Let's have a cockerel appreciation thread.

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This is King Eric The Magnificent and I love him to bits. He is a fantastic partner and dad to his hens and chicks. He is a diligent look-out for danger and in 4 years we have never lost a hen or chick to any fox or other predator. He leads his 12 hens round the field's to forage, and gives them most of the snacks he finds alerting then with his special 'I've got food' noise (he has been seen to pluck berries and put them in the beak of his ladies), he keeps watch while they're head down eating giving danger calls if he sees something suspicious. If a hen is laying for the first time (he's older than all of them) he will recognise her anxious signals, croon to her and lead her to a safe place, demonstrate a safe position and then stand guard crooning lullabies to her, he's very good at settling the nerves of a worried first time layer. He is a polite lover by cockerel standards. He also liked falling asleep on my dd's knee during maths in lockdown home schooling, which was a lovely soothing way to learn maths for her when she was missing being at school. He is also very beautiful.
I adore this cockerel.
Come and tell me your Wonderful Cockerel stories. 😍🐔🐓🐥❤️

What i love about cockerels is that they are brilliant baby sitters. Once chicks come out from needing a heat lamp we put them in with an adult cockerel to rear, and they are such attentive babysitters.
We used to have a Jersey Giant called Colin. We kept him in a wooden shed and you could hear him thumping towards the door to be let out. You had to open the door standing to the side as he always came out looking for a fight, but after the initial adrenaline rush he calmed down!
I've got a few large fowl Bramah's in now, they are stunning cockerels and are nice natured, which isna good thing for their size.
The ones with the biggest attitudes have been bantams, Barbu D'Anvers are particularly ferocious. If one cockerel could wear sunglasses and carry a machine gun though, it would be a Poland bantam.

What a magnificent man and I love this thread! I've never had a cockerel as I live in quite an urban area. I have a couple of girls (about to get a few more) and would love a rooster too.

soberfabulous aren't hens lovely! I love how they potter through their day, they are my go to when I'm stressed, hang out with my ladies and life just seems all safe and OK again. If you get a rooster one day, get one who is the same size or smaller than your ladies then they won't have to hard a time of it. My biggest chicken Spark (one white feather on her wing but chestnut brown all over apart from that) is massive and if she's not in the mood for some Eric lovin' she just walks right out from under him. We did have a cockerel who was a fair bit bigger and his favourite ladies were getting a bit threadbare before he went on his way.

@ANameChangeAgain

What i love about cockerels is that they are brilliant baby sitters. Once chicks come out from needing a heat lamp we put them in with an adult cockerel to rear, and they are such attentive babysitters. We used to have a Jersey Giant called Colin. We kept him in a wooden shed and you could hear him thumping towards the door to be let out. You had to open the door standing to the side as he always came out looking for a fight, but after the initial adrenaline rush he calmed down! I've got a few large fowl Bramah's in now, they are stunning cockerels and are nice natured, which isna good thing for their size. The ones with the biggest attitudes have been bantams, Barbu D'Anvers are particularly ferocious. If one cockerel could wear sunglasses and carry a machine gun though, it would be a Poland bantam.

Well!!! I never have heard of nanny cockerels! That is one quality Eric does not have. He is more the Victorian Father type than your Modern Hipster, if he was human he would ensure they had an excellent education and the best food on the table, nod with stately satisfaction at their achievements, and put the fear of god into anyone who tried to do them wrong, but would not be caught dead changing a nappy! I am charmed at the idea your cockerels have done this. I've only ever hatched chicks by letting the hens get on with it and they do all the taking them under their wing. I had two hens hatch a clutch each very close to each other and there was some confusion once they hatched as to who was offering wings for chicks, after some negotiation the chicks ended up with senior mum and junior mum and they went round as a two parent family unit, lucky little chicks.

Love the sound of Colin, I had a really good chuckle at the mental image of the thumping as Colin was On His Way and standing aside and the Poland bantam with sunglasses and machine gun. hehehehe.

I felt the need of an update on King Eric 😁🥰

I am resurrecting my cockerel appreciation thread as today I am utterly heartbroken.
King Eric the Magnificent died in my arms today. 😭😭😭😭😭💔💔💔💔💔
He was fine yesterday, poorly today so the vet was coming tomorrow with some medicine for likely cause, but after a lot of being still and looking uncomfortable, he roused himself to escort his ladies foraging in the field. I saw him lie down upright as birds do, but the fact he'd gone with them made me think he wasn't so bad and was resting. Then he tried to get up and couldn't. I went to him thinking maybe I could give him a drink or something but he started to fit, I scooped him up gently but he didn't get through and died in my arms.
I am so sad. There will never be another Eric, so beautiful, clever and devoted.
I would love to give you a better (belated) update HereticFanjo.
He lived his absolute best life and will be long remembered. RIP Eric - you were much loved. 💔💔

ahh, what a shame
sounds like he had a lovely life, what a lucky creature

Thank you. 🥰
He was very blessed and not many cockerels get the life he had. We were all so lucky to enjoy what we did. 🐓💞

I'm so sorry. I have loved this thread and learned so much! Eric's legacy lives on. Mine is Alex. Much smaller than the hens and not doing loads of sex as it turns out. working on it. Love this cockerel appreciation thread - mine is a nice little mr with feathery feet.

