The Count and his exbatts.

[dinosaw]

Some (poor) photos of the Count with his new exbatt girlfriends. Have begun to integrate the two black Araucanas with them today, he absolutely loves them and has been very protective of them bless him which is good as one of them is practically blind.

 

[chickenfan]

Brilliant name for your majestic, superior bird! The new ex batts look lovely too.

 

[rick]

Oh! I wish we could have a cockerel! Lucky ladies!

 

[dinosaw]

Sorry my description was a bit ambiguous chickenfan the ex batts we have had for a year but they are new to him. We started out being silly calling him Count Orloffsky and eventually it stuck so he is the Count for short.

Urban doesn't always need to be a barrier to cockerels Rick, I kept them in a suburban garden with a bit of faffing at keeping them quiet in the morning. Apparently the neighbours didn't hear them till we let them out though they may have just been polite as they were very good neighbours on all sides.

I shouldn't encourage you though.

 

[chickenfan]

You could have a cockerel without a loud crow perhaps Rick - and bring him indoors at night. I put mine in a brick shed in cat boxes and you can hardy hear them crowing in the morning. Some of the bantams are much quieter and their voice can carry less. I have a gentle silver sablepoot that you hardly notice even in the daytime.

 

[rick]

That's a good point chickenfan. I've got a full coop at the mo, but in the future maybe.
There's a Chinese family a few doors down from us and the crowing from there was so infrequent that inner there was a cockerel around but couldn't place it. Also it would be giving a rare chance to a lad and shouldn't feel any blame for taking the chance back if they're too wayward (like dinosaw said recently 'three strikes and your out'.) Quarantine each time would be a bind. Maybe possible after all. Thanks.

 

[dinosaw]

You did similar to what we used to do chickenfan, we had a coop within a coop within a brick outhouse. If you ever take the plunge Rick it is worth trying to source a lad as old as you can find or he will struggle to be accepted and may indeed find himself on the wrong end of a beating from the hens. It isn't always easy as most people like to get rid of boys as soon as they start crowing, finding a cock for sale as opposed to a cockerel is quite rare.

 

[rick]

Ah - never realised there was a difference between a cockerel and a cock. New vocab!

 

[dinosaw]

A cock is a male bird who is one year or over, unfortunately because the word has taken on another more popular meaning it has fallen out of use presumably as it was met increasingly with sniggering and now cockerel is (wrongly) used universally. I was tempted to give some nice examples of conversations you might hear between poultry fanciers that have double meaning but I decided I would probably be told off.

 

[rick]

Along the lines of being up before sunrise. I see what you mean!
Do you think it would be easier to introduce one new pullet with a cock(erel) around?
I'm thinking 3 hens in the flock which would normally be difficult to sustain. The Count seems to be having a moderating effect that would change the all hen constraints somewhat.

 

[dinosaw]

A lot of variables to consider but if you introduced the new pullet to the new cock first and then put them in together then in theory he should provide protection to her. Even if this wasn't the case a boy in the flock tends to reign in the excesses of the hens as he likes everyone to see that he is in charge. Of course the one pitfall you may have with the number of hens involved is overtreading, some boys are randier than others and they all have their favourite girlfriends who can soon have baldy heads from the non stop attention (and baldy backs if you don't step in) so you would have to be able to provide a bit of respite occasionally by taking the the lad out and penning him separately.

 

[rick]

Hopefully it will be a good while before I have room but I'll think about how I might build, ventilate a soundproof (ish) roost.

 

[dinosaw]

Oh yeah forgot to say, you will have to pick him up and put him in it every night then get him out in the morning which can be a hilarious experience when you put them down and watch them go!. It is one of of the great advantages of living remotely with a bit of land now, I can just leave them to it.