gingersam Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 a bit of a silly question i guess but we are about to rescue a boy chicken and we wondered if it would be nice for him to have a girl for company but im unsure if she should be the same age and breed or can you mix any bird? any advice would be great, we know what we are letting ourselves in for as we already keep chickens, ive just fallen in love with him and hes kept on his own at the moment gingersam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amys garden Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 I'm not an experienced Chicken keeper but could the Lonely Boy go in with your Girlies? After a suitable period of introductions of course...? Hope all goes well and great that your rescuing a Roo. We can't have a Roo as we live in a terrace house, Roos are glorious though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersam Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 thank you for your reply, but it plays on my mind that he has been kept for breeding and now hes had his use that is it he spends all day at a garden centre in a cage on his own. he is much smaller than my other birds, sussex, orpingtons etc... so i wondered if he needed a smaller girl, and unfortunately we cannot put him in with our other girls as we already have a boy in with then, they are all around 13 weeks old. gingersam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amys garden Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 Oh if he's much smaller and you've already got a Roo then he prob can't go in with you existing flock . I'd get him two friends to keep him company as what I've read says chickens are flock animals and there not happy on there own. But one of the omleteers like Olly or Redwing or maybe Dogmother who have allot more experience would be able to answer you properly/factually as I'm a novice Chicken Keeper and they have allot of experience Good Luck with your new Roo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersam Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 thanks again Amys Garden but we you are right we are definately going to get him a couple of ladies, bless him. gingersam xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amys garden Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Yeah! Lucky Boy and lucky you getting to choose new Girls... What breed is he and what breed of Girls will you be getting to keep him company? Pics would be great! Hope he settles in well with you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortle Chook Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I would certainly get him some girly friends as chooks don't much like being on their own, though I think cockerels bear it better than hens. However you will need to get him more than one hen, as if he only has one wife, he would exhaust her and do too much damage to her head and neck feathers and her sides. The ideal ratio, according to the books, is one cockerel to 5 hens , however as they are often sold as trios many people must have one cockerel to 2 hens so you could start there and see how it goes. A cockerel who is smaller than his wives might not be able to father little chicks, but should otherwise be OK, however a cockerel who is larger than his wives would not be good as, again, he would do just too much damage to his petite wives. I've very sadly had to re-home a wee Frizzle this summer as she was just too small for my Silkie boy and was getting mollared. (Technical term there ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersam Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 thanks again for replies, we are getting his house tomorrow and we will get him on saturday, we didnt realise that the boys would exhaust the girls, and we dont really want them for breading, just beautiful pets so we will definately be getting him 2 girls now. ha ha we are hoping to get him a girl mille fleur, well thats what we have been advised to get him anyway just because she is a similar size. gingersam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortle Chook Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Do let us know what you get. Mille fleur are just beautiful - he'll be smitten, lucky boy Lemon is another lovely colouring. Just thought - do you mean a Mille Fleur Pekin or Sablepoot? Both are pretty as pretty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
