Something snatched my rooster :'(

[LibRat]

Hi. I've been reading (and posting a little) on this forum and have learned so much! Especially that no I am not crazy because I love my chickens lol I want to thank everyone for all of the valuable information. We had two chickens a hen Pookie and a rooster Dano. They were our pets and we kept them under 24/7 surveillance. They went outside with us or they were in their space (we fixed up the breezeway for them) or in the house with us. They were outside Saturday and my husband ran inside to get a cup of coffee and in less than 5 minutes our rooster disappeared! No noise or anything just some feathers and poor Pookie hiding in the corner behind her doghouse. She is not lacking attention (believe me) and my daughter put a stuffed animal in her box which she sleeps next to at night now. Will she be ok? Or should we get another chicken? She seems fine to me (except she is terrified to go back outside unless we are directly in her sight) but I am not a chicken

 

[blondie34]

Hi. I've been reading (and posting a little) on this forum and have learned so much! Especially that no I am not crazy because I love my chickens lol I want to thank everyone for all of the valuable information. We had two chickens a hen Pookie and a rooster Dano. They were our pets and we kept them under 24/7 surveillance. They went outside with us or they were in their space (we fixed up the breezeway for them) or in the house with us. They were outside Saturday and my husband ran inside to get a cup of coffee and in less than 5 minutes our rooster disappeared! No noise or anything just some feathers and poor Pookie hiding in the corner behind her doghouse. She is not lacking attention (believe me) and my daughter put a stuffed animal in her box which she sleeps next to at night now. Will she be ok? Or should we get another chicken? She seems fine to me (except she is terrified to go back outside unless we are directly in her sight) but I am not a chicken

SO sorry to hear about your loss

You really should get another chicken or two

chickens are social animals and benefit from being part of a flock. If you do not get another chicken your bird will become extremely reliant upon your company and unless you are able to spend all day with your chicken she is likely to get bored or stressed out which is bad for her health and can lead to unhealthy behaviors like feather picking.

how old is your surviving chicken? if she's broody you could pop some chicks under her and let her raise them

 

[LibRat]

Thanks for the reply! Well here's the story... We started out with 10 but I think we bit off more than we can chew because we really did not have the room so we kept two and the other 8 went to live with my in-laws. The two (Pookie and Dano) that we kept became part of the family quickly. In the house, truck rides, sleeping with the cat etc... They are about 3 1/2-4 months old and Dano started crowing so we were happy we had one of each. After Dano disappeared, we went to my in-laws and brought one of Pookie's brothers (Doogie)home. Not only is Pookie twice as big as her siblings (lol) but she crowed after we got home with Doogie! So now I don't know if she/he is a rooster or just a confused hen but either way Pookie took to Doogie right away and they are inseparable so happy ending for all! Dano is missed dearly but he was doing his job and protected Pookie from whatever got him and she is happy and healthy although a little unsure about going back outside.

 

[blondie34]

Thanks for the reply! Well here's the story... We started out with 10 but I think we bit off more than we can chew because we really did not have the room so we kept two and the other 8 went to live with my in-laws. The two (Pookie and Dano) that we kept became part of the family quickly. In the house, truck rides, sleeping with the cat etc... They are about 3 1/2-4 months old and Dano started crowing so we were happy we had one of each. After Dano disappeared, we went to my in-laws and brought one of Pookie's brothers (Doogie)home. Not only is Pookie twice as big as her siblings (lol) but she crowed after we got home with Doogie! So now I don't know if she/he is a rooster or just a confused hen but either way Pookie took to Doogie right away and they are inseparable so happy ending for all! Dano is missed dearly but he was doing his job and protected Pookie from whatever got him and she is happy and healthy although a little unsure about going back outside.

I'm glad she has a friend again! That worked out nicely that you could just take one back from your in-laws.

I've tried to raise one single chick before (my incubator spiked to 104 and only one chick successfully hatched) and it was cute for the first two days because it literally thought I was its mom and loved being handled but as soon as I would leave the room it would cry until it exhausted itself; I ended up getting a day old chick from one of my neighbors who just had a hatch and they're best friends

 

[LibRat]

 

[BakinInAZ]

I hope you have at least 1 hen & not two roosters. Have you seen the thread on chicken Math?

 

[LibRat]

No I'm fairly new... still reading! If it refers to the fact that I need one of each to make more chickens lol I'm not too worried about that right now. We don't have the room for many. And these guys are do spoiled that if there were any more they wouldn't get the constant attention they are getting now