We have 3 cockerels which are now 10 weeks old that are desperately looking for a new home. We rescued them from a school project along with 7 hens. We have found a home for the hens but are struggling with the cockerels if anyone can help us re-home these beautiful boys we would be eternally grateful.
For sale/free to a good home
- Thread starter Reneeroo
- Start date
rick
New member
- Messages
- 1,901
- Location
- Warwickshire UK
Where abouts are you Reneeroo? Roughly that is.
rick
New member
- Messages
- 1,901
- Location
- Warwickshire UK
Ah, quite a long way to Leamington near Birmingham to transport a chicken! I would only want one though and would need to be 18 weeks to be introduced to my hens and hold his ground. But if you can't find a home for them by then...
- Messages
- 8,130
- Location
- Hampshire, U.K.
If there were only three boys out of a hatch of 10 chicks, you were very lucky.
This is a perpetual problem when hatching chicks, and all small-scale poultry keepers struggle with it. The experience of incubating and hatching chicks in classrooms can be very rewarding, but I do wish that teachers would think it through and not embark on such projects unless they're poultry keepers themselves and are prepared to look after all the resulting birds, which sadly, usually means dispatching surplus cockerels because nobody wants them. There would be an outcry if they were randomly breeding puppies or kittens in this way, wouldn't there? And I think the children should know that this was part of the process, and that chicks are not just fluffy toys and that when breeding any animal you have to be prepared to take responsibility for it thereafter.
Please don't feel I'm being in any way critical of you - you're being very kind in taking in these rescued birds, and I can see you are in a difficult situation, not of your own making, I feel. Of course you've become very fond of the boys, but I fear you may have some hard decisions ahead. As Rick says, the relatively small number of people who want a new cockerel would prefer him to be adult, as otherwise he would be bullied by his hens and not able to take charge of them properly. And even if you keep your boys until they're grown up, they will probably start to fight as they mature, and there will be no more likelihood of rehoming them than there is at present.
If anybody you don't know, or anyone not known to us on this forum, does offer to 'give them a lovely home in the country' do check them out very carefully. A lot of cock fighting still goes on, especially in the Midlands, and the perpetrators are always on the lookout for unwanted cockerels, either to fight or worse, to act as bait when training older, fiercer birds.
I do hope you manage to rehome them satisfactorily, and you might even be able to keep one if the neighbours don't object, but keeping more than one would be unwise. if no joy with rehoming, I would advise either getting an experienced poultry keeper to cull them for you, or take them to the vet to be PTS. I would send the bill to the school that hatched them, maybe.
This is a perpetual problem when hatching chicks, and all small-scale poultry keepers struggle with it. The experience of incubating and hatching chicks in classrooms can be very rewarding, but I do wish that teachers would think it through and not embark on such projects unless they're poultry keepers themselves and are prepared to look after all the resulting birds, which sadly, usually means dispatching surplus cockerels because nobody wants them. There would be an outcry if they were randomly breeding puppies or kittens in this way, wouldn't there? And I think the children should know that this was part of the process, and that chicks are not just fluffy toys and that when breeding any animal you have to be prepared to take responsibility for it thereafter.
Please don't feel I'm being in any way critical of you - you're being very kind in taking in these rescued birds, and I can see you are in a difficult situation, not of your own making, I feel. Of course you've become very fond of the boys, but I fear you may have some hard decisions ahead. As Rick says, the relatively small number of people who want a new cockerel would prefer him to be adult, as otherwise he would be bullied by his hens and not able to take charge of them properly. And even if you keep your boys until they're grown up, they will probably start to fight as they mature, and there will be no more likelihood of rehoming them than there is at present.
If anybody you don't know, or anyone not known to us on this forum, does offer to 'give them a lovely home in the country' do check them out very carefully. A lot of cock fighting still goes on, especially in the Midlands, and the perpetrators are always on the lookout for unwanted cockerels, either to fight or worse, to act as bait when training older, fiercer birds.
I do hope you manage to rehome them satisfactorily, and you might even be able to keep one if the neighbours don't object, but keeping more than one would be unwise. if no joy with rehoming, I would advise either getting an experienced poultry keeper to cull them for you, or take them to the vet to be PTS. I would send the bill to the school that hatched them, maybe.
dinosaw
New member
- Messages
- 1,659
You'll need them to be a bare minimum of 24 weeks Rick. Any younger and unless it is from an aggressive breed it will get "chinned" I'm afraid. You would be better looking at the post by didsburylass below, cockerel available from Wolverhampton, says it is 4 month old. If you could keep it separate/not pick it up for 6 weeks then it might fit the bill for you.
rick
New member
- Messages
- 1,901
- Location
- Warwickshire UK
I know dinosaw - the CLB looks very handsome and I am sorely tempted but I have a (maybe misguided) impression that commercial hybrid cockerels are quieter. It makes it even harder to relocate then if 24 weeks is min to introduce doesn't it! I could keep then seperate for several weeks but I take the point.
I've been following @hensforhire on twitter. Sounds like Claire has pretty much the best model for schools to hatch and have hens with full support. They even go on holiday back to base out of term time but she must have a lot of males to dispatch along the way as is inevitable.
I've been following @hensforhire on twitter. Sounds like Claire has pretty much the best model for schools to hatch and have hens with full support. They even go on holiday back to base out of term time but she must have a lot of males to dispatch along the way as is inevitable.
- Messages
- 8,130
- Location
- Hampshire, U.K.
I thought the CLB boy looked lovely - why would you want a bog standard commercial hybrid when you could have a beautiful purebred boy like him?
Not that this conversation is any use to Reneeroo, who started this thread! Sorry, Reneeroo. Could you perhaps post some pics of your boys, in case somebody might be tempted?
Not that this conversation is any use to Reneeroo, who started this thread! Sorry, Reneeroo. Could you perhaps post some pics of your boys, in case somebody might be tempted?
rick
New member
- Messages
- 1,901
- Location
- Warwickshire UK
I was leaving it to fate and if it happens that way a hybrid will do me fine.
If you still have one at 18 weeks Reneeroo then I'll make a day out of it and keep him partitioned till he's old enough.
In fact, if you still have 3 by then you'll have big trouble so 2 weeks from now if that's OK.
If you still have one at 18 weeks Reneeroo then I'll make a day out of it and keep him partitioned till he's old enough.
In fact, if you still have 3 by then you'll have big trouble so 2 weeks from now if that's OK.
chickenfan
New member
- Messages
- 1,048
Rick I have a Silver Millefleur Booted Bantam (the black and white spotted bird) if you want something fairly quiet. He is docile, friendly and holds himself beautifully with a flamboyant tail. Although a bantam he would be fine with large fowl. He doesn't have a loud crow, and the sound of it doesn't carry. He's nearly a year old.
Attachments
-
Ben's father.jpeg
dinosaw
New member
- Messages
- 1,659
He's lovely chickenfan, you ought to post more photos of your birds you know. I'd certainly like to see them.
chickenfan
New member
- Messages
- 1,048
Thank you Dinosaw. I will do.
rick
New member
- Messages
- 1,901
- Location
- Warwickshire UK
They are both lovely, and in various ways ideall,birds. I'm going to stick with the commitment I've already made to take on 1 of Reneeroo's cockerels, if still needed and it hasn't got to be an impossible situation, until the end of June.
chickenfan
New member
- Messages
- 1,048
That's great Rick. I'm really glad you are giving a home to a cockerel. I only mentioned mine because he is quiet and because he may have to be eaten.