Roosters are fighting

[mskelsey]

We hatched our now 7 month rooster from one of our broody hens and the 2 yr old is the “dad” of the 7month old rooster.

The last month the 7 month old has been going after the 2 year old.
And now it’s like everytime he sees him he attacks to the point my 2 yr old rooster got messed up bad.
They are separated right now temporarily but I don’t know what to do.

It’s like he got a taste for blood and won’t stop until he is dead.
We have 18 hens total on 2acres to roam so I figured that was enough for them not to fight but I guess not.

The 7 month old has never been aggressive towards me or the kids and I can usually pick him up.

And the 2 yr old rooster is super skittish.

Do I rehome one or cull the aggressive one? I hate to cull him because he is being territorially of another hen if that’s what it is. But I do not think he will stop trying to attack the other

 

[nuthatched]

Rehome or cull one, unfortunately, there limited options

 

[wrathsfarm]

Rehome or cull one, unfortunately, there limited options

I agree. It probably won't get better now until one is killed. Re-home, cull or separate to 2 flocks. 2 flocks work for me, but I have to block line of sight or do a secondary fence so they can't fight thru the HC.

Good luck....

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Glad you joined!

You are dealing with living animals, you don't always get the same result. Sometimes roosters can coexist, sometimes not. With two acres and that many hens you gave them the best shot at it, but it is not working out. Often different roosters set up their own territory and their own harem and leave each other alone. Two acres is plenty of room to do that. But sometimes it is a fight to the death. Some just don't quit, even when they win.

I agree. Remove one by killing one or rehoming one. Which one needs to be your decision. Or build a separate coop/run where they can't get at each other.

 

[citymeetscountry]

My numbers were not as good as yours. I had 3 hens and 3 pullets when we brought our silkie chicks home. They both ended up being boys. They all did really well for a while. By the boys continued to fight. I moved one into an enclosed garden area (and eventually a hen in with him after the flock wouldn’t take her back after an injury). It worked out well for quite a while. They did not try to fight through the fence. You could hear them communicate. The other ladies would visit near the fence and all was well.

Unfortunately we lost the garden silkie roo recently. But the flock accepts he other hen back surprisingly well.

Sometimes you can have hem separate and it work fine, sometimes if it’s line of sight it doesn’t work well. Deciding which to keep us a personal choiceZ

Are you looking for protection? To breed? Etc?

 

[SamLockwood]

We hatched our now 7 month rooster from one of our broody hens and the 2 yr old is the “dad” of the 7month old rooster.

The last month the 7 month old has been going after the 2 year old.
And now it’s like everytime he sees him he attacks to the point my 2 yr old rooster got messed up bad.
They are separated right now temporarily but I don’t know what to do.

It’s like he got a taste for blood and won’t stop until he is dead.
We have 18 hens total on 2acres to roam so I figured that was enough for them not to fight but I guess not.

The 7 month old has never been aggressive towards me or the kids and I can usually pick him up.

And the 2 yr old rooster is super skittish.

Do I rehome one or cull the aggressive one? I hate to cull him because he is being territorially of another hen if that’s what it is. But I do not think he will stop trying to attack the other

Any time you introduce new birds to a flock there's always a potential for violence as they adjust the pecking order, and that goes doubly so for roosters.

Either one of them submits and gets away with minor damage, or one of them either doesn't back down or the winner is aggressive enough they do real damage or kill their rival.

And by "minor" I'm talking about the inveitable feather-pulling and comb-biting, the latter of which can bleed profusely and seriously freak you out even though they're not life-threatening if you clean them up quickly.

If it were my flock, I'd lean towards keeping the older rooster since he's a known quanitity. With a 9:1 ratio if your cockerel is going at a rival that hard he seems a bit high-strung and I wouldn't trust him to not become human-aggressive as a matures.

 

[Wilhelm625]

Any time you introduce new birds to a flock there's always a potential for violence as they adjust the pecking order, and that goes doubly so for roosters.

Either one of them submits and gets away with minor damage, or one of them either doesn't back down or the winner is aggressive enough they do real damage or kill their rival.

And by "minor" I'm talking about the inveitable feather-pulling and comb-biting, the latter of which can bleed profusely and seriously freak you out even though they're not life-threatening if you clean them up quickly.

If it were my flock, I'd lean towards keeping the older rooster since he's a known quanitity. With a 9:1 ratio if your cockerel is going at a rival that hard he seems a bit high-strung and I wouldn't trust him to not become human-aggressive as a matures.

I agree with you. I would keep the one with known non aggressive temperament. You could keep both if you're able to divide your flock.

