A CHICK MAGNET Website for lovelorn cockerels
IT’S not just humans in need of romance this Valentine’s Day.
Unlucky-in-love cockerels are being offered hope through a website that aims to match them with hens.
The British Hen Welfare Trust has set up the lonely hearts-style site to find homes for sad cockerels.
These chaps are already the chosen few. Repeated mating can exhaust females so only one male is allowed to survive for every eight to ten hens.
Cyril, a four-month-old in Yorkshire, is crowing about himself on the site.
He is described as: “Handsome good looks, sporty, enjoys early mornings and kitchen treats, among other animal passions. Dislikes offers to become Sunday dinner and neighbours who like quiet.”
Valder, Silver and Goldie are also looking for homes. At 17 weeks old they have started fighting
BHWT founder Jane Howorth said: “We love all poultry here and know that many cockerels struggle to find a home. We focus on the r ehoming of end- of- l ay commercial hens but felt it might OUR vet Brian Faulkner, from Petplan, has 16 years of experience and is a freelance working all over the country. Send your questions to Brian at: Petplan, Great West House, Great West Road, Brentford, Middlesex, TW8 9DX or via Petplan’s Facebook page facebook.com/ PetplanUK. be helpful to try to find chaps somewhere so they can live with a flock of hens, as nature intended.”
For many cockerels the website offers a last chance. Failing to find a home can mean they are culled.
Cockerels are less popular as pets than hens because they don’t lay eggs and crowing can be an annoyance. Some make hardly any noise at all but others can be crowing with all their lung power from the early hours. Backyard chicken keeping is on the rise but in more urban areas the noise can attract complaints f rom neighbours. Owners can even be charged over t he noise by environmental health officers. The BHWT has been running for 11 years and has rehomed 552,000 hens destined for the dinner table. They also provide education on welfare. To see if you can rehome a cockerel, visit bhwt.org. uk/cockerels. But love birds will have to wait until March to meet. The avian flu outbreak means poultry should not be shifted until a ban on moving them is lifted on February 28. OUR dog, who is six, has had three urinary tract infections in the past 18 months. They clear up with antibiotics – but why is she getting so many?
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