Mrs Baggins
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Introducing a cockerel to ex-bats...I am going to see a 9mo Light Sussex cockerel tomorrow, and if he looks like a nice enough chap, I will bring him home to put in with my 10 girls.
My plan is to pop him right into the run with them and then sit up there with them for a few hours to see what happens until it is time to pop them in for the night. I have a 35 bird sized house so a fair bit of room for them. If things get nasty while they are out in the run, I can always get a divider in there so they can see each other for a wee while without any eyes being pecked out.
If this is a rubbish plan and I am just asking for trouble - please tell me. I have never had a cockerel before and indeed my 10 girls are my first ever chickens (of my own).
I have caught the chicken fancier bug bad. Where oh where will this end? LOL.
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crofter
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Probably the hens will be scared of him initially. After 10 minutes or so it will all be fine, your bossiest hen may object a bit, but if he is bigger than her there shouldn't be a problem...
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Camile
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Hello,
I agree with crofter, you can put him straight in there ..
When I got my ex-bats, I penned them up on their own .. but left a gap for a rooster to get in .. it took him a few hours to find it and it all went well ..
just out of curiosity, were your ex-bat in a bad or decent shape when they arrived ?
Good luck with them,
Camile
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Mrs Baggins
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Thx guys. I thought it should be ok but I had my doubts!
I am going to check that he is bigger than my girls and that he doesn't seem like an overly aggressive chap. My girls were apparently in rather good shape for ex-bats when I got them but I thought they looked like a sorry little bunch. They had a LOT of bald patches, but their combs were not floppy and they could all walk and jump up onto the roosting bench.
They are different birds now. They are getting a lot lighter in colour and they don't press themselves into the ground (as much as they did) when I go near them. Funnily enough they LOVE my 2yo.
I'll let you know how I get on.
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Mrs Baggins
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Went and saw the cockerels today and came home with a (rather large) Light Sussex chap who is installed with his new wives (they are none too impressed at the minute) and who now goes by the name of Mr Cockadoodledoo Hotspurs.
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dpack
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captain buttercup has settled in well with his ladies and has made a few conquests in the garden flock as well
chooks know best in such matters ,i let em get on with it and they sorted it out between themselves very nicely
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Mrs Baggins
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Well... the girls huddled round the water and food and pecked him whenever he came near. So Mr C-H took the roosting bench in retaliation and made them sleep on the floor.
There has been surprisingly little fuss though. He is twice the size of my girls and they are scared to death of him. They are all out in the run now and you would think they had been together for years.
Long may it continue.
He runs like an Olympian... trying to get him in last night was a nightmare... put me in mind of Benny Hill so it did. Mr B caught him in the end.
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spicycauldron
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| dpack wrote: | captain buttercup has settled in well with his ladies and has made a few conquests in the garden flock as well
chooks know best in such matters ,i let em get on with it and they sorted it out between themselves very nicely |
That's my boy! Good to know he's keeping himself busy. We miss having him around but I know he won't be missing much with all that land and all those ladies! 
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Mrs Baggins
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Mr Cockadoodledoo Hotspurs and his many wives are doing well and there is harmony in their home!
That went well. Where's the downside / disaster? 
He has also been crowing in competition with our neighbour's cockerel two fields away. Quite funny listening to them...
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Chez
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| Mrs Baggins wrote: | | That went well. Where's the downside / disaster? |
When he develops one or two favourites and the poor ladies lose all the feathers on their backs .... or he turns out to be firing blanks ... or he develops a feud with the dog ... or he escapes and gets stuck in that bush with all the prickles ... it could go on and on. Just don't think about it
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Mrs Baggins
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| Chez wrote: | | Mrs Baggins wrote: | | That went well. Where's the downside / disaster? |
When he develops one or two favourites and the poor ladies lose all the feathers on their backs .... or he turns out to be firing blanks ... or he develops a feud with the dog ... or he escapes and gets stuck in that bush with all the prickles ... it could go on and on. Just don't think about it |
Thanks. I'll look forward to all of those. 
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