The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: plumseverywhere on December 08, 2010, 01:56:11 pm
-
my 7 year old Eloise has been asking for a cockeral since her last birthday (April) but I've been undecided.
we have 13 hens (since foxy came 2 days ago grrr) - would a cockeral help to keep the hens the right side of the electric fence (at the moment they keep getting out despite efforts to trim 1 sided flight feathers)
would he be a deterrant at all for the fox?
can I sell eggs at the gate if the hens have run with a cockeral?
any particular breeds of cockeral that are more even tempered (considering we have children?)
thanks in advance!
-
There might be an issue with officially selling fertile eggs. I quite like to hear what others say on here...
We personally found the boys a pleasure to have around. They look after the girls, show them food, are supposedly splitting up fighting girls ::). Thank goodness my neighbour doesn't mind the noise early in the morning! I think a cockerel keeps the girls well in the boundaries, but I am not so sure if he does not attract foxes rather than deters them - very vocal! He will not make your girls look pretty - once they are with a boy there is no way they will win a beauty contest ::) . I think it depends a bit how used they are to handling and human company if they are vicious or not. We never had a problem but will still be careful around him in main mating season. We have (I think) a very bog standard Lohman or Isa Brown rather than what my OH thinks we have http://north-fife.blogspot.com/2010/03/black-orpingtons-cockerel.html
;D ;D Forgot one obvious benefit - you will most certainly get chicks fairly soon! :chook: (P.S. by agressive OH means with each other)
-
Would it be possiable to make a separate pen, and have something like a trio of bantams or something?? that way your egg hens are separate, you can breed pure breds, bantams take less space, and are smaller for pets
-
We've had a cockerel with the hens for ages. Not the same one though. Currently it's Hector but there has been Henry (he had 6 wives), Hobbes, Horatio, Hugo and not Hector. None of ours have particularly messed up the hens, current one's not that noisy. They do sort out any battles - we introduced new pullets recently and when one of the "old guard" went to have a go, Hector was right there breaking it up.
I like having a cockerel - he's handsome and looks after his girls, and most have been real characters.
-
maybe it's that our current boy is younger than his mums and he is a bit intimidated when they fight ;) He seems to have had a favourite who was utterly bald for most of the summer. She has now regrown her feathers, just in time for the freeze.
I agree with Rosemary, a cockerel is really handsome, the breed might not make much difference. A credit to their gender! (unlike drakes which are only pretty but a bit useless!) :chook: :&>
-
I'm liking the sound of the pro's here and there's not many cons! one of my bluebelle's thinks she's a boy and is mounting a rhode rock and also pecking at her neck which I assume is a dominance thing. and one of the white stars jumps the fence into the danger zone., so if a boy could sort even these 2 grievances out it could be a good thing.
just the potential noise issue I guess :-\ neighbours are quite close but if I could guarantee a daft crower like our old neighbours had (4pm) then it would be fine!
-
I was up early today and he had a go at noisemaking at 5.30 ::) no light anywhere at the horizon :chook: :&>
-
Mine start crowing around 45 mins before light and last for about 1 hr. They also crow during the day it's not limited to daybreak. There's no getting away from it cockerels are noisy (99% anyway). If you have close neighbours I'd gauge their reaction first or like me you'll have to get rid to keep the peace. My neighbours haven't complained directly to me just to others but if you only have 1 it may not be too bad, they do crow at each other you see.
On the plus side mine are not aggressive with me and the do look after their ladies. You have to keep them apart from each other though as they will fight if they can get at each other.
-
I was lucky - when our little pet chickens ;D ;D grew up my neighbour told me first that I had cockerels as they were crowing closer to her bedroom window than mine...She said she loved the sound as she grew up on a farm ,phew...It is important to ask them if they mind, you don't want bad blood with your neighbours. Some councils do not allow keeping boys. :chook: :&>
-
We decided to go ahead and have a cockerel! As its going to be Eloise's bird she has asked the neighbours - they were all really pleased with the idea of 'country noises' and the fact that a 7 year old was so keen on having a chicken for xmas rather than an expensive computer game so today took her to choose one.
She's opted for a black cochin, and I have to say he really is beautiful!! Santa is going to deliver him (ie. I put him in the coop xmas eve at chooks bedtime when kids not looking) so fingers crossed...!
-
Drat! I was going to suggest one of my lovely Maran boys.It'll be the pot for him, sadly!
Cochins are lovely birds, though. I had a couple of black Cochin hens once ...until a fox came along.
-
oh no!! Katie I wish I'd known!! there is a lady in cleeve who's cockerel went 'missing' last week, she might want another? shall I ask?
