[mudman]

Really sorry to hear this.

We recently lost two (our last two) roosters. Both died protecting their girls, both were wonderful birds, gentlemen, even. When our black silkie rooster would find a worm or large bug he would call one of the girls over to enjoy it, never eating 'treats' himself.

The black silkie was the one we lost most recently. A large coopers hawk had attacked the girls but failed to kill any, we have some large birds. Alfredo (the black silkie) was half the size of some of the hens and though vicious he didn't stand much chance against the hawk. The following day I was doing some general cleanup in the coop and I found a clutch of eggs behind the feed buckets, a very hidden and private spot. We had never hatched eggs before but curiosity and the chance to build our flock up with genes from a good bird provoked me to try. We now have 7 beautiful little birds and at least one is a rooster!