Help. Rooster attacking other rooster at 7 weeks.

[Traffie Chickens]

I hatched chicks and I got 2 Roos and a hen. My two Roos are 7 weeks now and they won’t stop jumping and chasing each other. Like literally ALL the time! I used to think it was just playing, but now it seems more like fighting. What do I do? And I would post a vid of them? But I’m not sure how.

 

[Traffie Chickens]

I just looked out the window and saw that it’s 1 rooster that’s attacking the other one. The rooster that’s getting attacked looks terrified of the other one. And the mean one has dried blood on its beak.

 

[Perris]

they are establishing the pecking order, who's boss, who's second. As long as the subordinate one has somewhere he can run and hide and escape the dominant, it should not become too vicious. The more space and clutter in the run (no dead ends where he could get trapped) the better for the time being.

 

[Traffie Chickens]

I hatched chicks and I got 2 Roos and a hen. My two Roos are 7 weeks now and they won’t stop jumping and chasing each other. Like literally ALL the time! I used to think it was just playing, but now it seems more like fighting. What do I do? And I would post a vid of them? But I’m not sure how.

Does anyone think they are fighting for the girl?

 

[Traffie Chickens]

they are establishing the pecking order, who's boss, who's second. As long as the subordinate one has somewhere he can run and hide and escape the dominant, it should not become too vicious. The more space and clutter in the run (no dead ends where he could get trapped) the better for the time being.

Ok, I was watching them and the one I think is drawing blood, and is chasing it everywhere! Do you think that I should separate them?

 

[Perris]

Do you think that I should separate them?

only if you are going to remove one permanently - which should be considered if there is only 1 female anyway.

 

[Traffie Chickens]

only if you are going to remove one permanently - which should be considered if there is only 1 female anyway.

Yes. Someone will be picking one up. And we have 8 more adult chickens that we are trying to get used to the younger ones. So it’s not just 1 hen and a roo.

 

[Perris]

Does anyone think they are fighting for the girl?

not at this age. They are still growing and will not be sexually mature for a couple of months yet. Sex will enter their brain a bit later in development when they are twice the size they currently are. Look out for crowing as a sign they're getting there.

 

[Mrs. K]

This is where as AArt says - "where the romance of keeping chickens meets reality." Roosters are a crap shoot, some can live together, and some cannot.

I would not expect this to change. A couple pictures of your set up, and yard might help. What I suspect at this age, is that your birds are in too small of place for the number of birds, but I could be wrong. What seems like more than enough space when they are little, rapidly becomes not enough space as they grow.

Adding clutter can help, it gives hideouts to the less brave birds, lets everyone get along better. The thing is, this is a lot of tension for the flock, and it bothers the hens too, or any other birds even the ones not in the fight.

If this is your first flock, I would recommend removing both roosters. Get some experience with chickens. I definitely recommend removing one of the roosters right now. Any time you have multiple roosters, you need a way to separate them. A dog crate will work temporarily.

It really won't matter which bird you keep, things will be better in the flock for a while if you get rid of one of the roosters, until puberty. At about 4-6 months, cockerels can be a whole new problem. Especially ones that are only raised with flock mates. I think there is a tendency to get better roosters that grow up under older hens. They do some educating of those boys that people just cannot do.

Mrs K

ps - I see you do have older birds. That will help. Do add clutter and hideouts, and multiple feed bowls. Getting rid of one of the boys will settle things down. Then you hope you picked the right one and get a nice rooster.

 

[Perris]

Yes. Someone will be picking one up. And we have 8 more adult chickens that we are trying to get used to the younger ones. So it’s not just 1 hen and a roo.

so you've got the chicks in a 'look no touch' situation vis-a-vis the adults?