Cockerel advice please

[Snadger]

I have three flocks............ each with a cockerel. I raised mine from an egg and two of them have brilliant temperaments.
All three take grain from my hand but give a bit of a nip now and again.

The third cockerel, the Silver Sussex is huge, which is the main reason I am keeping him. He has a bit of an attitude problem and always has had since he was hatched, but if I could only keep one, it would be him.

The begger had a go at me this evening. He was bullying the exbats who were trying to feed close to him, by biting there heads so I gave him a push.......baaaaaad move, he started attacking me instead. (Just handbags thankfully)

I have noticed the cockerels only seem to mate with the chooks that are laying at the time.

I deffo go for it and would give him a Harim of 6 to 8 chooks of his own

You could always rotate other chooks at a later date if need be.

[RedThorn]

Errm, am I allowed to vote?

[Snadger]

My cockerels individually and when they were together!(Just to show you CAN keep them together)

From left to right Silver Sussex (the baddy, but my favourite), Salmon Faverolle and Light Sussex.

These birds all eat from my hand!

[RedThorn]

They sure are handsome chaps Snadge. Agreed the Silver Sussex is the nicest one. Boy, you can see his attitude in his eye's though

[dexterdoglancashire]

What a lovely photo Glutton4, he looks a lovely chap - who could resist him?
Snadger your boys are smashing! Good photos of them as well.

[Nicos]

...and so G4....when are you collecting him???

[petal]

I would get 3 cockerels if I were you, that is 3 that had been raised together. They can get bullied by that amount of ladies! I find our light sussex a real gentleman, he looks after his girls and their offspring - he lets the chicks snuggle under his wings at night - what a softie! Cockerels are always alert and looking for predators which enables their girls to freerange and be relaxed. They are different to the hens in character and can be very cuddly in fact!

[Hilary B]

At one time we had
Mr Buff (cochin)
Cuddles (cochin)
Rusty (RIR)
The B*$!^£& (bantam of mixed heritage)
with about 12 assorted hens, TOTALLY free range (never shut in except for broodies to protect them), the Bantie lived up to his name, the others were no problem.

[Glutton4...]

Snadger, they are beautiful chappies - really lovely.

RedThorn - NO you're NOT allowed to vote, obviously

[RichmondHens]

A cock will be happy if he has one hen, or 50 hens!!! Hey, he's a male! One hen would NOT be happy but with 43, he will only mate with his favourites/the ones in lay, and most of the others will not be bothered. The only problem I see is if you are amalgamating several flocks into one big one, there will be the inevitable shaking down of the pecking order, and one cock on his own will not be enough to break up all the squabbles. But I'm sure within a couple of weeks they will all have sorted themselves out. Good luck!

[TPeers]

I haven't voted - I would love to have a cockerel but I have close neighbours so can't.

Snadger your silver sussex is beautiful, what a fantastic bird. You have no idea how envious I am!

[Eco-Chic]

Snadger your Silver Sussex is so handsome I'm quite envious of your hens

[its hilly]

G4 go for it
I've got 42 total. At present in 3 groups. 1 group is Bephlems Festher with 3 wives at the mo. One is growers and the 4 from Lynda (no 5 is one of Festhers wives) And the other group is all the rest. There are several cockerals in there, all added at different times but always as pairs or trios. And none as adults, all around 16 wksish. They mostly get on fine. My Silver Sussex (your namesake Snadger) is a softy. My buff orp banty is a little thug and would be casserole if he was full sized.

Only reservations are..if you want to have fertile eggs, split the group and give him from 6-10 girls. You can always rotate the girls that are in with him. Otherwise he'll be overworked, it lowers fertility in horses so I assume its the same with chooks, and you'll know theyve all been covered, rather then having to guess which ones.
And if you do hatch eggs, just remember they'll be mongrals, but so what he's lovely and it'll be fun seeing what happens.

[dexterdoglancashire]

They are different to the hens in character and can be very cuddly in fact!

"Fanny" aka Fred, always loved a cuddle when I went to feed my girls. Kaye and Clarissa still arent keen on cuddles, but they get them on a daily basis.

[Nicos]

Number ratios will need taking into consideration G4...and I think it'll depend on his temperament and that of the girlies.
I have 7 gals and 2 lads- but with my last clutch the numbers went up to 7 gals and 7 lads before the 5 boys headed off to the 'great freezer in the barn'

The top cockerel Au Vin by the end had got himself into a right mood and was really impatient with the lads and lasses, particularly with his brother Paxo, with whom he'd been very tolerant before. Now it's back to 2:7 he's calmed down- although he was more than intolerant of Paxo at feeding time when we had all the snow. He made it perfectly clear- even to me- that the gals had the food before either of them. When I tried to hand feed Paxo ( he was clearly not getting much to eat) Au Vin would try and chase him off- or just stood by with that 'attitude ' look in his eye- one stare like that would get Paxo looking really humble.
It was really quite interesting to see Au Vin's changing attitudes ( being a normally gentle lad.)
(...out of interest- do they naturally become more intolerant as they get older- he's now nearly 2 yrs old and developing quite enormous spurs and Dennis Healey eyebrows!!!!)

What I'm trying to say, is that the only way of knowing how it'll work out is to give it a go, and have a few alternative back up plans.
It's very interesting to hear what everyone else has experienced with their lads.