CalBickieMomma
Crowing
Howdy everyone!
So here’s my dilemma: I have four young bantam/Game fowl cross cockerels who are brothers. They are just over 4 months old (born July 18th). I tried to find homes for them all by asking around (I live in a rural area so I know people who know people who might be able to take them in).
Anyway, no luck there so my dad and I built them a bachelor pad on our property across the street. They have a covered run that’s about 15’ by 8’, with a coop/shed that’s about 4’ by 3’. I also put up three separate perches for them and two food and water stations at opposite ends of their run. There are no hens with them.
About a month ago when I walked over to check on them, two of them were getting into it pretty good (some bloodshed involved), so I broke them up and hung around for a while to monitor. They seemed okay and were getting along great until this afternoon. I was over there loading something into my truck, so I checked their food before leaving. It was on the low side, so I drove back across the street and got a scoop of food.
I was gone ten, maybe fifteen minutes and I returned to find all four of them trying to murder one another. Much more blood this time and even after opening the door to their run and shooing some of them out, a couple of them were still going at each other. I picked up the one who wouldn’t quit (not the dominant one of the bunch), and held onto him for a while.
Eventually, the two who were out in the yard (the fourth guy stayed in the run - he was the first to back down) kept their distance (the dominant guy would go after the other one, but he’d run off). As soon as it started getting dark, the dominant one joined the docile one in the run and they started heading into their coop. The third one joined them (with me guiding him back to the open door).
Finally, the fourth one I’d been holding went in but dominant boy chased him out of the coop a few times before he was able to join him. They are sleeping right now, but I fear I’ll find them fighting again in the morning
.
Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to be thorough. So here’s what I’m wondering:
1.) They are young and even though I’ve got a dominant guy, I’m thinking the others will try to usurp the throne from time to time. If this is the case, should I try letting them free range all day and just close their run door at night? I’m always worried about hawks, but in my opinion, it would be better to go that way than to be beaten to death inside their run
.
2.) Will their hormones settle down after a while, or should I always worry about skirmishes?
3.) If they continue to fight, should I try letting two or three of them out and keep either the docile or dominant one in the run all day?
Thanks so much for any feedback! I have experience with roosters, just no experience with trying to house multiple roosters together
.
So here’s my dilemma: I have four young bantam/Game fowl cross cockerels who are brothers. They are just over 4 months old (born July 18th). I tried to find homes for them all by asking around (I live in a rural area so I know people who know people who might be able to take them in).
Anyway, no luck there so my dad and I built them a bachelor pad on our property across the street. They have a covered run that’s about 15’ by 8’, with a coop/shed that’s about 4’ by 3’. I also put up three separate perches for them and two food and water stations at opposite ends of their run. There are no hens with them.
About a month ago when I walked over to check on them, two of them were getting into it pretty good (some bloodshed involved), so I broke them up and hung around for a while to monitor. They seemed okay and were getting along great until this afternoon. I was over there loading something into my truck, so I checked their food before leaving. It was on the low side, so I drove back across the street and got a scoop of food.
I was gone ten, maybe fifteen minutes and I returned to find all four of them trying to murder one another. Much more blood this time and even after opening the door to their run and shooing some of them out, a couple of them were still going at each other. I picked up the one who wouldn’t quit (not the dominant one of the bunch), and held onto him for a while.
Eventually, the two who were out in the yard (the fourth guy stayed in the run - he was the first to back down) kept their distance (the dominant guy would go after the other one, but he’d run off). As soon as it started getting dark, the dominant one joined the docile one in the run and they started heading into their coop. The third one joined them (with me guiding him back to the open door).
Finally, the fourth one I’d been holding went in but dominant boy chased him out of the coop a few times before he was able to join him. They are sleeping right now, but I fear I’ll find them fighting again in the morning
.Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to be thorough. So here’s what I’m wondering:
1.) They are young and even though I’ve got a dominant guy, I’m thinking the others will try to usurp the throne from time to time. If this is the case, should I try letting them free range all day and just close their run door at night? I’m always worried about hawks, but in my opinion, it would be better to go that way than to be beaten to death inside their run
.2.) Will their hormones settle down after a while, or should I always worry about skirmishes?
3.) If they continue to fight, should I try letting two or three of them out and keep either the docile or dominant one in the run all day?
Thanks so much for any feedback! I have experience with roosters, just no experience with trying to house multiple roosters together
.
