Cock pen?

[Snadger]

If five of my seven chicks are cockerels as I suspect I'm glad at least that they are dual purpose birds and can be used for the table!

With this in mind, I read on another chook forum that to stop cockerels from fighting whilst they are being fattened for the pot, it's best to keep them in a cock pen.
If they are brought up together and their are no hens to fight over it's supposed to work well.
With this in mind I intend to keep the cockerels seperate with there own coop (no nest box requirement) and cock pen.

Thats ANOTHER coop and ANOTHER run I'll need to build!

[HeyWayne]

There's me expecting to see some Ann Summers type writing implement!

Sorry dude, as you were..

[lynda66]

i still have my boys with the girls and they are i think 14-15 weeks now, and other than the occasional i'm bigger than you scuffle they really don't bother each other, and snuggle up together at night, so once they get older keeping them seperate from the girls (as you have so many, might be a good plan) .... if you are going to keep any boys, it is apparently best to leave them together with the girls right from the start .... that way they know each other well, and they don't fight so much other than the odd peck and fluff up of feathers.... bringing a new cock in is when the blood starts

[RichmondHens]

I've always separated the cocks from hens as they tend to settle down more when not with hens, ie less exercise running around after the hens means more meat going on the birds, but it may be a breed thing too. The more feisty breeds squabble more. We also fatten our surplus bantam cocks, but they are quite argumentative, even as a group of "brothers" who have all been raised together from hatching.

[chicken slave]

I agree, seperate them from the girls for there own safety. I have 3 that were raised together but as soon as they realised they were boys and the girls were around the sight was not pleasant. We had to have 'sunday' for dinner, 'drumsticks' is our breeding boy and 'kiev' has just gone to a new home to meet his new ladies. I have another cockeral who is still young but he is seperated from the larger chickens and cockeral and has 2 girls of his own. If any of my hatch due next week are boys they will go in a cock pen for there fate to be decided depending on there form and breeding (and if there is space in the freezer.