Poor confused little roo - what to do??

[gritsar]

Following the death of my great roo Thor a week or so ago I moved his son TJ from the coop he was hatched and raised in to the brahma coop as the new leader for my brahma girls; one of which is his mother.

The brahmas free range all day. TJ is in a crate in their coop at night to protect him from the hens. Most of the hens just ignore him, crate or not, but I don't want to take any chances.

The new routine is that I go into the coop in the morning, let TJ out of his crate and then turn all of the brahmas out through the pop door. TJ immediately makes a bee-line for his old coop (those birds are let out a bit later).

TJ is very confused. One minute he's calling to the hens to offer them something he's found to eat, but the minute they get close he runs away from them. If there's a commotion in the coop (like there was this morning) TJ makes his bawking noises and runs in there; only to run right back out when he sees the hens. If I lock him in the brahma's chicken yard - it's not really locked in, he just hasn't figured out how to go around it - he paces back and forth in front of the fence making pitiful noises. At night I have to retrieve TJ from his old home and carry him to the brahma coop for the night.

The boy just ain't getting it! No more having to share with his brothers in the bigger coop. He now has 12 hens all to himself.

TJ is 4 months old. How long until he connects the dots? He's driving me up a wall!

 

[terrilhb]

Poor baby. I would just give him sometime. I hope it all works out. good luck

 

[chicmom]

TJ is still a baby really.....That's hard to watch, huh? I always feel so sorry.....My chicks start in a brooder in the basement, then they go to the smaller A-Frame coop (I call it the baby coop), and then when they out grow that, they go to the big hen house.

It never fails, everytime I make the transition to the hen house, the young ones always try to get back into the baby coop. I would imagine, as soon as TJ matures and crows and gets that testosterone going, he will be adjusted and become a good leader for your hens. I'm thinking it'll take another month or maybe even two months.

 

[BrattishTaz]

He will figure it out eventually. I didn't know about Thor.

I swear I am as attached to your birds as I am my own.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:

You're so sweet! Thor had a chronic leg problem that I wasn't able to remedy. When his quality of life went in the toilet, it was time to put him out of his misery. Put it off longer than we should have actually, but DH was as attached to him as I was. He was a beautiful, good-natured roo.

That's why it's so important to me to take the best care of TJ (Thor, Jr.) that I can. He's the only cockerel I got out of Thor. There's a younger chick - 11 weeks old - sired by Thor, but I'm now 99% certain it's a pullet.

TJ crows (mainly to get my attention) and he tries to mate the younger hens from the coop he was raised in, but he's scared to death of the brahma girls. Not that I blame him; they are really big girls.

Last night I almost gave in and took him back to his original coop. He was in his crate when one of my most docile hens, Chloe, approached his crate. Now I know Chloe well. She was only interested in what he had to eat in his bowl, but TJ didn't know that. He backed into the far corner of his crate, as far away as he could get, and sat there whimpering.

 

[Mrs. K]

You might try adding another rooster, if you have one, one of his hatch mates? for just a while. In about a month, the hormones will begin to kick in, is he bigger than the hens now?

MrslK

 

[A.T. Hagan]

He's a little young yet. He'll grow into his role.

 

[gritsar]

Mrs. K :

You might try adding another rooster, if you have one, one of his hatch mates? for just a while. In about a month, the hormones will begin to kick in, is he bigger than the hens now?

MrslK

I have two other cockerels, out of Impy, but they are settled in nicely in the other flock. TJ is as big as the grown brahma hens. He was trying to mate the hens in his original flock, but not the brahma girls.

TJ is going to be a very large rooster like his daddy. Much too large for most of my hens. That's why it's so important that he settle into his new role as leader of the brahma flock. Thor never bothered or tried to mate the smaller hens because he had 12 hens all to himself and was content with that.​

 

[gritsar]

A.T. Hagan :

He's a little young yet. He'll grow into his role.

That's what I keep telling myself. He's a brahma and they are babies for the longest time. Still, he's frustrating me and breaking my heart at the same time. I want to fix all his problems for him.

 

[Happy Chooks]

He's still young.

My rooster, Moose, was horribly beaten up by my older hens. Then he "matured" and climbed the pecking order 1 hen at a time, starting with the lowest ranking female.

Soon he was top roo with them.

It'll happen with your guy too, just give him some time.