Battle of the Cockerels

[Bal]

I need some advice pleas peeps. I have 5 Japanese bantams. Three hens and two cockerels. I got them when they were about 6 weeks old in Jan 2015 from a colleague at work who is a totally committed chicken lover and breeder. She assured me the cockerels would be fine if the were always kept together, which they have been. As they grew one of them (chicken George) became the dominant one, and apart from the odd bit of chasing all was harmonious in the hen house.

For the last 5 months or so the chickens have been completely free range ( they were kept in a run before).

This morning I was woken by the most raucous fighting sounds from the chickens. When I went down to see poor George was cornered by Bertie and being viciously pecked. To the point where he was actually bleeding from his neck.
I let the chickens out and poor George was still hiding in his corner. I checked him over and he seemed ok. He has spent the day on his own and is being chased off by Bertie when ever he gets near the others. Originally George was the larger bird but Bertie is now definitely bigger

Can anyone tell me how to resolve this. Will I have to re home one of the cockerels?

I am so worried about poor George thankfully I am off work this week and can keep a close eye on things.

[Bigmallly]

Wish I could give you advice Bal but I know nothing about keeping Cockerels, doesn't sound good though does it? Sounds as though Bertie is showing his dominance and putting George in his place, whether this is a continuing trend I don't know but hope somebody can give you some proper advice.

What to do when roosters fight

[Nicos]

My advice ( being the owner of 2 cockerels) .....

Either get another 8 or so ladies for them to share ( I have 11 gals) and provide a few hiding places for George
Or...get rid of one of them.

My 2 boys were brothers. Au Vin is the dominant male and Paxo was tolerated for about 3 years when he decided to challenge Au Vin.
Result? Au Van pecked out one of Paxo's eyes and Paxo once again became subservient .

He's last out in the morning. Last in at night. Sleeps next to the lowest pecking order females.
But he's happy...he gets to ambush the occasional females when Au Vin is too far away to stop him!

They do work together guarding the females, crowing when they hear distant cockerels and giving warning calls when they see buzzards/sparrow Hawks etc

I think it also depends on the personalities of your boys.

Gut feeling is that you'll probably end up getting rid of him...if you can rehome him( or hand him back to the person at work saying it's not working out between them)

[Snadger]

My advice ( being the owner of 2 cockerels) .....

Either get another 8 or so ladies for them to share ( I have 11 gals) and provide a few hiding places for George
Or...get rid of one of them.

My 2 boys were brothers. Au Vin is the dominant male and Paxo was tolerated for about 3 years when he decided to challenge Au Vin.
Result? Au Van pecked out one of Paxo's eyes and Paxo once again became subservient .

He's last out in the morning. Last in at night. Sleeps next to the lowest pecking order females.
But he's happy...he gets to ambush the occasional females when Au Vin is too far away to stop him!

They do work together guarding the females, crowing when they hear distant cockerels and giving warning calls when they see buzzards/sparrow Hawks etc

I think it also depends on the personalities of your boys.

Gut feeling is that you'll probably end up getting rid of him...if you can rehome him( or hand him back to the person at work saying it's not working out between them)

Love the names!

[Guest]

My advice ( being the owner of 2 cockerels) .....

Either get another 8 or so ladies for them to share ( I have 11 gals) and provide a few hiding places for George
Or...get rid of one of them.

I agree with Nicos. Unfortunately I can't see it getting better in the next couple of months as their hormones will start kicking in and they will only have one thing on their mind. It won't do your girlies much good either.

[Nicos]

OH despatched our 3rd cockerel a few weeks ago. He hatched in the Summer with his sister.
Beautiful huge Marans.
The poor gals became terrified of him over a period of a couple of weeks.
First out in the morning ( used to be the last out til then) and hung around the doorway until the gals came out and he'd try and tread every one of them.
Eventually the gals totally refused to come out.

They're much happier now he's gone.

( I think they must have got pretty sore from his very unromantic designs on them too)

[Lisasbolt]

Oh dear, i would not like to be in your position, i get upset when the girls lightly peck each other.
There is a massive park not far from me and for some reason there is about 500 chickens in there.....really 500, and when you sit in the cafe they all come up to you wanting to be fed, every single cockerel is one eyed and scarred. I never want to breed so i will just stay with my ladies.
Let us know how you get on.

[muddled]

I think it was a bit silly of your friend to give you 3 hens to two boys.

As has been said, more than one boy can work....occasionally....with lots of space and LOTS of hens. To assure you that this would definitely be fine, with such a small number, was at best misguided. I think that anyone who has ever kept a cockeral will know how variable, how damaging and how downright mental they can turn out.

I would not even keep 1 boy with only three hens. That is not enough to prevent bald saddles and stressed birds. I have also found that if anything, bantams are worse than large fowl in this respect. The kindest thing you can do here is rehome one of the chaps as soon as you can.

[Scarlet]

Totally agree with Muddled, just one boy is way too many for 3 girls, they can cause some serious damage while treading. I've also found that in their second year they become more vicious, I had a bantam cock rule one of my sussex boys. He used to fly over his pen to get at him. it may be very difficult for you but it would probably be best to get rid of Bertie, if he's showing signs of aggression now it will get worse in the Spring.

[Bal]

Thank you all for your advice. I will try to find him a new home. But I don't think it will be easy. I can't believe I let my self be persuaded to have both cockerels. We are planning on getting some more chickens (full size) this spring.

[Nicos]

My thoughts would be to hand him back to the person who you got him off.
They were wrong to give you 2 boys intentionally.

My 2 boys looked very much like gals when I got them...especially in the pitch dark after consuming somewhat excessive quantities of the red stuff
Fortunately they worked out fine, but l was given the chance take them back as it was a genuine mistake!

[Nicos]

If they totally free range you could get away with getting more gals as I mentioned.
You often see several males with loads of females free ranging together
in fields here and because they have loads of space there is no problem.
It's what they do naturally in the 'wild '

[Bal]

I would love more females, but what would I do with all the extra eggs. I live next door to a farm and they have their own chickens and sell their own free range eggs. Also at the moment the garden is a landscaping project so the chickens can't spoil anything. Once the garden is sorted they will be moved to the paddock. Still be free range, but might have to clip their wings to stop them escaping off into the wild, no to mention next doors vegetable garden which is right next to the paddock.

[Bigmallly]

I live next door to a farm and they have their own chickens and sell their own free range eggs.

Does he want a Cockerel?...................

[Nicos]

Beautiful plumage...