him down.

 

[Doc1960]

It is not possible for a chicken to roll over. Are you sure he wasn't sunbathing?

Well the dominant rooster probably knocked him over so he just stayed laid over. The dominant rooster was not totally beating him up! Mostly looked as if he was holding him down! I just panicked and picked the one up and put him in the cage!

 

[Brooks_]

Everything I've read tells me that this will not end well. One has to go or split the girls and use separate housing/run space.

 

[Mrs. K]

Roosters are a crap shoot, the more roosters you have the greater the chance of it not working out. You could try putting the boss rooster in the cage, letting the blind boy out and about.

But what you really need is a PLAN B, I don't see this working out. The best I have seen is when a dominant rooster has a chick rooster raised up under him...sometimes that works... until it doesn't.

The thing with roosters even if they are getting on well today, is really no guarantee that they will tomorrow. But the reverse is NOT true, if they are fighting today, more than likely they will keep fighting and it will keep getting more violent. Being raised together does not help, a lot of hens does not help. A huge space will help some.

But asking an established rooster to share his hens and play nice, is not going to work. That is a recipe for cock fighting.

What is your plan B?

Mrs K

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

Just cull the blind one. No need to keep anything extra. Especially with the feed prices the way they are.