My flock is now incomplete (tw: sad story)

[MaeM]

yesterday I woke up to my mom telling me that she couldn't find my cockerel. This cockerel I've been raising since he was 7 days old…

He wasn't in the coop or in the run, actually there was a hole in the wires I hadn't noticed and all my chickens were wandering in the backyard… But not him.

We looked for him everywhere in the backyard and even in the neighbour's backyard. Then in the streets.

I'm crying as I'm writing this… I don't think he'll ever come back. And I'll never know what happened. I assume he went out of the house somehow (even though there's a fence too tall for a 2mo old to fly over), and someone stole him (I live in the suburbs, not in a rural area).

So yeah… If something like this ever happened to you, how do you deal with the pain? The emptiness that you see in the coop/run even though you still have other chickens? Man, I've been told "ok but you still have three pullets to take care of", but I don't even want to get close to the coop/run now… I had really bonded with that cockerel, when he free ranged he used to come at me running with his wings open, he followed me around, he jumped to my lap when I sat in the garden… And now I don't know where he is or if he is okay…

 

[Ursuline Chick]

It is okay to grieve for your cockerel , I wouldn't give up on him yet. I don't know how light it is where you are, but he may just come wandering in, don't be surprised if he can fly over your fence. Keep looking and calling for him, in case he is injured and hiding.
The hole in your coop may have been made by a predator of some sort and your cockerel may have protected the rest of your flock. Worst case is he may have expired saving your hens and doing his job well. Please keep us up to date on what happens, I am so sorry you are going thru this.

 

[CluckerFamily]

I am so sorry. I would also be very upset if I lost my rooster even if he was doing his job and protecting the ladies.
You may already be planning to fix the hole because it could’ve been a predator that made the hole. If you use chicken wire, chicken wire is only good at keeping the chickens in the an area but it doesn’t prevent predators from breaking the wire to get into the chicken area.

 

[Angel07]

I hand raised a turkey from day dot. He would follow me around and would sit on my shoulder. He was about half grown and was wandering the yard and I ducked inside for half an hour. When I walked out he had been attacked at the head. i never found out what happened and it was really sad. I knew there was a possibility we’d eat him eventually but it was sad to have him die so needlessly.

Don’t give up hope, he might still come wandering back. We had a peahen disappear for a few months, we brought another to keep the male company thinking she was dead but she ended up coming back.

Good luck

 

[CHlCKEN]

I’m so sorry about this. It’s always so painful. I once lost all but 4 of my birds in one night and it was devastating . Greive for him, cry, think about him. Eventually you will start to feel better.

Patch up that whole before this happens again, or before a predator finds it.