I want to know about rooster! Please tell me if it's normal....

[Toi-toi]

I adopted silkie rooster a couple of weeks ago.
He is pretty big boy for 5month old ( he is about 15" high) but very sweet boy.
He is still afraid of me (I think, because when I try to pick him up, he will try to run) but when I pick him up, he will sit on my lap forever.
But he won't act like my girls!!
He doesn't eat much. I put food out about 1/2cup for him. He will take 2days to finish all.
He doesn't like bugs or worms. He won't eat treats like water melon, scratch or breads.
He won't scratch ground or eat grass like girls do.

Right now, he is in 12'x12' fenced in area during the day, and going to rabbit hatch for night.
Some day, I would like him to free range with my girls.
But he won't eat treats like girls, so not sure if I let him free range, I could catch him or not...

MY QUESTIONS ARE...

1. Why he won't eat much??? Because he is rooster? or because he is small eater??
2. Am I going to have hard time to catch him if I do free range? or he will follow girls and will learn to come to me??

Thanks!!!

 

[sumi]

My roosters don't eat as much as the hens either. I suppose they don't need the extra for egg production. If I give them treats they will call the hens to come eat and often miss out completely. I think your roo may not be familiar with treats. Maybe he didn't get any and didn't eat grass at his previous home. When I got my battery hens they didn't know what to do with grass and treats either. They would watch the other chickens eat it, but I had to really work on them to get them to eat it as well. They just didn't know what it was.

 

[HouseCat]

Roosters eat 10-25% of what a hen eats. You could feed a rooster for a week on what most hens eat in a day. Given enough time, he'll begin to eat bugs, worms, and grasses. I'm sure when he gets to go out with the girls, he'll perk up as well.

 

[harleyguy927]

Ive never had a roo, but I have noticed that no matter how tame my hens are they still put up a little bit of a fight when I try to catch/pick them up. They love to be held and petted but something tells them they are wild and its not natural to just stand there and let a human pick you up. They are not scared of me, and will almost set themselves on my lap if I'm sitting on the ground, but they still panic when I try to pick them up. Just survival instincts I guess.

 

[Toi-toi]

I took him outside for little bit today after I put girls in their pen.
It's funny that he won't eat grass in his fenced in area but he eats outside ones!
Also he took bread from my hand, too!
Give him little more time and he might learn more and act more like chickens.