How long to save TJ's life?

[gritsar]

TJ is a LF brahma cockerel, 5 1/2 months old. TJ was hatched in my mixed flock coop and lived there until recently. It became painfully obvious that TJ was growing too large to safely mate the various breed hens in that coop. He weighs 6 lbs. and is already taller than my adult brahma hens. He needs to move to the brahma coop.

The brahma hens need a rooster, having lost theirs - TJ's sire - recently.

First I tried confining TJ to a wire crate in the brahma coop. I couldn't just turn him loose in the coop because I was afraid the brahma girls would gang up on him. The old gals just don't agree with my feeling they need a rooster. Also, the pop door on that coop has to be open all day for the girls to have access to their nestboxes. As soon as I would turn him loose he'd re-join his original flock.

TJ spent some time on the screened porch, but that was only a temporary fix.

Now I am confining TJ to the wire crate in the brahma coop at night and confining him to a larger wire crate in the brahma's yard during the day. It's a huge hassle. I have to check his water many times a day - he has a knack for spilling it, move the crate several times a day so it is in complete shade and then move him to the other crate within the coop at night.

Will he eventually get the idea that he belongs with the brahma girls? He's calling them to share in his food (which of course they can't reach through the bars) and crowing alot.

If it doesn't click with TJ soon, he'll have to leave the farm by ax or by re-homing.

 

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you should try leaving the brahma hens out let TJ with them and move the others somewhere else for about a week so he can get used to them and want them insted of his origanal flock

 

[JulieNKC]

Could you maybe put the top one or 2 brahma ladies in the cage with him for a day or 2? Maybe then he'd make friends, and they'd help him integrate in with the rest of the girls?

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Quote:
I need to catch up on my reading. I thought that door you were using for a "cow necklace"?

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
I need to catch up on my reading. I thought that door you were using for a "cow necklace"?

You're so funny

NOT

The pop door, actually the entire door with a pop door within it, that the cow stole was off of the brahma coop. They now have a wonderful screen door, the one I wanted for their coop all along. So help me if a cow ever manages to get close enough to their coop to damage this one

 

[gritsar]

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you should try leaving the brahma hens out let TJ with them and move the others somewhere else for about a week so he can get used to them and want them insted of his origanal flock

Both of the flocks free range. If it wasn't over a 100 degrees outside (and forecast to stay that way for awhile) I would simply leave the younger birds in their coop for a few days; it's plenty big enough. But no, being locked in a coop in this heat just doesn't seem right to me.​

 

[Sassafras]

do you have any temporary fencing to keep him in with a few of them? A few step in posts with some welded wire fence?

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Quote:
If he was here, even in the heat, I would keep him in the coop - in a kennel/crate - for a few days (three?) both day and night. That way I do not have to worry about shade for him, and he

bonds with the coop. Then I would let him out. The first couple nights, if I could - get down there before roosting and feed some treats in the coop to lock him and the girls up. I would also have a serious talk with him about his choices - the big girls' house, freezer camp or off farm living.

 

[zazouse]

I would put him in there on the roost at night and see if things work a little better when he wakes up with a new flock.
Can you post a photo of him pleeeeese, i may have already seen one but not sure.

 

[gritsar]

Well having just discussed it with DH, I am not going to put TJ in his crate in the coop tonight. He's going on the roost with the girls, even if I have to catch him to put him back in his outside crate tomorrow. Here's hoping the brahma girls don't kill him before I can get down to the coop in the morning.

Horsey, he was confined for about a week total before I turned him loose in the brahma yard. The yard is not designed to keep chickens in, only to keep cows out. The minute he was out there he made a beeline for his old coop.

I do have the parrot cups attached to the side of the crate. Somehow the numpty still manages to spill it.

zazouse, I don't have any current pics. Here's two from when he was about 12 weeks old:

And with his dad: