# Rooster issues, what to do??



## hildar (Oct 3, 2013)

Hubby and myself took in a game rooster, as many would call him. However my husband found out who threw him out and the man said he is a Mexican fighting rooster, but a loser.

He has been in a separate pen now for about a month along with little brownie girl, a tortured hen that we took in. He was finally getting back to normal when yesterday we let our Delaware rooster back in with the ladies, and placed Stormy back into the small pen. This morning hubby let snowball out loose in the yard with the girls, and while I slept he fought with the little man through the small fenced in pen area.

When I woke up and saw all the blood all over Snowball I thought for sure a dog had gotten him, but nope soon enough I saw what he had done. He fought the little rooster right through the fence. Should I get rid of snowball if he wants to just fight rather then go off with the 9 ladies and eat and have fun like Stormy always does?

My little man may not make it. His leg is out of joint at this point and it looked like his foot is pretty much torn apart. However if Snowball will do that to a small fighting rooster, I have to wonder what he will do with my older rooster through the fence. As of now Stormy is back out with the ladies, and Snowball is back in the little pen for now.

Stormy gets along fine with the little man and always stops and just looks at him and walks away like he is a joke or something. Stormy acts more like he knows the little man isn't worth his time, however with the damages done now by snowball I have to wonder what snowball will do to Stormy if he had the chance.

Should I cull snowball now that I know he will fight like that???


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time following which rooster is which by their names vs breeds. How many roosters are you keeping? Which are you worried about?

Roosters will fight. Sometimes to the death. A dominant rooster is dominant because he earned his title, a more submissive rooster will exist happily with the more dominant one provided there are enough ladies and everyone knows their place, if that lower ranked roo decided to challenge the other for dominance, he would. Two dominant roosters can and do fight themselves into sever injury because one is not wanting to give up to the other.

I have had up to 16 roosters here at one time and while there certainly was scuffles, they never amounted to bloodshed. My pecking order was well established. My juvenile roosters ran in a bachelor crowd, the yard was owned by my elderly rooster, Fieran, and since Fieran was too old and slow to really get around, he would band up his favourite most girls and let his son, Red, to the lesser girls. If Red got out of line Fieran would beat him but generally they patrolled together, Fieran sticking close to the yard with a band of 6, Red parading his band of 8 in a larger diameter. My cockerels would do as they liked, but would not crow or mate because the dominant Roos would beat them, and he unclaimed hens would meander about where they wished. I raised them like that, but I am lucky it succeeded so well. I have roosters for breeding that I can't afford to cull unless it's a liability to people, so I do everything in my power to keep my roosters cohabiting peacefully. 

If you are worried about one of you have two dominant Roos who really kick the crap out of each other whenever the opportunity arises, then you need to get rid of one before one or both are maimed. The game rooster (if that is the one that is fighting) is the offender, get rid of him before you get attached. Games are more aggressive usually. That is why they are used for fighting, the fact he was rumoured to have fought before - a loser or otherwise - makes little difference.


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## LittleWings (Jul 15, 2013)

I agree. I was confused also. I also agree it is probably the Game roo doing it. He may be a loser, but he could still have the drive to fight to the death, even though he isn't good at it.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

Rereading it, it seems as if one roo kicked the crap out of the game through the fence and hurt himself doing it ("...he fought he little game hen through the fence...") and OP is worried that her existing roo is capable of such viciousness, that he will turn on her other existing roo. Maybe?

It all boils down to establishing their hierarchy. Roosters can only exist once that is established, and *IF* two roosters consistently want the same prize, then you get issues where the Roos will badly hurt/kill each other because they do not stop fighting. If your existing roosters always got along fairly well, they should continue to do so, as their hierarchy has been established. The issue was this new boy on the scene needing his wagon righted, I'd say if this was he case both boys were lucky the fence was in the way.


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## hildar (Oct 3, 2013)

Fiere said:


> Rereading it, it seems as if one roo kicked the crap out of the game through the fence and hurt himself doing it ("...he fought he little game hen through the fence...") and OP is worried that her existing roo is capable of such viciousness, that he will turn on her other existing roo. Maybe?
> 
> It all boils down to establishing their hierarchy. Roosters can only exist once that is established, and *IF* two roosters consistently want the same prize, then you get issues where the Roos will badly hurt/kill each other because they do not stop fighting. If your existing roosters always got along fairly well, they should continue to do so, as their hierarchy has been established. The issue was this new boy on the scene needing his wagon righted, I'd say if this was he case both boys were lucky the fence was in the way.


Yeah the little game rooster is in a small coop area where he can get better. The Delaware rooster had already fought with him once, and that is why he was put separate,in the small coop so he would be kept by himself, and could mend himself until when I got some ladies his size. However my Delaware male, has had an issue of trying to fight my other 2 roosters through the fences before but not much happened other then a few blood spattered combs due to the fence being finer. However the little game rooster had chicken wire there so the Delaware got him far worse.

In total I now have 4 boys. 3 are separate from the main rooster. Snowball is one of the ones that is separated now. My main rooster that I use for most breeding is a Legacy breed, and he is very rare, he ignores all of the boys including the game rooster. The only one that he seems to be ready to go after is the one Delaware that likes to fight.

