I don't know about this rooster.

[aart]

Low activity, not molting...not much nutrition needed maybe.

How does his body feel as far as musculature?

With only 3 hens, a laid back rooster might be just the ticket.

Chickens will teach you patience...not that that's any fun at all.
Hang in there.

 

[WthrLady]

Maybe.

But what about water? He doesn't even come out of his coop for water!

Today WAS the first day that I didn't have to shove him out of the coop. I opened all the doors to clean, as normal, and he wandered out to peek at the hens. Only for two minutes, then he climbed back in his own coop. Not the run, the coop. he wouldn't even come out to eat his breakfast, or water.


The first things the hens do is practically trample each other on the way to the water bowl.


As for his form, I have nothing to compare him to. Maybe a little boney, but my fat hens don't feel like butterball either.


I did take him 50 yards down into the hay meadow to see if he'd find his way home. He charged up the hill, crawled into his coop, and went to bed. Sigh.

One of his wattles has frostbite. It's dark and swollen on the end. Bummer. That -12* night caught up with us. Well vented coop and Vaseline didn't help. He must have found a draft.

 

[aart]

If he has a frostbit and swollen wattle he may not be feeling well....I wouldn't stress him with undue activity.
Hopefully the swelling recedes and doesn't get infected.

Maybe try soaking the pellets in water.... some birds won't do pellets...that would get some fluids in him.

 

[WthrLady]

If he has a frostbit and swollen wattle he may not be feeling well....I wouldn't stress him with undue activity.
Hopefully the swelling recedes and doesn't get infected.

Maybe try soaking the pellets in water.... some birds won't do pellets...that would get some fluids in him.

The frostbite is just in the past 4 days.

Will try soaking the pellets.

 

[lazy gardener]

Put them in very warm water, and let them soak up enough water that they're the consistency of cooked oatmeal. they shouldn't be runny. Perhaps put some fresh canned corn on top of them. If he's used to eating table scraps, give this boy some of what he's used to! With frost bite, he needs all the calories you can get into him so he can heal. Where he's alone, he doesn't have any one sharing body heat with him, and it sounds like he came from a warmer home.

 

[WthrLady]

Soaking pellets as we speak

 

[WthrLady]

UPDATE!

Well I went out to open the doors on his coop to let it fully air and see sun (pop door to run was already open), and OUT POPPED SCOUT!

I put his wet pellet crumbles in his bowl and he ate some, then he jumped out of the coop and over the electric fence hot wires.

He went over to the hen's yard. The girls were napping in the coop. (They have a coop, a covered, plastic wind break run, and a connected open air run/play pen. He circled their whole area once, and the girls came out to see what was up.

I told myself that after week two, if he looked and acted ok, then I was going to let him have visual access, but not physical play time with them. Well, darned if that bird didn't come alive !!!!

HE puffed himself up, threw up his collar and the ladies went wild! We were one step away from panties and bras being thrown on stage ! He spent, GET THIS, 45 minutes outside their playpen, talking to them, SCRATCHING for food, taking a DUST BATH - actually several, and going on around the compound patrol!!!

OMG he IS alive !

He's just been bored and LONELY!!!!!

After 45 minutes of prancing and eating, and digging and walking through snow, he wandered back to his coop for water and some more mashed food.

There just might be hope yet!!

 

[aart]

There ya go!!

If they've met with only the fence between them, biological quarantine has been made moot.

 

[CrazyTalk]

Chickens are very social - and very low on the food chain - for animals like that, nobody else being around basically sets off alarm bells - "Something ate all the chickens - hide!".

He probably just felt everything outside the coop was unsafe.

 

[WthrLady]

Agree about the bio quarantine.....he got away from me. I blew it.

I just have to cross my fingers. Sigh.

As for the social aspect....OMG it was so nice to see him alive. He wagged his tail and preened too !