-
Please do! I've a choice of two! :)
-
I'll see her at school monday so will ask, she's ever so nice so it would be a lovely home. she had a bantam but he went walkabouts, have told her to get a padlock on her coop ::)
-
and a German Shepherd! ;D
I also have a pair of black Pekin bantams if she's looking for more banties.
-
Plums - until you are sure that your cockerel is not attacking your girls always be there when they go and feed the hens! I now have had two cockerels that had to go into the pot because they became very unpredictable and my girls (7 and 9) could not go into the pen on their own anymore. My current one (a lt sssx) is fine, and the one he replaced (a cuckoo maran) was excellent too but got a bit old. Not sure what makes them aggressive though.
But initially we had no cockerel, and feather pecking became a real problem. Once they had a man to look after them the girls behaved quite well... and now I also breed my own replacements. If you only have one crowing is not that much of a problem, as there is no-one to answer back!
-
we had a beautiful lovely quiet gentle OEPF cockeral, he was getting beaten severely by our new ex factory hens (thats another story) they were all completely freerange, so i rehomed him for his own sake to a good home. his new owner gave him a hen for company and then after a few months she couldnt go in his pen without a dustbin lid for protection. completely different character to the one he showed us!
-
I kept chickens for about 8 years before I decided to get a cockerel companion. I was very concerned about noise nuisance. When I moved to a village where everyone keeps boys I thought well why not?
My Jersey Giant "Big Blue" is the loudest and proudest of the lot!!!
He is a wonderful character, a real gentleman cockerel, after treading on the girls he even gives them a cigarette... well not quite but is is very concerned for their welfare and looks after them.
Big Blue rounds them up, shows them where the nice food is, eats last, crows at anything threatening, and makes lovely chatty noises.
He also contributes to the pot by fertilising the eggs.
I treasure my time for just watching him. He brings me a lot of pleasure.
-
Reminds me of dave lee travis many many years ago he was doing a sunday chart show and it took him half an hour to actually stop laughing he had a goose that fancied a duck and trod the poor bugger to death. It certainly tickled my ivory es
-
I have a white Cochin cockerel if interested. Also a Cuckoo Pekin bantam cockerel. Anyone interested?
-
I have a Buff Orpington 8 mth old cockerel who is learning to crow - he's up to Cock-a-doodle - needs to learn the Doo still! they are under my window at night and I love to hear the crowing through my dreams.....
-
I've got 18 cocks and stags on the place at the moment, all in seperate accomodations. Thirteen of them are crowers...the others will be soon. However, my neighbours (the nearest about 1/4 of a mile away) are all country people born and bred. On a quiet day, they can be heard up to two miles or so from the house. Other days, depending on the wind strength and direction, you'd hardly know I've got them.
I hear them through the night and day because I am listening for them, but the rest of the family seem not to notice.
A cock is a good thing for a flock of laying hens, though, as it allows the hens to feel secure as they forage. The cock's nutritional needs are not so great as those of the hens, so he spends his time flapping his wings, parading about, crowing, and watching for danger.
Some of my game cocks have been known to put foxes to flight in defence of their flock, but others have lost their lives as a result of their devotion to their hens.
-
Hi,
my girls have been without a cockerel for the first year or so of their lives and have got along fine with my confident little plymouth rock as head girl. I recently introduced a male for breeding purposes and its fair to say he's tollerated. Some of my girls might even go so far as to say that hes "ok" but he doesnt take charge. He tries but they refuse to tow the line.
infact at times they completely ignore him despite his attepts to keep them from harm and they just do their own thing. Perhaps this will change in spring when they realise what hes there for. I dont fancy his chances with my head girl though....poor lad ;)
Buffy
-
make sure you pick carefully. some are evil little beggers. the larger breeds are pretty chilled out. there is no problem selling fertilised eggs to eat. it was a mess up in a small holding mag that got this idea started. they just as good to eat and if you think about it all the eggs before factory farming were probably fertile.
-
glad to hear that, Paul. ;D Thanks for putting it right, I remember it was an issue before on TAS :&>
-
will be collecting him xmas eve so that santa can deliver him into the coop (that will take some organising with peeping heads behind curtains ::) )
one of my bluebelle's is very nasty at the moment and I am really hoping that he will take command, fingers crossed.
good to hear that abotu the eggs. my hubby is a bit funny about it (being a veggie) but seeing as he eats haribo's (jelly sweets packed with geletine) he can lump it lol!!
-
tell him he is a wimp. for pity ske its one cell.