crazy chicken weekend!!

[philc814]

It all started Friday at work, when a co worker said they were getting rid of some roos. I was thinking about a roo any way so instead of him ending up as soup i said i would take one. we picked him up after work and took him home. It was then I made my first chicken raising mistake. (first big one any way) Instead of letting him out of the cage inside the run my girls were all out free ranging any way so i figured he would just hang out with them until roosting time and follow them inside for the night..... OK how many of you are already laughing?? well as i always do when i get home i was giving the girls some treats but the roo was keeping his distance. understandable. so i tried to approach him to give him some treats. well it turns out this one year old roo was deathly afraid of people. why?????? i don't know. can only speculate, but I only got within about fifty feet of the little guy and he freaked out and i mean big time you would think i was killing him. so needless to say he was gone off my property in about two seconds flat. after about two hours of searching my wife and i found him about one hundred yards off our property and about forty feet up a tree. where we left him for the night. almost twenty four hours later he showed up at our fence but as soon as i got near the fence he was gone so i proped the fence up with a stick and put some food and water on my side and he came only long enough to eat. we found him roosting only about thirty feet from the fence last night, and this morning when he started to crow (just outside my neighbors window) i let the girls out and he came right in to them. my wife quickly fixed the fence and he has ben with them all day. he even got within about eight feet of me when i was handing out treats. so i hope when the girls roost Tonie he follows them in.. will keep you posted. but other than that, we also got our first two eggs, one yesterday and one today!!
ya gotta love chickens!
Phil.

 

[theoldchick]

Wow! You were lucky to get him back.

 

[philc814]

Well he didn't follow the girls in the coop like i had hopped so the hunt was on for the third straight night. we found him roosting near by. he was only about eight feet off the ground so we waited until after dark went out with a flash light and a step ladder. my son had to grab him by the legs and hand him over the fence. he wasn't happy (my son or the roo) but we did get him in the run with the girls unharmed. he is setteling in now. i made it up to him with plenty of treats today. lol

 

[Eggnog101]

I'm glad you found him!

 

[philc814]

Thanks, he was a lot of work this weekend and a big learning curve but i'm happy with him. he is worth it.