We have a problem we have never encountered before in our flock, a large fowl rooster who can fly and regularly flies out of his pen, many times each day. I must catch him and put him back and he's right back out again within minutes. Deacon is 1/2 Delaware, but takes after his mother, who coincidentally, is the only LF hen I have who also can fly when she must to escape capture by one of the young cockerels, her son included. His mother is Tiny, my Ameraucana/EE/Sumatra lineage hen.
Deacon is very sweet and friendly and we like him very much. The problem is that, with him escaping the pen whenever he likes or his brothers or father hassle him, he is much more vulnerable to a predator. We do free range the flocks, but not when we are gone and not all day, every day, so they are penned about half the time or more. We have all manner of predator here, including a very recent gray fox who has been seen multiple times and who knows my chickens are here, though we've had no losses yet.
Deacon is a lean bodied rooster who has only one spur. The other leg has a raised area but no spur nub at all so he will be a " One Spur Wonder" all his life, however long that may be at this rate. Because of him having only one spur, I am worried that him losing his gift of flight may be hindering his ability to survive if attacked by something, though, trust me, I realize that most roosters don't survive anyway in a confrontation with a predator. However, in his case, I rather liken it to declawing an outside cat so it cannot defend itself.
The pen is too large to cover (2500 sf with huge trees inside it) and no other groups are suitable for him. The only covered pen I have belongs to the D'Anver bantams-no way he can go in there with those teeny hens and three feisty roosters.
The question is: Would you clip his wings and nip his gift of flight in the bud, though that my be his only defense against capture by a predator? Or, would you just let him keep on doing as he's doing and hope he evades death by predator if he's out when we are not aware or not at home? It may be good to know that we do not need Deacon for breeding, as he was an accident, so to speak, definitely an extra male; we are becoming attached to him so we hate for him to get himself killed by being an escape artist. We hate the look of clipped wings and of course, when he molts, they'll grow back, but maybe by then, he'd be broken of his habit. I'm very torn about this, but I may just be overthinking it.
We've never had to deal with this issue. Please tell me what you would do. Thank you.
This is Deacon, the problem child.
Deacon is very sweet and friendly and we like him very much. The problem is that, with him escaping the pen whenever he likes or his brothers or father hassle him, he is much more vulnerable to a predator. We do free range the flocks, but not when we are gone and not all day, every day, so they are penned about half the time or more. We have all manner of predator here, including a very recent gray fox who has been seen multiple times and who knows my chickens are here, though we've had no losses yet.
Deacon is a lean bodied rooster who has only one spur. The other leg has a raised area but no spur nub at all so he will be a " One Spur Wonder" all his life, however long that may be at this rate. Because of him having only one spur, I am worried that him losing his gift of flight may be hindering his ability to survive if attacked by something, though, trust me, I realize that most roosters don't survive anyway in a confrontation with a predator. However, in his case, I rather liken it to declawing an outside cat so it cannot defend itself.
The pen is too large to cover (2500 sf with huge trees inside it) and no other groups are suitable for him. The only covered pen I have belongs to the D'Anver bantams-no way he can go in there with those teeny hens and three feisty roosters.
The question is: Would you clip his wings and nip his gift of flight in the bud, though that my be his only defense against capture by a predator? Or, would you just let him keep on doing as he's doing and hope he evades death by predator if he's out when we are not aware or not at home? It may be good to know that we do not need Deacon for breeding, as he was an accident, so to speak, definitely an extra male; we are becoming attached to him so we hate for him to get himself killed by being an escape artist. We hate the look of clipped wings and of course, when he molts, they'll grow back, but maybe by then, he'd be broken of his habit. I'm very torn about this, but I may just be overthinking it.
We've never had to deal with this issue. Please tell me what you would do. Thank you.
This is Deacon, the problem child.
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for me personally, if I had decided that I wanted to keep him, I would not clip his wings as we have had nearly all of our attacks occur in the run. Many of ours escape every day and return before dark. (And travel quite far according to our game can set up for deer haha!) and all but one attack have occurred in the run. So I guess it depends on where you feel he is safer. Is he smart enough to fly back in if threatened? Also might want to consider things like your gardens come summer of course. Are you ok with him digging around the yard?
