Found this rooster living in the woods next to my house!!! Help I want to catch him!! Someone droppe

[ramirezframing]

trust me, that roo can outrun even the best human! Do not ever run after or chase chicken to catch them, as you will find it is impossible. They are a prey animal and if you act like a predator they will do anything they can to get away from you and they are good at it.

Best ways to catch them are to lure them with food and move slowly. Try using some old fencing and make a triangle that is open on the flat end and ends in a cage or kennel in the pointy end. Lure him into the funnel with food and walk slowly behind him until he goes into the kennel. If the kennel is large enough he will go in and especially if there is no other place to go.

I use to chase down super when I was a kid. Had extra roos out lose in the yard. You had to be in shape, quick, and be able to turn on a dime! It wasn't easy, but I did several times. Wish I could move half as well now as I did than! But my dad always laughed watching me chase them down, ah the good old days.

 

[choptank330]

I think we all wish we were in that shape!!

 

[ramirezframing]

I think we all wish we were in that shape!!

it helped that I played soccer and did cross country in school

 

[Bluebells]

Could be a kind of Orpington. I have an Orpington cockerel hatched last June so nearly five months old, that looks very much like your guy. Gorgeous bird!

Our Henry hatched from a hatching egg from an Orpington breeder who only keeps Orpingtons. (By the way, this breeder is located very near the town of Orpington!) Henry is definitely some kind of cross, maybe silver laced with splash? He was supposed to be one or the other himself.

I am looking for a home for Henry and his three brothers (splashes and one silver laced)--so depressing as it is only the crowing. Orpingtons do not fight, I am told and my observations confirm this. Cockerels just establish a pecking order and then peacefully co-exist. We love getting eggs, but also love our little cockerels as we've handled them since they hatched. They are very tame and have such sweet faces, the splashes especially. Eric, a beautiful white splash is my son's favourite.

Caponising is illegal in the UK, and would probably be too expensive if it were legal. Boxing: we tried this with an araucana a couple of years ago and it did not work--fortunately found a home for that one, but they had to sell their farm last spring and he ended up in someone's soup. But even if boxing worked, then there is the daytime crowing and we live in a fairly densely populated area.

Now I am curious whether you managed to catch your gorgeous cockerel, and whether he is still alive. Thank you for these beautiful photographs! What fun to be a free cockerel in the woods! How is he managing to evade all the predators? And where do you think he sleeps at night?

 

[Bluebells]

I guess he never returned as the last post is over a year ago. I am so sorry.

At least he enjoyed his last days on the planet, or of that incarnation! Hope your new roosters and hens are doing well.

 

[offgridhermit]

Darn, I was reading this entire post and was looking for a happy ending with the roo caught and given a good life with some hens.

 

[Bluebells]

Hi there, Hermit, and happy New Year, All!

I just wanted to share that over the last couple of months I have learned the following:

1) Orpington cockerels live together and do not fight. They just establish a hierarchy. The alpha cockerel seems to be the one who crows, the others crow very little, usually very late in the morning if at all.

2) One can keep all sorts of cockerels together peacefully provided one keeps the hens away.

3) There are two animal rescues in England that take cockerels and keep them for the remainder of their lives in this fashion. They charge £25 per cockerel.

4) There is another rescue in England that joins rescue cockerels with a few rescue hens and finds these groups new homes.

5) There used to be a farm that would take a cockerel provided it was paired with a hen, i.e. mated monogamously. A couple of years ago, I had such a pair and felt very lucky. They were very happy at that farm, but then recently the owner had to sell her farm and rehome all the animals and fowl. Unfortunately, my pair was no longer a pair so I infer the cockerel was put into the soup pot.

The notion that cockerels will fight to the death and therefore cannot be kept together seems wide spread. I am so pleased to know it is not the case.

Given the old sport of cock fighting--what is the real story here? I infer that in nature, cocks will fight until one gives up and runs away as it happened in my back yard. In the fighting arena, a retreat would be impossible and thus the fight would end in death. Is this true?

We really wanted to hatch our own hens and instead had five cockerels, which fortunately we were able to rehome. However, I don't know whether I can go through this again but we are once again talking about having chicks. What will we do this time?

Are there any breeds that could survive in the woods longer term, like the pheasants? I have heard the pheasant survives because it flies up into trees where it is safe from the fox. Is this true?

Are there any flighty cockerels?
Has anyone managed to teach chickens to fly up into trees?

Happy New Year!

Liz