Show off your Old English Game Bantams!!

[Wickedchicken6]

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[WVduckchick]

Absolutely, GORGEOUS boy WVduckchick. Is this the same rooster that you showed me a picture of over on Old Folks?

Thanks! I'm pretty sure I showed you his daddy, Darryl. This is Darryl Junior, from one of last summers broody hatches. Shaping up nicely, I think.

 

[WVduckchick]

This question came up on a breed/gender thread and we (I) decided to move it here for more folks thoughts

Lol! WVduck, I figured no one would see it under this topic. I thought I was putting it under a OEGb thread. It was supposed to go to General Breed discussion but don't see it .Basically, I want to know the good, bad and  the ugly about the cockerels and taking care of them,  how the situations are handled, etc. Thanks.

I only currently have 2 pens of OEGBs. One is all silver duckwing. My cockerel is the daddy of most of the girls, a couple girls came from Ravyn.

In that pen, I also kept one of his sons. They get along fairly well, the younger ones were raised by a hen in there, so daddy Darryl is excellent with them. One of the adult hens also keeps the little boy in line. My OEGBs are the friendliest, easiest birds to handle that I have.

Others can chime in also.

 

[gootziecat]

I was investigating this breed, to read the cockerels had to be separated very young in order to keep from bloodshed or worse. It pretty well stopped my pursuit as I've been down that road before. That's why I was interested how the cockerels and roosters were kept, handled, and how them were to keep in general. Let's face it, in a good year you get about half cockerels in a hatch.

 

[WVduckchick]

From my limited experience, I think males raised together haven't been too bad, and young ones raised with, and partly by, the older ones have been ok. But if my 2 unrelated ones get near each other, they try to fight.

 

[Ravynscroft]

I was investigating this breed, to read the cockerels had to be separated very young in order to keep from bloodshed or worse. It pretty well stopped my pursuit as I've been down that road before. That's why I was interested how the cockerels and roosters were kept, handled, and how them were to keep in general. Let's face it, in a good year you get about half cockerels in a hatch.

If they're separated, they usually don't do well being put back together when they're older... but I've raised many cockerels together without issues... an all bachelor pen works well also, no females to stir them up...

But I have a whole flock of self blues, at one point there were 15 hens and 4 cocks... no problem... there's an occasional spat/dominance scrap, but that's it... if you want to introduce a new cockerel, put him in with the older cock while he's too young to challenge the older and that seems to work out best...

 

[bantiesrule]

Don't separate them while they are young, I my experience, as long as they are raised together they usually get along. Usually the head rooster will keep the youngsters in line without too much fighting, only as he gets older and someone else tries to become the leader do more tussles arise but they are usually settled without too much bloodshed. The problem arises when you try to introduce new roosters to the flock, that can be a complete bloodbath. Even if you have 2 or more roosters in your flock that get along well, if you try to add someone new, it becomes a free-for-all.





eta: You beat me to it RavynFallen.

 

[microchick]

I dunno, gootziecat, I have one OEGB cockerel and one OEGB/Cochin cross cockerel that are just 5 months old and are at the moment in with my full sized flock of hens and roosters. So far I have seen no real combat between any of the males. Once I saw the more dominate of the two bantams decide to challenge one of the smaller full sized roosters. It lasted maybe two minutes when the bantam suddenly realized he had bitten off more than he can chew and fled. The two bantams occasionally give one another a peck. No fighting. They do try to mate my full sized hens. Kinda funny to see one of the diminutive boys riding around on the back of a Welsummer hen like a cowboy on a bronc and the hen ignoring him.

I have 11 more oegb eggs going into lockdown tonight. I'm anxious to see what happens with the inevitable young cockerels that hopefully will hatch in the next few days.

 

[gootziecat]

All info interesting and much good advice. Invariably, at some point, one brings in new blood for one reason or another. I am going to assume the only sane way to do it is to buy hens. But you also have new hatches, not only several perhaps during one season, but many over several seasons. How do you handle saving cockerels and still having the older ones around?