This is why I am afraid I may have to cull him, his brother is not a threat to any of the roosters, and they ignore him when he is out, however Snowball the Delaware will fight with his own brother. His brother has lost part of his comb already through the wire to Snowball, which is why I am worried.

Normally I don't tolerate fighting like this but where I had snowball for breeding and showing I thought we should keep him, however now that he has scars, it will make it a lot harder to show him. And his brother wont be able to go now either.

90% of my roosters are tested for temperament, I will normally not breed a rooster if it will show aggression towards humans, pets, or other roosters. However there are always other traits that you want in your generations that some can pass down. With Snowball its his tiger stripes like his sister had. Around here I can easily sell a tiger striped Delaware for $50 as a pullet or a young Cockerel. This is the only reason why he has been kept this long. But I have to wonder if he will later on maybe end up attacking the hens. Little brownie girl was traumatized when the little game rooster was attacked.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

Some are definitely more aggressive than others, for sure, and some are big ***** cats with awesome temperaments. But all roosters fight, so just be aware that even the kindest roo bred to the hilt for docility will get riled up and fight for his territory and honour. If they were too docile they wouldn't protect the hens, after all. 
Doesn't matter if they're brothers either, if there's not enough hens one has to be at the top. I have two EE brothers in with 4 hens right now, my big fella has no desire to be dominant whatsoever and thusly I rarely get fights, when I do they are short lived as it's just the little one taking pot shots, he probably wouldn't feel the need to do that with a bigger harem. I also sold two Blue Australorp brothers to a lady back in august, she called me a few days ago to pick one up as they are no longer getting along, reason being too few hens. They are ALL bred for temperament, but they are all fighting for their share of the spoils. Take the hens out of the equation and everyone is the merry band of brothers again. 

I would cull a rooster that wanted nothing more than to kick the snot out of every bird he encountered because that is not what I want going on in my yard. I also cull the second the rooster shows aggression towards me, they do not get a second chance on that one. They are dog food within hours of the first man fight.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

What is a tiger striped Delaware, btw?


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

I have said it a hundred times, I have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to aggresive roosters. In my flock he would be culled.


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## hildar (Oct 3, 2013)

Apyl said:


> I have said it a hundred times, I have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to aggresive roosters. In my flock he would be culled.


This is how I am as well, when I have a rooster with 9 girls he should be more busy with his girls then wanting to go around the single males in their separate pens. He is losing his head tomorrow, he continues to show aggression through his own pen towards my older rooster, and my older one has tried to ignore him, but he just isn't going to take it to much longer.

My older rooster he wont bother the other boys, he walks around with the girls all day long and he has his hands full just paying attention to them. I told the kids, I don't need him getting into another fight through the fence.


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## hildar (Oct 3, 2013)

Fiere said:


> Some are definitely more aggressive than others, for sure, and some are big ***** cats with awesome temperaments. But all roosters fight, so just be aware that even the kindest roo bred to the hilt for docility will get riled up and fight for his territory and honour. If they were too docile they wouldn't protect the hens, after all.
> Doesn't matter if they're brothers either, if there's not enough hens one has to be at the top. I have two EE brothers in with 4 hens right now, my big fella has no desire to be dominant whatsoever and thusly I rarely get fights, when I do they are short lived as it's just the little one taking pot shots, he probably wouldn't feel the need to do that with a bigger harem. I also sold two Blue Australorp brothers to a lady back in august, she called me a few days ago to pick one up as they are no longer getting along, reason being too few hens. They are ALL bred for temperament, but they are all fighting for their share of the spoils. Take the hens out of the equation and everyone is the merry band of brothers again.
> 
> I would cull a rooster that wanted nothing more than to kick the snot out of every bird he encountered because that is not what I want going on in my yard. I also cull the second the rooster shows aggression towards me, they do not get a second chance on that one. They are dog food within hours of the first man fight.


I actually tried that with snowball he was in a different area then where the girls go and I put his brother in there with him, thinking if there was no ladies they would get along. It didn't work, he just wanted to fight. However even after separation he still continued to attack at the fence like he wanted to get back at his brother. He just doesn't know when to quit. At this point it is the dinner table for him. It's a trait that I will not have passed on in our babies. I saw him yesterday trying to get a hen to fight with him. I said then that is enough, so tomorrow he is gone.


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## hildar (Oct 3, 2013)

An update on our little game bird. he is doing better. He was held the other day and loved it. We babied the crap out of him, and we checked his leg really good. It looks like his leg is more of a bone bruise or sprain rather then a break. He also showed no aggression towards our older rooster who was standing right next to us while we checked the little man out. My older rooster seemed more concerned about the fact that he couldn't walk around with them. My daughter put him down on the ground and my older rooster acted like a mother hen protecting him.

He is still in the smaller coop until when he can be out in the yard. I don't want to take my chances on a hawk grabbing him. But he is very calm around all of us, enjoys being held, and enjoys all the attention my older rooster gives to him. Even through the fence the 2 boys lay close to each other.


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## hildar (Oct 3, 2013)

Little man is getting better. Got a picture of him today trying to use his wing as a crutch. He is working at getting healthier. You can see his sprained leg and how he holds it out. He is however getting around much better now.


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