Should I let one of my cockerals hang out and get huge?

[Pollokeeper]

I am raising birds for meat purposes. But, I love the look of the big cockerals in the nieghborhood. People have them for trophies it seems like in my neighborhood. Are they beneficial? Some of the cocks I have in my neighborhood are as big as a house! Just kidding. But, since I have so many ferrel chickens etc in my yard would a big cockeral be beneficial as a body gaurd for the crew? Just asking. One of my problems is that the ferrel chickens are constantly probing to get into my pen and eat my feed and I was wondering if a cock would help keep some of this riff raffe out.

 

[Pollokeeper]

sorry about the double posts. Computer running so slow I didn't know better.

 

[Illia]

I have a LOT of boys around, and they're plenty big (10-14 pounds) and they serve many great benefits. . . But I don't think what you're looking for is something they will solve. If there are ferals around, they'll likely try and just mate with them (unless they're also cockerels, then they'll fight a lot.

A rooster (or cockerel) has the duties of watching out for his ladies, doing his duty with them, and giving them food, tidying their nests, etc. They aren't really good for keeping other chickens off - That's what fences are for.

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
In all the years I kept chickens, I have never, ever, seen a rooster "tidy a nest". All the rest, yeah, they do that, but where did you get that from?

 

[lil'chicken]

Quote:
In all the years I kept chickens, I have never, ever, seen a rooster "tidy a nest". All the rest, yeah, they do that, but where did you get that from?

I've seen many a rooster make nests for his girls

 

[dancingbear]

Really? I've never seen that, in many years of raising chickens. I'll have to watch closer, and see if I'm missing something.

I've seen them call hens over, and feed them treats from their own beaks, stand guard over the flock, chase off upstart cockerels, call warnings if they see a threat, and I had a roo that slept in nest boxes, and let young chicks climb all over him and cuddle in at night to stay warm. He never tidied a nest, or made a nest, he just slept in them. And pooped in them, I had to tidy it after him.