Advice please. Cockerel attention. Hens won't come out of the hen house

[mrsbusy]

Hi all - after a long silence I am back with a bit of a problem. I hatched some eggs this summer because one of my Australorps went very broody. 4 of 8 eggs hatched and I now have 2 Swedish Flower Cockerels, 1 Swedish Flower hen and a laced Barnvelder (very pretty) They are now 5 months old. The cockerels have become very 'active' and two ex batt hens are very upset by their attentions and have refused to come out of the hen house for 3 days! The other hens are better at running away and don't seem quite so bothered. (They all free range all day)
Should I leave the two in the henhouse or put them in a separate hen house? I did move them into the greenhouse for a day and put them back in the main henhouse at night but I have been away over the weekend and had to leave them to get on with it in the henhouse.
Also I think I might try and find a home for the cockerels as they are very noisy and altho it does not bother me I think it might be a bit hard on the neighbours. As they are an unusual breed someone might be interested. Am I wasting my time trying to rehome them?
Your thoughts / advice would be much appreciated - thanks in advance.

[burnie]

You will have the males fighting if you keep more than one will you not?

[Scarlet]

Well as Burnie has said, it's not wise to keep 2 cockerals together, as soon as they are a bit older you may well have a bloodbath especially as you don't have many hens?

Two cockerals to just a handful of hens isn't enough, come Spring the treading will increase and the birds can look quite battered. I'm really not surprised you have the two hiding. I find one cockeral to 6 hens is the minimum. At least get rid of one. The reason people don't hatch eggs is because they don't like getting rid of the boys.

It's highly unlikey you will be able to give them away, even if they are a lovely breed. The battle crowing in the morning starts at 4 in the Summer. Culling is usually the only solution. If you decide to keep one,( if you have easy going neighbours) personally I would choose the one that is most nervous/ frightened of you. They get more aggressive the following season and can make not only your hens life miserable but yours too on occasion..ll I've had several very aggressive cockerels that will attack at the drop of a hat and I find them harder to do the deed as they get older...feed them on corn for a few weeks and have a couple of decent Sunday roasts.

[veggiechicken]

Could you ask one of the specialist breeders of Swedish Flowers whether they know of anywhere to rehome them?

[burnie]

There's room in my freezer.........................I'll get my coat.

[Scarlet]

Nowt wrong with eating them Burnie..better than wasting them. It's an acquired taste ive found - nothing like the pumped full of water chicken you buy in the supermarket. You don't need half as much on your plate either.

[Snadger]

I have a father and son team in with my hens and they get on fine together.

[Scarlet]

I've kept two together.....but I've also had lots of hens to go around. Depends on the nature of the bird.

[4Shoes]

Just had a look. Swedish Flower Cockerels are said to be noisy. If they are only 5 months old and you have close neighbours, culling may be for the best. On the plus side, the cockerels should have a wide strong breast and fatten up well. If they don't meet the breed standard, they will be harder to re-home. I'm just back from the farm house today. I was driving away when a Guinea Fowl with about 15 keets run across the road in front of me. The neighbour hadn't said anything about a broody so suspect it was a surprise to him too. He could be looking at 7 cocks or more. That could be you next year to a lesser extent.

Move both cockerels away and if possible out of sight of the hens. check to see what sort of weight and condition they are in. Feed them up if required.

[Birdie Wife]

Ah... It is always the dilemma with raising your own chicks, being prepared for what to do with the spare boys... 5 months is quite early to start with all that attention to the hens but it's probably because there's no older rooster to keep them in check!

You can increase the space you give to the hens so they have more space to escape, and/or get more hens so they have less attention per hen, but the best thing to do is to reduce to one cockeral at the most. One by himself will not generally crow as much or tread the hens as much, as there's no competition element. But if they are that noisy and you have close neighbours, I'd be tempted to rehome/cull both of them.

[mrsbusy]

Thank you all for your advice. Last night I heard a commotion from the hen house and upon investigation I found the hens had all roosted in the hen house with the dominant cockerel on the top bars and the non-dominant cockerel trying it on with the Australorps who, because they are large and heavy, roost on a plank lower down. Everyone was unhappy and the roost bars were knocked around - so very bad manners on the part of the non-dom cock !
I managed to get hold of him and banished him to a spare nest box which I put in the run - shut off from the others - who immediately settled down. I am afraid his days are numbered - which I will deal with - don't hatch if you won't dispatch etc.

[mrsbusy]

Burnie - the dominant one chases the other round the garden if the non-dom gets too close to the hens - but they don't seem to fight. Guess one can run faster than the other and avoids fighting

[mrsbusy]

Hi Birdie Wife - yes think you are right - I will cull one and see how that goes. The Australorps seem to quite like having a man in their life!!

[mrsbusy]

Hi 4Shoes - not heard of keets before - good to learn something new. No way will we have 7 cockerels next year - the neighbours are nice but not that nice!

[4Shoes]

Keets are the Guinea Fowl chicks. When Guinea Fowl get startled, they run as a group with the dominant leader. The Chicks are just left to catch up, so you end up with a very long line of Guinea Fowl running like a snake down and across the road/track in front of the car. Very funny