I rescued a day old feral chick when my golden comets were 6 weeks old. I was hoping Smudge was a hen but of course that wasn't the case. My sweet little boy is turning into a very handsome man, but he has a few issues. Although he does his little herding dance and his food song I've never seen him mount the girls although they crouch when he chases them. He's 8 months old and when he was young they bullied him, but could never catch him. Now they all live quite happily together but there's a problem at bed time. My girls have always been great at going into the coop to roost. They have free range in a large garden but I have a sparrow proof 6 x 8 ft pen attached to the coop and I lock this at night after they have gone to roost. There are no predators here but I do it so I know they are safe inside. When Smudge was being bullied he took to sleeping in the Frangipani tree. Now the tree is getting bare, and he has no shelter from the rain. Winter here is very wet, so I've been putting them all in the coop about 30 minutes before sunset.
This all went well for a few days and then the girls were both roosting in the pen which is not waterproof. It seems that Smudge is going to bed first but roosting at the top of the ladder and blocking the entrance. Every night I have to pick them up and put them in the front of the coop. Given the choice he will go in the tree, but when hurricane Humberto hit us it blew the transformer up just feet from where he sleeps so I don't want him there. he and the girls were safely inside with us of course. Can anyone help please?
This all went well for a few days and then the girls were both roosting in the pen which is not waterproof. It seems that Smudge is going to bed first but roosting at the top of the ladder and blocking the entrance. Every night I have to pick them up and put them in the front of the coop. Given the choice he will go in the tree, but when hurricane Humberto hit us it blew the transformer up just feet from where he sleeps so I don't want him there. he and the girls were safely inside with us of course. Can anyone help please?
