Two minute roo

[kyle7630]

Ok, I went today and got a mixed breed roo that was so cool looking it was unreal to me. I have a flock of 10 hens and it just didn't feel right without a roo. So off I go and get this one for 8 bucks right up the road from my home about a mile. I get him here and figure he would be as excited about 10 hens, as I was for him. I held him for a couple minutes to let him get a good look at the girls and then let him go. He hit the dirt and made a b-line straight to the woods. Do you all think he will come back after the hens as long as a predator doesn't get him, or is he lost to the woods forever?

 

[JROOSTER]

Was this before or after you kept him under quarantine for a month then in a pen for a few weeks with the girls so he could get used to his new home and hens?

Ok im being a SMART A**! Im sorry your roo ran away.

 

[drumstick diva]

You could go back to the seller and find out if the roo ran back home. Maybe he saw the hens and felt suffocated by the responsibility of 'taking care of' them all. Poor guy.

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Your roo will honestly probably not come home on his own...he wasn't used to his new home and doesn't know that is what it is. You will either have to go on a night time chicken stalk once you find out where he's roosting, or hope he sees your girls free ranging and decides to join in...the problem with that situation is that he may "convince" your girls to roost with him in the woods at night. I would personally pen the girls up and wait till he comes around to see them and trap him then keep him contained alone for a while so that he figures out where home is. People are going to say "quarantine, quarantine, quarantine!", but as many diseases as chickens can catch from wild birds, and the fact that he may have already "contaminated" your flock just by being loose near them, I think simply putting a fence between the boy and ladies at this point will suffice.

 

[kyle7630]

He came from the same place they came from. Don't know if that matters or not.

 

[cobrien]

Sorry to hear he ran away, I hope you find the lost rooster. As for quarantining, I once brought new hens home from the same place I got my older ones a year earlier and didn't quarantine. Because of that mistake my whole flock has been exposed to lymphoid leukosis and I've lost 3 to the cancerous tumors that the virus causes. This is only transmissable to chickens and not spread by wild birds. So, I'd definitely quarantine.

 

[AlabamaChickenLady]

Aaaaawwww, I hope you find your new rooster. Here you are, sooooo excited about your new rooster, and couldn't wait to introduce them, and he runs off.

I feel bad for you and hope that he will come back. Maybe you should go back and check the place you got him from. If their roosters are like mine, they crow all day and can be heard from a distance. Maybe he can hear his old flockmates crowing, and is heading back to them.

 

[NonnasBabies]

Yep, he should have been locked with the others in the coop & run (after the quarantine period) for at least a week or so to get used to his new surroundings!!

Like others said, he prob won't come back!!

Did you try to find him??

 

[19hhbelgian]

Have you tried looking for him? With any luck he will hear your girls outside during the day and join them, as somebody suggested... If not, I would go looking (honestly I would've done this right away). He doesn't know where he is and won't really look to come back to your house. Maybe you'll hear him crowing which could help you find him.

for you and the rooster - I hope you find him! If you do, or if you get another roo, make sure to put him in the coop and run only (no free ranging) for at least a week, if not longer. I usually lock em up for 2 - 3 weeks, and then when they do get to come out of the run it's into our fenced in yard. They can get out of the yard by going under the gate, but at least if they do that, they have always come back to the coop at night. Good luck!

 

[nuttyredhead]

Im so sorry he took off. I would go look for him, as pp have said, he doesnt know your coop is his home now. Good Luck, I hope you find him!