Should I remove the roo from his girls?

[SycolinWoodsChickens]

We have 21 eleven week old chickens. 19 pullets and 2 roos. The roos get along together and have split the hens into two groups. BUT one of the roos keeps taking his hens as far as he possibly can away from our house. Yup, I know they wander and we are working on putting wire around our fence so they can't leave our yard (we have over 7 acres completely fenced). And we are working on a run and permanent house but in the interim we have to let them out to free range - which we supervise. Our ducks are out at the same time and have never left the yard. But every stinkin' time I turn my back or spend too much time in the garden the SS roo has taken the girls off our property.

So until we finish our projects to give them a safer home if I put the roo in chicken jail would the girls just hang out with the other hens? Or would they now wander away since they are used to being led to the neighbors yard? Just wondering.

 

[tuesdays chicks]

I think if you lock your roo up dog crate tether, whatever way you think is most convenient just make sure the pullets see him or know where he is. They probably won't stray too far from where he is.

 

[SycolinWoodsChickens]

That's what I suspected I need to do. How long can I keep him 'in jail' without free-ranging, etc? He would have access to food and water.

 

[sourland]

I wouldn't allow him to free range until your fence is completed. A couple of days in "jail" is not going to cure his wanderlust.

 

[Brown Farmer]

I have a maremma (livestock guardian dog) that I got to keep the coyote away from my goats. However, she does not let the chickens get too far from the barn even on our property.

 

[smk2010]

I finally penned my roos separately because they were either ganging up on the hens or doing like yours and taking them off our 19 acres. For the first 20 or so days after the roos were penned the hens stayed close to the roo pen. Much to my despair they are now leaving the property again. It's a pain to have to go out the old barbed wire fence and chase them around the woods behind our property! We need to finish re-fencing our property too.

Good Luck!