 

[Handyman1Services]

We hatched our now 7 month rooster from one of our broody hens and the 2 yr old is the “dad” of the 7month old rooster.

The last month the 7 month old has been going after the 2 year old.
And now it’s like everytime he sees him he attacks to the point my 2 yr old rooster got messed up bad.
They are separated right now temporarily but I don’t know what to do.

It’s like he got a taste for blood and won’t stop until he is dead.
We have 18 hens total on 2acres to roam so I figured that was enough for them not to fight but I guess not.

The 7 month old has never been aggressive towards me or the kids and I can usually pick him up.

And the 2 yr old rooster is super skittish.

Do I rehome one or cull the aggressive one? I hate to cull him because he is being territorially of another hen if that’s what it is. But I do not think he will stop trying to attack the other

He is part game and part big stock it's in his nature to do it I would suggest a tie cord so u can control his range if your attached to him but he will never stop attacking him or any other rooster that's in his blood line and all roosters will fight each other for Alpha spot and access to the hens .. there is nothing wrong with him at all it's what he is suppose to do ...

 

[Handyman1Services]

We hatched our now 7 month rooster from one of our broody hens and the 2 yr old is the “dad” of the 7month old rooster.

The last month the 7 month old has been going after the 2 year old.
And now it’s like everytime he sees him he attacks to the point my 2 yr old rooster got messed up bad.
They are separated right now temporarily but I don’t know what to do.

It’s like he got a taste for blood and won’t stop until he is dead.
We have 18 hens total on 2acres to roam so I figured that was enough for them not to fight but I guess not.

The 7 month old has never been aggressive towards me or the kids and I can usually pick him up.

And the 2 yr old rooster is super skittish.

Do I rehome one or cull the aggressive one? I hate to cull him because he is being territorially of another hen if that’s what it is. But I do not think he will stop trying to attack the other

No it's his nature to fight other roosters put him on tie cord and control his range all roosters fight Some more than others it's called Alphas so head of hen house type of thing ...nothing wrong with him normal chicken

 

[mskelsey]

Any time you introduce new birds to a flock there's always a potential for violence as they adjust the pecking order, and that goes doubly so for roosters.

Either one of them submits and gets away with minor damage, or one of them either doesn't back down or the winner is aggressive enough they do real damage or kill their rival.

And by "minor" I'm talking about the inveitable feather-pulling and comb-biting, the latter of which can bleed profusely and seriously freak you out even though they're not life-threatening if you clean them up quickly.

If it were my flock, I'd lean towards keeping the older rooster since he's a known quanitity. With a 9:1 ratio if your cockerel is going at a rival that hard he seems a bit high-strung and I wouldn't trust him to not become human-aggressive as a matures.

We ended up rehoming him. He is the only rooster to his new ladies.
We tried for a couple

Any time you introduce new birds to a flock there's always a potential for violence as they adjust the pecking order, and that goes doubly so for roosters.

Either one of them submits and gets away with minor damage, or one of them either doesn't back down or the winner is aggressive enough they do real damage or kill their rival.

And by "minor" I'm talking about the inveitable feather-pulling and comb-biting, the latter of which can bleed profusely and seriously freak you out even though they're not life-threatening if you clean them up quickly.

If it were my flock, I'd lean towards keeping the older rooster since he's a known quanitity. With a 9:1 ratio if your cockerel is going at a rival that hard he seems a bit high-strung and I wouldn't trust him to not become human-aggressive as a matures. We rehomed him the other day.

Any time you introduce new birds to a flock there's always a potential for violence as they adjust the pecking order, and that goes doubly so for roosters.

Either one of them submits and gets away with minor damage, or one of them either doesn't back down or the winner is aggressive enough they do real damage or kill their rival.

And by "minor" I'm talking about the inveitable feather-pulling and comb-biting, the latter of which can bleed profusely and seriously freak you out even though they're not life-threatening if you clean them up quickly.

If it were my flock, I'd lean towards keeping the older rooster since he's a known quanitity. With a 9:1 ratio if your cockerel is going at a rival that hard he seems a bit high-strung and I wouldn't trust him to not become human-aggressive as a matures.

I kept the older one. We ended up rehoming the younger one yesterday. He went somewhere where he will be the only rooster to his hens. So hopefully it’s a better fit. They had stopped fighting for a couple of weeks so I figured maybe they would be okay, but he started back up again this week.. and got him pretty bad.. scalped his head open again. I felt so bad.
So the younger one is gone and now I’m just hoping my other one snaps out of his funk. Because he is just being by himself all sad looking.. hopefully the girls will accept him again.