Cukoo Cockral

Hi i wondering if anyone new the life span of a cukoo cockral. I bought two around ten years ago. Sadly one died three years ago but the other is still with me. He is very loyal and loving but he is looking very sad and his tail is always down. He misses his friend and i wondered whether his behaviour is age related or he needs a new buddy.

Tnx for replying. No he has no ladies as I don't want to keep adding to my pet over load. If it meant his happiness i would of course. He does come in the house and sit with us but he is very protective of me and if anyone were to come by me he attacks them, which is ok! He wont stay outside in the garden unless im with him so he spends most of his time in an open shed pen which is 6ft by 6ft with natural day light bulbs. He has a huge garden but wont use it.

People may think I am stark raving mad but I seriously think your cockerel is seeing you as a sort of hen replacement. Your mention of how protective he is with you and that he won't go into the garden without you, to my mind points to this.

I haven't heard about this type of behaviour specifically in chickens before but I do know that birds can exhibit this and become attached to a human when one of their own type isn't available (it happened to my father with a parrot my parents once had and I have heard of other cases)

When lonely, the fact that you don't have feathers, a beak or even remotely look like a bird apparently is not a problem to the avian mind  !

I would consider getting him a couple of girls to look after or maybe even rehome him to somebody who has hens (but no cockerel of their own).

Let us know how you get on.