Roosters together drawing blood

[butterfly7171]

I have 4 roosters together in one pen. The reason this happened is that a friend of mine's hens had chicks and I took them all. There was 5. Unfortunately 4 turned out to be roosters and 1 hen. I had to take the hen out because the roosters were becoming very aggressive fighting over her and it was a very bad situation. When they were young it was ok. Then I took the hen out and the roosters seemed to get along ok except for little small disagreements here and there. They now are about 9 months old and have become increasingly aggressive recently. The weather here has been unusally warm and I wonder if they think it is spring and they become more aggressive during that time? Anyway, today 2 were posturing and drawing blood. Then one went into the coop and the other cornered it in one of the nesting boxes. The other two were behind just watching. I felt like the one attacking might kill the other. Seems like the smell of blood makes them crazy. Then I went out pulled all of the roosters out and checked the one that was hurt. He only had a superficial wound. I left them for the rest of the day and found them all tucked in to their roost and ready for bed and getting along.
I know it is not reasonable to expect to keep them like this but since they were raised together I was really hoping it might work. I am very attached to them and if I get rid of them they will prbably wind up as meat birds. But, I would rather see that than watch them kill and eat each other. I don't know if it would go that far. I have never really had chickens before. My first flock I only had for a few months and they were murdered by a racoon. I don't have much luck do i?
Anyway, if anyone has any ideas on what I can do to keep them I would appreciate it. I could build 4 pens but it is the middle of winter here and not practical for me to do right now.
They are a mixed group and have Cochin in them because they have the feathers on their feet. My plan was to take on rooster out in the spring and get some hens for him. Then I was going to keep the other 3 roosters together. Seems like 3 get along and don't seem to like the 4th much and this seems to create the issues.
Sorry this is so long. I just get so attached. I even keep a close eye on the hen I gave to my friend and make sure she is ok. Picking her up and petting her...
Any advice would be appreciated. !!

Thanks !
Suzanne

 

[ChickenLegs13]

When I have roosters of that age they do the same thing. When they get a little older the agressive ones usually mellow out a bit and the bullied one gets more bolder and they kinda all equal out and live happily ever after.
There has been twice though that I had a rooster that were so bullied by the others that I had to give the bullied one the boot to preclude constant chaos all day.
As long as it's just superficial wounds I wouldn't worry about, just normal pecking order it but if he's cowering in the corner and the others chickens continue to flog him silly then it's time to separate somebody.
You can also help solve the problem by leaning some old tires against the wall, stacking up some cinder blocks or providing other obstacles to break the mean rooster's line of sight and that the bullied chicken can duck behind or jump up on to avoid contact.
Hope this helps!

 

[24chickenhome]

I had 3 roosters at one time they were all brothers and the sad thing is they started fighting at 5-8 month one got pict on Reilly bad the thing was it was the best rooster I've ever had but I gave it to my uncle has a better life they're now I still have the 2 roosters and they got in to big fights but after a wile they started to get a long and now they are just grate and sens then we got another roster and 6 hens and 2 female ducks they all get to gether now and I think after a wile they get youse to each other an when I let them out Side the to 2 roosters walk Sid by side and wach the other rooster ducks an hens so I think your best bet is to keep them to gether and brake up the fights they get in and they form sum thing known as the (pecking order) an that is when they find out how is going to be the leder of the groop. By the way 1rooster can watch over 12 hens and fertilizes all the eggs they lay evry day very week. And if u see one of the roosters on top of one of the hens that is normal that's how the eggs get fertilizes. The best hens to get are road island red hens they lay every day and and they look cool and they are good for meat they are doll perp is breeds and they are not mean vary nice!





Hop this can help!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Usually roosters can co-exist peacefully without hens, so I'm trying to figure out what went wrong here.

Are they house along side or near hens? If so, maybe they are too close and fighting over ladies they don't know they can't have.

On another note, rooster of some breeds are just aggressive. Perhaps you have a group of bad eggs and they just wont be nice.

My advice would be to move them away from any girls if they are close or separate them. I've had up to five roos all living together in the same coop sharing hens. They never fought like you're describing, and they had something to fight over. Good luck!

 

[Chickmama74]

I had two rooster that were free range and they followed each other around all the time. They had plenty of space so that if they needed to get away from each other they could. When they were with the hens they were aggressive towards each other. I am thinking that if they are near any hens tgey will get that way. We had to give them away because they were going after us when we went out to feed them. Being aggressive is in their nature when there are hens involved.

 

[AmericanMom]

I'm having the same problem but with my situation is the step rooster attacking the 6 month old he helped raise... Little snowball is coming into his own and when the adult roo isn't looking he tries to nab a little somethin somethin...twice in the last week I have went out and saw the little guy with blood on him, yesterday was the worse, not sure if its just the rooster doing it tho, kinda thinking some of the bigger hens are joining in, his waddle was pretty bloody as was his comb, brought him up to the house last night and cleaned him up and put him back out with the flock but thinking may have to re-home him before I find him dead out there. His surviving hatch mate doesn't seem to have this problem and isn't as aggressive with the ladies, he tries to get them by themselves and has succeeded a few times but is smarter about the way he goes about it.

edited to add, they free range on over 1/2 acre so having plenty of room is not the issue

 

[butterfly7171]

The 4 roosters I have are not near any hens so that is not the issue. They do have a small coop and I had food in there for them so maybe they were fighting over that. I have since moved the food outside and hoping that will make peace. I have never seen them act like this before. I am going to put tires in the pen as mentioned above to give them someplace to get away from each other. I was going to give them away but now everyone has given me hope so I will keep them for a while. Thanks for all the posts. You have helped me alot !! Any other suggestions would be great. By the way I did have a hen with them and had to take her out. She only liked one rooster and they used to hang together. He is the one the others do not like. I thought they would get over it after the hen left. They have been much better until yesterday. Maybe they were having the Monday blues. LOL

 

[AmericanMom]

May have found a home for Snowball... Poor guy, was skittish today, stayed clear of all the other hens and roosters, but ran to me every time I went out to check on him, something he rarely ever did before.. His foster Bro seems to be 2nd in command, don't know how that happened, up until now phoenix always backed down even tho Snowball is half his size...Got a guy coming in an hour or so. glad to be able to re-home him and not have to cull him but sure will miss the little guy, he is so funny to look at gave our neighbors quite a laugh