Cockerals .....

On 2 June 2008 I purchased 2 day old chicks which my broody hen raised very successfully.  However they have both turned out to be cockerals.  One is Buff Orpington, the other a Sussex Light.

Last week I took the hard line and mixed them in with my other 10 ex free range rescue hens.  They had been living in ajoining runs and had been mixing together under close supervision for short periods of time in the garden for a few weeks in the hope they would get on.

The Buff orpington seems to be OK but poor little Kiev (Sussex Light) is still being bullied, even though he's bigger than the hens!  I wondered if it is because of his colour... the rest all being brown as I know that albino wild birds are sometimes picked on. Touchingly, his mum, still steps in from time to time to defend him but he truely is a complete coward!  Although no blood has been seen and no injuries sustained as such, he just 'screams' if one of the hens so much as walks towards him and runs away. He just seems to be on his guard the whole time and never really relaxes.  Will he ever get use to them or is he just a wimp?

Also, when will they start crowing?  I think I'm going to have to rehome the Sussex (or let the  neighbour eat him). I'm assuming that 2 cockers with 11 hens is too much.  Am I correct?

  The only alternative is to take him to my friends field where she has a very large enclosure with 19 hen and 2 full grown cockerals (oneof which is a Sussex Light).  Do you think he would be accepted by them if they are an established flock already?  

Many thanks

Kym

I'm a bit unsure about this, but will not 2 cocks eventually fight over the hens or do they set a pecking order like the girls do ?   :?

i had two cocks that had been kept together with no problem since before they were mature, with about 8 hens. they stayed fairly seperate during the day but all went to bed together peaefully at night.

then one of the cocks wasnt very well so i removed him for a couple of days till he was better, but as soon as i returned him to the flock ( without a second thought as there had been no probs before), the cock that had remained with the flock turned on him and killed him    

i suppose that even in that short absence the balance of power changed with very sad consequences

so i suppose what i am saying is that they may well live together quite happily, but if you have to remove one for whatever reason and even if only for a short time, you may not be able to return it

Look at our 2 cockerels, they are growing up in a flock that was 300 strong, but down to 180 ish at the moment I think!!

   lucky lads