Life span of a Cock

[margaretinireland]

I have a Light Sussex Cock, Henry, who is about two years old. Can anyone give me an idea how long Cocks live? Henry's very busy with four girls, but looses control now and again when the girls go off and do their own thing (they race off to the field across the road before they have laid their eggs) Henry gets miffy and shouts at them, eventually they all come back. He finds walking on the drive hurts his feet so sticks to the grass verge. He has been a splendid fellow and I hope he will be around for a good while yet.

 

[chrismahon]

Hi Margaretinireland. Apparently cocks can typically go to 5 years but most of ours haven't got more than a few months past two. Depends how stressed out they are I suppose. That depends on how unruly their hens are or how many they have. We have one left at over 5 years but of the others the oldest is two. Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear but be grateful of any time over two I would say.

 

[foxy]

Cocks such as Sussex, Welsummer, Marans and assuming a hardy, healthy bird should live on average for around 6 years. Smaller breeds such as pekins can live on average a couple of years longer. There is no hard and fast rule. I have a huge cochin cockerel who is now 8 old and my oldest boy was a cantankerous pekin cockerel who lived to 11 years old

Fertility does drop off at around 3 years compared to a young cockerel which in it's first year will be in his peak at around 8mths to 18mths old.

 

[Chuck]

Many of the active breeds will live to be six, seven or even upwards and be active and fully fertile. Unfortunately they are, like the hens, inclined to keel over for no apparent reason. So there are no hard and fast rules. Some, although they look fully fit, do lose their fertility along the way.
Older males (4+) lose the urge to mate as often as younger ones but most will cover four with no problems.

 

[margaretinireland]

Thank you everyone - I will count each year Henry is with us as a bonus! He is great and the girls like him too!