Cockerels - favourites, dislikes, behaviour

[kathyd]

First time with a cockerel so I'm not sure what's 'normal'. Ours has his definite little harem, which is fine, but then he chases the other girls away if there's food around and doesn't want them to eat. He'll also 'share' food with some eg if I'm hand feeding, but 'steal' from others and chase them off. I always thought cockerels protected their whole flock and found treats for them, not steal them?? I have a friend whose cockerel physically attacked one of her hens to the point where she had to isolate the terrified hen to keep her safe. Life with a cockerel doesn't seem to be what I expected...! Or is it just French cockerels who are weird?

[muddled]

They're all weird.
They all have 'small man syndrome'.

But they are also sometimes characterful, hilarious and extraordinarily brave.

[kathyd]

Brave, Muddled?? Are we talking about the same beasts here...? Mine is the biggest girl of them all! He jumps so much his feet leave the floor if you move too fast or the cat comes too close - Mr Duck charges the cats and the chickens ignore them, but the cockerel's terrified. Mr Duck also chases the cockerel and all his girls, the cockerel runs faster than the girls, he doesn't even attempt to defend them! He screamed so loud the other day when I picked him up you would've thought he was for the chop, and he shook so badly I didn't have the heart to turn him over in the end, I just gave him a cuddle...lol . He's stopped shaking quite so much now, but he still runs when he sees me coming. Brave isn't a word in his vocab I don't think