I know nothing about cockerels or even hens, but I have enjoyed this thread. I'm so sorry Eric is no more .

We did a featherdown farm in Normandy a few years ago and there was. Brilliant little rooster there. He was half the size of the hens but he was so attentive. Gave his ladies any food we gave him

Oh what a sad update, I'm so sorry op

I was really enjoying this old thread as I hadn't seen it before and it's so sad to see this latest. You must be heartbroken. He sounded wonderful .

I have a barnevelder. He’s lush.

Ohhh i didnt realise it was an old thread. Im so sorry youve lost Sir Eric.

So sorry you lost Eric. Looks like he had a lovely life with you and his ladies!

I have a lovely William. Rescued from fresh start for hens. He’s amazing with his ladies. He is a tiny bantam weighing less than a kilo. Doesn’t let that stop him though!

Javis was the best ever cockerel. A badger DUG into the run at night and dismantled the coop. Jarvis fought him valiantly for hours and not one hen was harmed - 2 died of shock within 48 hours. Poor Jarvis clung on until the morning, with his neck almost entirely severed, until I arrived. Then he keeled over and died! He got a heroes burial!
Now we have Colonel Abrams who is not as handsome as Jarvis but extremely chivalrous.

Great thread. I didn’t know anything about cockerels (beyond them being boys).

so sorry about Eric. And Jarvis sounds a hero too.

Oh William is beautiful! Thank you for giving him a fresh start, sounds like he's a character and making the most of it. 🤣🤣

User75thank you for sharing your story about Jarvis! How incredible, I wouldn't want to fend off a hungry badger for hours and I'm massive compared to a cockerel! I can picture this exactly, I have seen the lengths cockerels will go to for their hens and he gave every ounce of himself to the last! Heroic the true sense of the word, you must have been devastated to find you had come to the battle too late, but what a compliment that your appearance was the safety he was waiting for. I feel there should be a plaque for him and I salute his steadfast bravery and fighting skill. Not a single hen did he let that badger get. Jarvis you were a better partner than even many humans ever achieve. I hope he has mini-Jarvis's pecking around in the sunshine alongside the chivalrous Colonel Abrams to honour his legacy.

Kind Eric the Magnificent was laid to rest a while ago now, and I decided the only thing to do with his vacant throne was to offer an opportunity for another cockerel to escape the usual fate. ☠️ I went back to the lady I got Eric from and she had 5 spare cockerels who were all beautiful and in fact related to Eric, his nephews (or grand nephews, not sure). So I watched them with the hens for a while to look out for those behaviors that we valued so much in Eric. There was one who seemed particularly magnanimous with his ladies, so though he was a bit big we took him and hoped he would be gentlemanly enough to compensate for his slightly larger size (which seemed hopelessly optimistic and naive).
Since no-one could really fill Eric's shoes, so we didn't want to give the new cockerel a royal title, and Eric was also called Derek when he did something silly like kick the trough over (Delboy for short) ... so new cockerel is now Sir Rodney the Splendid. 🐓
Delboy and Rodders
To start with though, he didn't earn that name. He was cooped up to learn his new home, and he was Rodney the Bewildered and Incensed... over the course of the next 3 days, he went through Rodney the Confused, Rodney the Frustrated, Rodney the Bored. Then came the great day... Rodney the Free!
After his initial excitement he discovered the hens ignored him which he found weird as he was used to being followed, and he kept turning round and realising no-one had, cos they all know where they're going thank you very much, and who are you anyway!?
Slowly, very slowly, he went from Rodney the Irrelevant, to Rodney the Integrated and now... He is Rodney the Essential. After a desperate effort to win them over with false snack alerts which just taught the hens to ignore him more, he has finally realised he needs to put in the work, so he's turned over soil, hunted through long grass and tirelessly watches dfor danger and isn't (thankfully) a massive sex pest, in fact he's quite a sweety and now, finally, the hens chose to hang out with him 'cos he's earned their attention. ❤️
One very happy chap.

Sir Rodney must be feeling very settled now as he has started a new behaviour which is good to see. We have a hen who is bottom of the pecking order and as the nest boxes are often occupied she can sometimes be left wondering where is the best place to lay an egg. She likes to sneak into our shipping container if the door is open, but scopes out all sorts of places until she finds one she likes. Rodney has taken to escorting her on the hunt and if he finds one he thinks will do he turns round in it like dogs do sometimes, making a noise that's a cross between a purr and a geiger counter 😁 then he settles and demonstrates over again until she comes to check it out, she usually decides it not the right spot (his choices are often dubious, sloping top of a concrete wall anyone?) but I think that's his inexperience. So it's great that he is sharing the mission to find a safe place to lay. He isn't as wise as Eric was about it (who would chose really nice secluded spots) and I haven't caught him guarding and singing gentle lullabies like Eric did yet, but so sweet that the instinct is there.
He could get promoted to Prince yet! 😍🐓