Aggressive Cream Legbar Cockerel

[pebojuno]

I have an extremely aggressive legbar cockerel- he's attacked me, my 2 year old and today my OH's face (hence his date with the pot tomorrow!) He was for sale but I'm now not happy for him to go to anyone as he's nasty with people and rough with the hens too- His brother is a complete gent, no trouble at all and seems to be the more dominant bird.- I have a new home for him

I'm just wondering is this extreme aggression a common problem in the legbars? - I hatched them out myself so I know he has been well treated and he was free ranging so it wasn't lack of space that caused his "issues"! I was hoping to get some more hatching eggs to get an unrelated cockerel but now I'm not sure I want to get attached to them and then have to cull at 20 weeks!

 

[Tim]

I've found within breeds it varies on the strain alot - I guess he got a good helping of the wrong genes and his brother didn't.

You may still get other aggressive birds from his brothers offspring though.

I keep Ceam Legbar and my lads certainly rush over when a hens fussing if I pick her up but stop a foot or two away, too scared to come any closer.

I assess my cockerels on a kind of 'ladder' of aggression and if they go up one rung from the stage these guys are at, I don't keep them. Touch wood, I haven't had a cream legbar go further than that. Having said that, because they are auto sexing, I keep very few CL cockerels. I wrote a little about this in assessing a cockerels temperament with children.

I need to get a new bloodline this year too for my CLs so it will be interesting to see how they turn out.

If you'd like to swap some eggs later on in the season, let me know. I can get chicks to Cowbridge, South Wales, even Swansea at times if you'd prefer.

Tim

 

[victorias poultry]

I am sorry to hear that your legbar cockerel is naughty :evil: I haven;t yet come across a cockerel that will attack me. My legbar is as daft as a brush, can pick him up and give him a stroke, yet the girls won;t come anywhere near you. Good luck with hatching of legbars this year

Sue

 

[Anonymous]

So sorry one turned out to be aggresive,before legbars of Broadway moved to Wiltshire they were based just up from the road from.He breeds Cotswold Legbars but also has Cream Legbars,all of his cockerels except one where fine,and he has a lot of legbar cockerels.So I think on the whole they are fine,and you were just very unlucky in this instance.

 

[pebojuno]

Thanks for your replies- I thought it wasn't the breed as much as this particular cockerel just being aggressive so it's nice to confirm that! On the plus side he was a nice, easy first bird for us to kill to eat- not a lot of meat on him but I'll enjoy my chicken casserole all the more knowing it was a well- looked after (if evil!) bird.

Tim- swapping eggs sounds great later on in the year- I'll have to get the legbars seperated from my pekins first but I'll keep you posted! My legbar hens are really friendly- even more so than some of the pekins I have- very tricky to take photos of as they're very interested in the camera so I always have extreme close ups!

Nicky

 

[Tim]

OK Nicky, that's fine - well PM me or something in the Spring / summer and I'll collect some eggs for you.

Enjoy your skinny feast

Tim.

 

[pebojuno]

Just put the chicken and pepper casserole in the oven Tim- more meat than I expected - and a lovely yellowy colour- like corn fed chicken from the supermarket! Should do the 5 of us for dinner- yum! (Though if you'd have told me 5 years ago I'd be eating a bird I saw hatch I'd have laughed at you!)

 

[Tim]

Yes, it's incredible isn't it... the first time I did this sort of thing, I felt the same but one you've got over the killing / preparing bit, it suddenly becomes more normal and a lovely feast!

Many of the 'corn fed' chickens you buy in the supermarkets I believe are yellow skinned birds to start with - feeding them maize, the skin goes really yellow.

Enjoy!