Brides for Sparticus the Cockerel

[DrSlippers]

My large hen Eric successfully incubated one egg from 6 Pekin Bantam eggs I bought via Ebay.
It turned out to be a cockrel, I named him Sparticus.
His love for his 'mother' quickly turned physical, ie: he is constantly bonking her.
So today I bought 2 Pekin pullets as more suitable mates for Sparticus.
To start with I've put the newcomers in a separate pen and Sparticus & Eric have met them only through a fence.
Whilst Eric seems indifferent to them, Sparticus is obviously very keen to join them and they seem quite interested in him too!
Initially I planned to let them settle in for a few days before making the introductions, he seems so keen though, that I may let him in with them (under my supervision) tommorrow.
Does anyone think this is too soon?
Also, I'm a little unsure on when to introduce Eric onto the scene- do I let them in together or wait until after Sparty has settled in with the pullets?

Here's a photo taken from my excellent vantage point in my greenhouse: Sparticus can be seen meeting the new birds through the fence.
He likes them, they like him. Or so it seems.
I would be greatfull, as always, for any advice from the forum.

[Annpan]

Having never (as yet) kept chickens, I don't have any advice for you.

I just wanted to say your story and the names of your chooks, made me smile

[Shirley]

I'd leave it a little longer myself... read this excellent advice from Stoney on his blog

[Millymollymandy]

I only have experience of introducing 2 new hens to 3 older hens, which didn't go down very well and they took months to settle down together. However you've got 2 oldies and 2 newcomers which evens things out, though I've no experience of cockerels so don't know how he'd react.

I think it would be best to wait a bit longer - let the new hens get used to you and their new surroundings first.

[Stonehead]

Put the cockerel and older hen in with the younger hens at the same time. They have an established relationship but they'll be on new territory so it should work out. You will need to keep an eye on things, though.

While not ideal, it's okay to breed poultry mother-to-son, but you should never breed sibling to sibling.

If your cockerel is a bit too randy, you may need to up the number of hens by another two or three to give individual hens a break. Our main breeding cockerel, Johnny, has to have six hens in with him - if he has less he is in serious danger of shagging his favourite ones to death.

[Annpan]

Didn't you get the fertilised egg from elsewhere, in which case, the mum is just a surrogate anyway, or has it got more to do with the sizes of the birds???

[DrSlippers]

Thanks for the link Shirley, an excellent blog Stonehead.

Eric is Sparty's surrogate mum, the fertilized eggs I got off ebay.
I bought the new hens from the same breeder who sold me the hatching eggs.
Knowing his genetic history she kindly provided birds she thought would be the best mates for Sparticus to breed with.
It was great to see Sparty's parents and some of his siblings on the farm.
I was also chuffed to find that Sparticus's brother has been entered into York show.

I've tried to start with the best gene pool I can in my trio, who should provide me with quality offspring in the future I hope.

Eric is a lot bigger than Sparticus (Pekin bantam) but I believe that they could eventually mate successfully; she's doing her best to help him now.

Hopefully I'll have some hatching eggs to barter next year, some pedigree pekin others from the outrageous Eric/Sparticus cross!

(I don't know what breed Eric is, she has a full beard and bushy eyebrows, a 'Rock' body shape and grey legs.)

[Stonehead]

Thanks for the link Shirley, an excellent blog Stonehead.

Thanks. Hopefully it's proved useful.