Chook Me!

Help! My pet roosters are attacking eachother all the time, what to do about it?

They are cochin chickens. They do this all the time, and they get hurt badly and they bleed a lot on their combs and wattles, and I stopped the bleeding but it will just happen again, I'm worried that they will end up killing eachother or get hurt even worse. I don't know why they started doing this all of a sudden, they've been together since they were chicks, I've already tried separating one of them but it doesn't work out because he flies out of the other fence and they start attacking eachother again, I know a lot about roosters but I don't know what to do about this. I am not going to butcher them, I know it will solve the problem but I won't do this, these are my pets! correction: they are Cochin Bantam Roosters. I have 5 roosters together, and no hens, I did have 2 hens in there at one time but one of them died and the roosters kept picking on the other hen so i put it in with my other chickens and they do fine- 2 roosters and 4 hens, I have also tried putting one of the roosters that likes to fight in with my other chickens but it doesn't work out.

Public Comments

1. maybe you should get there wings clipped. we had to do that with our ducks. hope i helped
2. Hey, it's springtime! This is very normal behavior, especially if this is their first Spring as adult roosters. How many roosters do you have? I do hope you have hens too?! When I had more than an acre of space I was able to have 7 roosters and 10 hens get along. They were also cochins. The more aggressive ones would chase the others, but because they could run away it was OK. At night, when they would go into their shed, I would sometimes have to put the most aggressive one and/or the most beaten up one into separate boxes to sleep. Here at my smaller place the most roosters I could have was 2 (with about 6 hens). The one realizes he is top dog and the other realizes he is NOT, and as long as they have that understanding there is no trouble. Getting a lot more hens may help to keep them busy, but it is more likely that you will have to find homes for the extra roosters. Keep only the ones that are vigorous in "servicing" the hens, but still know the "foreplay" of dancing up to them to gently ask for mating, and of course that they are friendly to you.
3. Sorry...but generally, two adult roosters will fight till the death. Don't keep roosters together!
4. enclose the area where the rosters are and then charge people to watch the roosters fight . Its called cockfighting
5. Seperate them or sell one.
6. You really need three hens per rooster if you want to stop the fighting. Otherwise, you'll need to pen them each separately. They are territorial, and in the mood to mate. Instinct tells them that if there aren't enough females, then they need to remove the competition. You can't fight instinct. If you don't have three hens per rooster, you'll just end up with dead hens, as the males will fight over the hens, and frequently become over zealous in their attempts to mate.
7. Hi there. Roosters will fight for dominance. More hens might balance the group. Behaviour modification is unlikely to work. Trade one of the violent roosters for a hen. Good luck on your quest.
8. total amature!! you can only keep 1 rooster at a time if authoritys find u have roosters that fight u will be fined.
9. My question for you would be why do you have 5 males? Chickens are not pets. Even domesticated chickens are live stock. A chicken is raised for 3 reasons; eggs, meat products (food consumption) or for show as in the County Fair or 4H projects. Why do you raise them? Don't get me wrong I love chickens and have owned/raised chickens. You can’t eat roosters. You only keep one to fertilize eggs and the hens won’t “lay” unless you have a male on the premises, whether it has access to the hens or not. Multiple males are going to fight. It’s what they do… the ALPHA MALE syndrome. Unless you want them to fight for some reason please trade them for females or sell them to someone who just needs a male. Never keep multiple males. It’s a recipe for disaster. Even if you think you need one for back up, the hens will produce daily. A fertilized egg will hatch in weeks. You can produce another on an as needed basis. Don’t get caught up into thinking you have to keep them all. It’s simply not responsible breeding. Added Note: Sharing is a good way to insure stronger linage. Inbreeding can harm your livestock. Trading males is important for other breeders as well as yourself.