Roosters sudden fight. HELP?

[Darius123]

Hi! I will cut to the chase i have 2 adult rooster with 30 hens in my flock.
One is 3 years old the other 2.5 years old. They grew up together never, ever fought.
The older one didnt even peck at the younger one when he was in his cockerel stage or anything.
Today they started fighting, but the younger one is a big Brahma and he destroyed the older one (normal farm rooster).
My guess is that because they never fought unofficially the older one was always the boss and now all of a sudden the brahma wanted to take his spot?
I really dont know what to do, the brahma keeps beating on a surrendered older one.
Is there a way i can make them friends again?

 

[fluffycrow]

Roosters are going to establish a pecking order among them, unfortunately. Usually once one has submitted, the chasing stops. If you're sure that the older rooster has accepted his place and doesn't fight back, but the brahma still goes after him, it might be a good idea to separate them. It's still a little too early to tell

 

[Flockking]

Definitely no way again
Once dominance is determined between two roosters there's no going back and the dominant one would keep going after the defeated one even when he means no harm because his presence and existence in that flock would always be a threat to his position.

My last flock used to have a dominant hen who always has been boss but don't brag about it so she treated everyone equal but in the eye of her flock mate who was a young pullet saw this as weakness and decided to act on it but regretted instantly because that dominant hen changed to start dishing lessons to everyone

In short... birds would always wait on opportunities to raise their rank in the pecking order so your roo isn't willing to take a chance

 

[fluffycrow]

Roosters second in the pecking order do exist. Definitely don't live a lavish lifestyle, usually getting chased away by the dominant rooster if they get too close to him or his hens, but they are permitted to live with the flock nonetheless

 

[Flockking]

Roosters second in the pecking order do exist. Definitely don't live a lavish lifestyle, usually getting chased away by the dominant rooster if they get too close to him or his hens, but they are permitted to live with the flock nonetheless

True
Don't forget this act won't go unoticed by the hens

 

[fluffycrow]

True
Don't forget this act won't go unoticed by the hens

There's really no way to forget it, if the hens didn't care the roosters wouldn't do it in the first place. Unless he gets severely beat up, the hens are going to leave him alone and prefer the brahma

 

[Darius123]

There's really no way to forget it, if the hens didn't care the roosters wouldn't do it in the first place. Unless he gets severely beat up, the hens are going to leave him alone and prefer the brahma

Wow thats kind of unfortunate, i paired 2 with 30 in the hopes of this never happening, i was prepared for it in the beginning but after 2, almost 3 years, i didnt expect this to happen

 

[DobieLover]

Is there a way i can make them friends again?

No. And they were never friends in the first place. They tolerated one another.

Definitely don't live a lavish lifestyle

This is not always true.
I successfully keep 2 roosters in my flock of 21 hens. How? My senior rooster is an 8# nearly 5 year old SF and my junior rooster is a 4# just over 2 year old mid-sized double silver laced Barnevelder. The Barnie is too quick and nimble for the SF to harm. He just chases him off every now and again. The little guy isn't dumb enough to take on a rooster twice his size. The little guy has his own two mid-sized Barnies AND has managed to successfully steal at least 3 of the seniors hens. They roost and hang out with the Barnie. They all live in one large coop with a large attached run inside 1/3 acre penned area with lots of structure for staying away from one another.
IMO, in an enclosed space with only one housing option having two mis-matched in size roosters is the only way to have 2 roosters.

 

[fluffycrow]

No. And they were never friends in the first place. They tolerated one another.

This is not always true.
I successfully keep 2 roosters in my flock of 21 hens. How? My senior rooster is an 8# nearly 5 year old SF and my junior rooster is a 4# just over 2 year old mid-sized double silver laced Barnevelder. The Barnie is too quick and nimble for the SF to harm. He just chases him off every now and again. The little guy isn't dumb enough to take on a rooster twice his size. The little guy has his own two mid-sized Barnies AND has managed to successfully steal at least 3 of the seniors hens. They roost and hang out with the Barnie. They all live in one large coop with a large attached run inside 1/3 acre penned area with lots of structure for staying away from one another.
IMO, in an enclosed space with only one housing option having two mis-matched in size roosters is the only way to have 2 roosters.

I totally agree. When I was saying living a lavish lifestyle, I was thinking more that the rooster second in the pecking order will not get to be the first to breed all the hens, and the irregular chase

 

[Ridgerunner]

Today they started fighting, but the younger one is a big Brahma and he destroyed the older one (normal farm rooster).

In my opinion size isn't that important, it's more the spirit in the rooster. There are plenty of cases where smaller roosters (or hens) dominate larger opponents. They don't use the big Brahmas or larger dual purpose fowls for cockfighting. They use the smaller game fowl that has been bred to have the fighting spirit and are very quick compared to the clumsy larger breeds.

My guess is that because they never fought unofficially the older one was always the boss and now all of a sudden the brahma wanted to take his spot?

I don't know how they settled the pecking order-flock dominance issues earlier but they did. My guess is that the Brahma saw a weakness it could exploit. Maybe the older rooster has some typed of injury or wasn't feeling right so the Brahma pounced to take advantage. Sometimes they lose spirit as they get older. If you are north of the equator the longer days of spring may have stirred up the hormones. Chickens can be brutes and bullies. They can be quick to take advantage of opportunities. For whatever reason your Brahma decided to take a chance and won.

I really dont know what to do, the brahma keeps beating on a surrendered older one.
Is there a way i can make them friends again?

Personally I don't give guarantees when it comes to living animals and their behaviors. Just about anything can happen. I don't know how long this has been going on either. It is possible the Brahma will kill the other. They might eventually work out that each has its own harem and territory and coexist, though the odds of this happening are much better if you have a lot of room. The older rooster may be permitted to hang around the outskirts of the flock but be broken in spirit. You could keep one rooster penned up and permanently separated from the other, with or without his own hens. You could get rid of one of them: eat, sell, or give one away.

To me the best way of them coexisting is for you to let them fight it out. You could pen one up for a while but when you let him back out they are almost certainly going to fight. There is a good chance you can wind up with a dead rooster if you try this, but it is not a certainty.

i have 2 adult rooster with 30 hens in my flock.

I'll use this to repeat something I often say on here. That 10 to 1 ratio does not stop roosters from fighting over the hens. Here you have a 15 to 1 ratio. Roosters will fight over 20 or 30 hens as fast as they will fight over 1 or 2. With living animals you can't tell how they will behave.