There's a chicken on my roof :-\

[NoVA Chicks]

I got three bantams Araucana on Friday, one hen, one pullet, and one unknown 3 month old. I kept them in the house the first night because it was very cold and windy out and I wasn't quite done with their coop. When it was ready, I moved them out there and they seemed to be doing fine. I had read that you should confine chickens in a new coop for several days to get them used to it before letting them free range. My plan was initially let them range in a small fenced area and then eventually give them free run of our yard--about half an acre. I've been going out and checking on them twice a day and they seemed to be settling in well.

At some point today after 7am (when I checked on them) they got out of the coop. I have a hook and eye closure on the door, so I'm not sure how it was opened--no one else was in the yard--but I looked out around 2pm and saw 2 of them pecking away in the yard. It was the hen and the maybe rooster. They ran under the bushes when they saw me. The pullet was up near the house and when I got close to her SHE FLEW OVER THE HOUSE!!! I ran through the house and out the front and she was up on the roof so I yelled at her and she ran back over to the back side of the roof. I haven't seen her since. The maybe rooster (we're calling him Pat) came up on my deck when it got dark but when I went out to get him in flew into a magnolia tree. It's full dark now and I went back to check the coop hoping they'd gone back in but no luck.

So what should I do? I left the coop open with food and water. Will they come back???

 

[artsyrobin]

i would try getting some bread or a treat and try to coax them down, maybe get a light on, might help- treats are a good way to get them moving... hope that helps

 

[SurprisingWoman]

I would take a light and go see if you can find them while they are roosting. They will be easier to catch while they are sleeping and you will sleep better too!

 

[Plain Old Dee]

There's no sure answer for your question. They either will or they won't. Sounds harsh, but it's true. We got lucky. We bought an OEG roo to put with our mutt hens. We brought him home on a Friday night and left him in the transport cage on the front porch. The cage was plenty roomy and the porch was covered, so he was perfectly safe. The next morning, instead of being smart and carrying the cage down to the henhouse (we didn't even THINK about quarantine), daughter opened the hatch to the cage and reached in to grab the roo. He went wild and flew right up in her face. She flinched and backed off, and he was history. We tried to catch him for two hours without success. I told the family not to worry about catching him - he was gone. We got another rooster from the same place. A couple of days later, DH told me to look outside. There was the roo - in the tree line at the edge of the pasture. He was crowing, and his replacement roo (in the henhouse) was answering him. We started throwing a bit of scratch on the ground near the henhouse, and the wild roo got a bit bolder and more and more complacent. One day, after about two weeks, the daughter saw him napping on top of a round bale of hay. She snuck up on him and snagged a leg before he could fly off. Roo got stuffed back in the transport cage, but he didn't seem to mind - he had all the food he could eat and plenty of water. Since he was a fairly aggressive roo, we gave him to a neighbor - we didn't want any fighting in the henhouse!

 

[NoVA Chicks]

To make matters worse the sky has opened up and it's pouring down rain.

I really hope they're okay out there.

 

[evonne]

aaww

good luck....

 

[PlumTuckered]

Out of my 50 chickens I have a few stubborn ones that like to roost in a tree or on a window sill. You can go around with a flashlight and pick them up and put them to bed, they'll be super easy to pick up in the dark. Or you can leave them be and take a treat outside tomorrow ...holler (with a sweet voice) chick chick chick and they'll come running for the treats. My stubborn girls will roost all night in the rain, the next night they usually head straight for the coop at dusk LOL

Michelle

 

[19hhbelgian]

I just recently had the same problem with a phoenix rooster that I got from a friend... The roo and his GF aren't used to handling, so when a giant moves in to try and scoop them up, they tend to freak out a bit (can't imagine why

). Well, the roo flew out of the pen and into the driveway. Luckily my other chickens were out, and he promptly went underneath the gate and into the yard. I had no chance of catching him so I just hoped he would follow the others and go in the coop that night. Well, of course he did not do what I had planned for him

He wound up sleeping in a pine tree about 60 feet off the ground

It poured rain that night and into the morning. I went out and got him corralled into our storage shed (luckily he's not part duck, and he wasn't thrilled about being completely drenched)... From there I eventually got a hold of him, and put him in the pen with his GF. I have since moved both of them into the coop (at night so as not to cause too much havoc with the other chickens). The next day they went outside with the others, and have been roosting in the coop every night since... No more 60 foot perches for Goofy boy! Hopefully your little ones will not be fond of becoming drowned rats in the rain, and you can herd them into an enclosed area like I did with my boy. It takes a lot of patience and time... Oh yeah, you also have to be able to think ahead and try to recognize where your bird is considering going - you must be a step ahead of them. It's not easy - they are smart little buggers who only try to make us think they aren't so swift sometimes!! I'm used to playing these types of "games" with some of the horses I have rescued, who do not want to be caught once you let them out on pasture, so herding a chicken is a bit easier for me, but it does take time... And a good sense of humor

Good Luck!!

 

[hrdwrkgrl]

Interesting topic.....

 

[neuchicontheblock]

I also do noy understand the roof top thang. I have a big roo that goes to the peak of the house, next to the weather vane, and will not come down for anything. However, when the water had a topping of ice earlier this week, he was back and thankful. Silly thing.