My hens have a visitor, what it is? UPDATE #2

[Happy Chooks]

Glad it went well! It's beautiful! Love the last shot.

 

[Sweetpeaswan]

What a cutie...looks like your going to have a new friend!!

 

[downstownlady]

What a great AWWWHHHHHH moment for my day!!! Congrats on the new addition to your flock!!!

 

[Wifezilla]

Just a heads up...

There are diseases that chickens have a natural immunity to that game birds do not. You could end up with a dead chukar.

I keep my quail separate from my ducks for that reason.

 

[Terri O]

So pretty...wonder if I should add some? T

 

[littlethorn]

So awesome to get a free pet! This reminds me of a pet pigeon I had as a child. It just walked up the driveway one day so we just picked it up and put it in our bird pen and it started eating like nothing ever happened.

 

[FarmGirl01]

Its a cute little fella.

 

[fourgotten]

That is AWESOME! Chukkar are such pretty birds! We do find them here in the western part of the state (I know a spot with a very tiny Chukkar population just west of Eugene), but they do seem to prefer the other side of the Cascades.

 

[MakNugget]

Brief update:

When I came home Monday afternoon, the Chukar was gone. I checked the area just to make sure there wasn't any kind of foul (or should I say fowl play?) and couldn't find any. I did say it was voluntary confinement, so I said my farewell and let the chickens out. Not ten seconds go by and out it comes out of no where.

I'm sure it got bored and wondered where the chickens went. Anyways, since it wasn't leaving again, I caught it and released it in the run where it was happy to be pecking around with the girls. Not sure if the girls were all thrilled but they got over it.

So again comes time to put the girls away for the night and I wait to see if it would follow. The day before it had attempted several times up the ramp, even peeking in, but ply to turn around. It didn't try this time so I started to lock up and right as I was gathering my things to leave it decides it wants to go in (door closed). It's almost as bad as a cat! Anyway, three times we repeat this up down thing and at that point I just put it in.

Chickens were like WHAAAAAAT? Chukar was checking out the new digs, carefree (or clueless?) of the insults being flung at it.

I monitored remotely for the rest of the duration the lights were on and they seemed fine. I came out to wag my finger at them a couple times and they seemed to get the message. It was good for them to get the initial confrontation taken care of in the run with supervision. I watched them from work like a overprotective parent and no problems other than the girls drinking all the water out of the bowl that i set out for the chukar instead of their nipple waterer.

So now I'm going to attempt to imprint the chukar with the coop by keeping it in all day even while the girls are outside. I did hear some protest after it realized it was alone, but things are overall good. It also gives me some time to make sure it has enough food and water when the chickens are out.

Did I say brief? That darned cat was over again and was much more interested in the chukar since it's smaller than the cat and the chickens. Go away kitty

 

[Lbrad7]

This is such a cool story and beautiful pics!!! Thanks for sharing!

Hope things continue to go smoothly for you. The Chukar sure looks happy!