[themagicaltoad1]

We have 6 bantam hens and Pingu our bantam cockerel who is very attentive to his ladies. In the summer we bought 3 week old chicks, 2 are RIR hens and a welsummer who has turned out to be a cock. The newbies are now about 20 weeks old and Spud the welsummer cockerel is already much bigger than Pingu. We tried to rehome him without any luck and ideally would like to keep him. My concern is, will the two cocks start fighting each other at some stage? At present they are very much in two seperate groups whether they are in the garden or the run, and Spud hasn't started crowing or trying to tread the girls yet. Or will Spud accept Pingu is the resident cockerel and not cause problems? If anyone who has experience of cockerels could advise me I'd be grateful.

[joyfull]

I have a mix of large fowl and true bantams, both hens and cockerels. The cockerels have the same type of pecking order that the hens do and once it has been established who is the boss (this can be quite horrific and lots of blood can result from the fights) peace generally follows with the boss getting first dibs and the under cockerels sneaking in when they think he isn't watching. Cockerels aren't put off by size or breed as has been shown by my little barbu d'anvers hatching her eggs that had obviously been fertilized by my lavender and black/red araucana big boys.
Every now and then one of the lower status cockerels will try to take the big boys place and it can be very sad to see when they succeed and you see what was once a majestic old boy looking sad, dejected and an outcast. However this is nature and survival of the fittest 

[themagicaltoad1]

Thanks Joyful. At present even though he's now bigger than the resident cock, Spud is very wary of Pingu and keeps his distance. Provided it stays that way everything should be ok. They're both pretty docile and my daughter often picks one up for a cuddle. I wondered if Spud not crowing yet is because Pingu does it and he doesn't want to be in competition yet?

[joyfull]

maybe, my lower boys only crow when they are a safe distance away from the top boy.

[Sarah Mitchell]

Hi Magical Toad

My recommendation is not to mix large fowl cockerels with any bantams.  In my experience the size, weight and eventual spur size if a large fowl cockerel can cause nasty and even fatal damage to wee bantam hens, as well as them being able to out fight a bantam cockerel.  I personally keep mine well and truely separated because I don't want that to happen.  It might also be worth bearing in mind that at this time of year cockerels are not so active, but come the spring you might have some problems as the hormones and breeding season kicks in.

Hope that helps.   

Regards, Sarah

[tstainesmoore]

you shouldn't have any major problems they basically wont kill each other but an occasional fight may occur just to establish who is in charge just like a normal pecking order.i have many cockerels together all ages and sizes and they are fine. if a cockerel is introduced with another when young the elder will usually accept him and allow him to be there.

[joyfull]

sounds like you do the same as me tstainesmoore, mine have loads of space to get away from each other and even 6 cockerels (all large fowl) sleep in the same tree together and the true little banties (barbu' d'anvers and sabelpoots) sleep in two of the coops together - no problems whatsoever even in the spring and summer when they are active. As I have said the only time is the initial introduction and when a youngster decides to challange the top boy.

[kegs]

I attempted to integrate two flocks today with no success.   

One flock consists of 2 table birds, one LS cockerel (also for the table) and one Faverolle all 19 weeks.  The second flock are 10 week old Faverolles 3 hens 2 cockerels.  Flock 1 were out of their run and in the garden where there's quite a lot of space and flock 2 were in a brooder coop enjoying the sunshine.  They had all checked each other out and things seemed calm so I took out one of the 10 wk Fav boys and suddenly the 3 hens from flock 1 dived on him, pulled out lots of neck feathers which they started eating and cut his foot quite badly (now sprayed purple). 

I feel like I've really messed up so please tell me where I went wrong and what do I do now ?? 

Thanks.

[joyfull]

oh dear that sounds awful for you, once blood has been drawn then they will go into a feeding frenzy I'm afraid  . This can aslo be seen when a hen suffers a prolapse - the others will try to eat her.
Often if it is a young cockerel the older hens will put him in his place but I must admit I have never had anything like this bad happen to me (mine just do the normal pecking order stuff).
Perhaps you might be best to try putting all of flock 2 (once his foot is a little better) out so he wouldn't be on his own and have to suffer the bullying on his own (pretty much like introducing more than 1 hen at a time) xx

[kegs]

Thanks Joyfull.  I did wonder if that's where I went wrong.  Would it be a good idea to wait until the 3 table birds from flock 1 have been dispatched too (a week or so) or will that bring other problems?

[joyfull]

I would wait so that then the whole set up will change and they will all be unsure who is the boss.
Most young cockerels are very frightened of the big girls and will let them beat them up. Eventually when they get more sure of themselves they will start to take control but at first it may be just the young girls who allow them.

[kegs]

Thanks Joyfull.  I'll try again in a week or so.