Am I crazy??? Chicken depression!!!

[Southern28Chick]

My 1 year old roo has lived by himself in a section of the chicken yard for about 11 weeks now. I've let him out a couple of times for "supervised visitation" with my almost 17 week old pullets. For the past 2 nights I noticed his poops are very small...I mean VERY small. Like smaller than a dime!!! I'm not sure how much he's eating, he never eats his Rooster Booster feed that I've bought just for him, he usually eats bugs and grass. I felt his crop which seems to be a normal size.

Could he be depressed because he's not getting the "chicken loven" he was used to when he lived with hens his age at his last home? Should I just let him move in with my girls who will be 17 weeks old on Monday? He's lice/mite free now and lookin for love. Would it be ok now that the girls are getting closer to laying age? I want my girls to be safe and stress free but I'm also now really attached to my roo and I don't want him to be sad and get sick from depression.

 

[eggcetra_farms]

Don't you have 20 some chickens? I say let the poor boy get some!

 

[Southern28Chick]

Quote:
Yeah I have 23 girls, one is blind and has her own house and run so he can only get to 22 of them. They're still young though. Is that ok?

 

[eggcetra_farms]

At 17 weeks they should be ok. I'd only ever seen my roosters go after my girls when they were within days of laying. I don't think they really bother with the ones that aren't "ready." Just my experience though.

 

[justusnak]

At 17 weeks...I think your hens will be safe with the roo. My gals were raised with thier roo...and not a problem. They are just now laying...and...well..he is being the big daddy he wants to be!

I would put them together. They will be fine.

 

[Southern28Chick]

I only ask because he has been rough with them lately. One of my poor girls had the meat pulled off the back of her neck by him. I don't have any older girls so my younguns is all he has. He's tries to man handle them.

 

[Frizzledhen]

My roo was pretty rough with the girls too when I first put him in with them. After a couple of weeks he has turned into a perfect gentleman. The ladies follow him around and make a big fuss over him now. I was constantly worried that he would hurt one of them but he never did. He was just very anxious to be a real roo I guess. Time has mellowed him, or maybe he is just plain worn out.

Gayle
Chi lady in Michigan

 

[Southern28Chick]

Tomorrow I'll try some unsupervised visitation. I already know he got one of my EE's the other day. I couldn't get to them fast enough to stop it. I guess I shouldn't stop it. They're my baby girls though. It's fuuny that all the other girls were standing around in a circle watching.

 

[eggcetra_farms]

He probably will be rough at first. Just think of a man getting out of prison or something..... I'm sure after a while he'll calm down.

 

[equine chick]

My roo was pretty rough on my girls so last week i placed him in solitary. I hoping to be able to replace back with the girls in a couple of weeks. He pecked a redstars head til i saw blood and she was traumatized by him. To tell you the truth they seem alot happier without him, but who knows maybe they will learn to miss him.