Castletown residents will not need reminding that ten cockerels were let loose on the town last month causing considerable concern and disruption. The ManxSPCA managed to catch all but three of the birds, not an easy task given cockerels are such good flyers, with two of the remaining birds mysteriously disappearing and one, sadly, being run over by a car on the by-pass.

Foul play (no pun intended) is suspected and it is rumoured that the Castletown cockerels were released as a prank. Castletown is not the only area to be experiencing cockerel problems, with the loud crowing made at daybreak being particularly difficult to live with, and the birds are regularly dumped all over the Island. Particular hot-spots are the Arboretum, Thoit-e-Will, Devil’s Elbow, the Switchback, Abbeylands and St Johns. Even though the cockerels roost in trees to evade predators such as polecats they generally lead miserable lives, with limited food sources, and they often succumb to malnutrition and disease.

Some of the cockerels are dumped by owners who simply can’t cope with them and who think they are giving the birds a chance of survival living out in the wild. The problem stems from irresponsible or ill-informed breeding, and the fact that chicken ownership is very popular – sales of bespoke chicken coupes are at all-time high, and the trend for fresh, home-produced food continues to be an upward one. Well-meaning chicken owners sometimes do not think of the consequences when they allow their hens’ eggs to develop into chicks, given that roughly 50% will be male chicks. This is where the cockerel problem starts.

If you do have too many male birds, please let the ManxSPCA know. The Society always does its best to find a solution, and keeps a database of landowners who will take cockerels – but it currently needs more names to go on this database. It urges chicken owners not to breed if they need more ‘layers’ and to rehome hens instead. The Society often has hens in its aviary, sometimes exotic ones, and so can help with the rehoming process.             

Photo - Two of the Castletown cockerels in the ManxSPCA’s Aviary.