Also I'd be interested in if roosters are docile and friendly or if they have a high ratio of aggression. Thanks.

BTW, where in WV are you WV duckchick? I'm in Hampshire Co.

 

[chickendreams24]

This question came up on a breed/gender thread and we (I) decided to move it here for more folks thoughts
I only currently have 2 pens of OEGBs. One is all silver duckwing. My cockerel is the daddy of most of the girls, a couple girls came from Ravyn.

In that pen, I also kept one of his sons. They get along fairly well, the younger ones were raised by a hen in there, so daddy Darryl is excellent with them. One of the adult hens also keeps the little boy in line. My OEGBs are the friendliest, easiest birds to handle that I have.

Others can chime in also.

I was investigating this breed, to read the cockerels had to be separated very young in order to keep from bloodshed or worse. It pretty well stopped my pursuit as I've been down that road before. That's why I was interested how the cockerels and roosters were kept, handled, and how them were to keep in general. Let's face it, in a good year you get about half cockerels in a hatch.

From my limited experience, I think males raised together haven't been too bad, and young ones raised with, and partly by, the older ones have been ok. But if my 2 unrelated ones get near each other, they try to fight.

Don't separate them while they are young, I my experience, as long as they are raised together they usually get along. Usually the head rooster will keep the youngsters in line without too much fighting, only as he gets older and someone else tries to become the leader do more tussles arise but they are usually settled without too much bloodshed. The problem arises when you try to introduce new roosters to the flock, that can be a complete bloodbath. Even if you have 2 or more roosters in your flock that get along well, if you try to add someone new, it becomes a free-for-all.





eta: You beat me to it RavynFallen.   

All info interesting and much good advice. Invariably, at some point, one brings in new blood for one reason or another. I am going to assume the only sane way to do it is to buy hens. But you also have new hatches, not only several perhaps during one season, but many over several seasons. How do you handle saving cockerels and still having the older ones around?

Also I'd be interested in if roosters are docile and friendly or if they have a high ratio of aggression. Thanks.

BTW, where in WV are you WV duckchick? I'm in Hampshire Co.

I can't speak too much about this, as we haven't had many OEGB yet, but I think just like most breeds of chickens the line really matters as to whether or not they show not just people aggression but also aggression towards other cocks.

We've had three OEGB roosters our first was a hatchery bbr named Nugget. He was a great little cock but had a dominant streak and was constantly starting things with our second OEGB cockeral, Mickey. Mickey was our black boy and number 1 man. Sadly we lost Mickey in January to a fox.

Last summer however we adopted another OEGB roo a SDW named Draco. We did the look but don't touch introduction method with Draco and his girls and after asserting his(Mickey's) dominance they never fought again.

All of this while they were also in the mixed flock with the large fowl cockerals. All of the lf boys backed down to Mickey but he was also the senior rooster, as in 2016 we had to start over with roosters(except Mickey) due to predators. Mickey was a good flock master and kept the other boys in line but was not a bully. While he didn't back down from a challenge he would quickly assert himself and then let it go.

We miss Mickey terribly.

None of our boys are people aggressive we don't keep birds that are. We have had maybe three experiences where our OEGB cocks have raised their hackles at us. Draco once attacked my hand when I was catching a hen and she was startled and bawked. I had a small bruise on the back of my hand where he pecked me. That was it nothing more. Mickey once pecked me when I startled him as a juvenile and picked up his mate. Other than that I never had problems with my boys.

They've all been very docile Draco and Mickey both would always fall asleep in your arms when picked up. I love my OEGB the hens and the cocks and hope to always have them. Once I find another cock or two that have the temperaments I'm looking for I plan to keep and breed them.

If you're hesitant to get a cock try out a pullet would be my suggestion. We only plan to separate cocks from the main flock for breeding.