"Wild Rooster" effect Hen bedding?

[RiseNShyne]

Hello!

So I have a question with regards to the subject... I bolded the specific question because I re-read my post and felt like I was kind of wordy...

I have a rooster I got from a friend for free because he has too many roosters. He's a GREAT rooster by the way. I'll explain later for people that want to read it.
But with regards to the question... I have a shed at the edge of my property that I converted part of into a coop - that I now house 5 hens in - hatched this year. I planned on keeping him with these hens and getting them used to "home" and then letting them roam the property freely.

I also have a chicken tractor that I've had two hens in for a while - moving them around the 1 acre front yard.
I got the rooster 2 days before I got my free-range hens. He stayed in the coop until the night after I put the hens in. That night he somehow escaped - not idea how because I had the entire pen lined in 6x6 panel with chicken wire tied to the paneling. He roosts up in a crabapple tree close to the house - been doing so since he got out. About 15 feet up I'd say. Not a single other chicken has gotten out in 3 weeks and I can't catch him. He knows I wont chase him into the road so he goes straight for it if he senses what thats what I'm going to do... (I havent chased him for about a week and a half) But he seems to be doing fine and I'm cool with that.

So I guess my question comes in - If I've "trained" my hens in the shed coop that, that is their home... Him being out wont make them not want to go to bed at night, will it?

As the time has come closer I've become quite worried about it and letting them free range because there ARE coyotes in the area - an unfortunate reason why I've had to "train" my homestead cats to come the garage in at night.

AS for the rooster - he's AMAZING! He spends ALL day since day one of his escape hanging around outside the tractor girl's pen - I've been home when a delivery truck comes and he calls out like no other - which I think is pretty cool! He does the same when I get home from work until I call back and he sees me - then he chills out. He ALWAYS keeps his distance from me though - like a good 10 or so feet - even if I'm doing stuff in the tractor with his ladies. He'll come pretty close when he sees something in my hands - but that's probably because I give him and the tractor ladies garden and meal scraps pretty much daily. Not close enough that I'd feel confident enough catching him - and missing and losing his trust. Don't want a mean rooster. If we can get along and he does his job I'll let him do whatevber he wants to do.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

To try to answer your question, you won't know until you try. It is a valid concern! I'm imagining, though, if you let the girls out to free-range, then as dusk approaches they'll be drawn to their pen and coop. He may follow them - whether to be with them, or to try to herd them back out of the pen and into his crabapple tree. Either way, you might have a chance to pen him up.

check that pen again - he had to get out somewhere.

 

[Mrs. K]

I am not following why you have two hens in the tractor and the rest in the shed?

I think he is attacted to the hens in the tractor because they are older and laying? Are the ones in the sheds chicks, or point of lay pullets or how old are they?

Personally I think I would try letting out the two birds in the tractor a couple hours before dark. He will more than likely follow them back to the tractor. Lock them in.

I would be having all my chickens together, and your rooster is going to want all the pullets and hens together. They don't really get 'these are my birds, and those are not' idea. A good rooster wants all of them under his wing so to speak.

Mrs K

 

[RiseNShyne]

I am not following why you have two hens in the tractor and the rest in the shed?

I think he is attacted to the hens in the tractor because they are older and laying? Are the ones in the sheds chicks, or point of lay pullets or how old are they?

Personally I think I would try letting out the two birds in the tractor a couple hours before dark. He will more than likely follow them back to the tractor. Lock them in.

I would be having all my chickens together, and your rooster is going to want all the pullets and hens together. They don't really get 'these are my birds, and those are not' idea. A good rooster wants all of them under his wing so to speak.

Mrs K

The Hens are all the same age and 5 of the 7 are laying daily. Well, I guess I get 5 eggs a day total. The reason they've been separate is - a friend of mine raised them and hatched them all at the same time. He gave me two when they were young and I raised them then bought these ones off of him recently. I was going to put them all together when I got the new ones but the incident happened and he wanted to be around them and I didn't want them to just "disappear" since I wont be letting them out of the coop for a while to train them and was worried he'd wander... Could that happen?

What if I built a screen door and just moved them he'd probably follow and them hang out down there then, right? Then he could still see them and what-not. Feel kind of foolish I hadn't thought that before...

I spent like 2 hours sitting outside and randomly feeding him cherry tomatoes from the garden and got him to get pretty close so I might have a shot at catching him if I need to as well. I hope.

 

[RiseNShyne]

To try to answer your question, you won't know until you try. It is a valid concern! I'm imagining, though, if you let the girls out to free-range, then as dusk approaches they'll be drawn to their pen and coop. He may follow them - whether to be with them, or to try to herd them back out of the pen and into his crabapple tree. Either way, you might have a chance to pen him up.

check that pen again - he had to get out somewhere.

So I think I found to spot where I guess I let there be a little too much space between clips that hold the chicken wire and they overlap. I think he hit the wall and just so happened to be in the right spot to slide through. I had about 1.5ft. between the clips. Darn! haha

 

[RiseNShyne]

*UPDATE*
I made a screen door for the external coop entrance immediately after work and moved the two "tractor ladies" into the main coop. He followed me around as I was doing so and stayed hanging out next to the screen door and calling as I spent the rest of the evening doing chores. I also left the main door to the shed wide open if he wants to go in and scope things out.

Hopefully this is a step in the right direction. I'll go back to trying to get him close enough to me to catch tomorrow or this weekend until I can catch him. Might pick up some supplies to make a rooster catcher pole I've seen people using on Saturday when I'm able to run into town.

 

[Mrs. K]

I am surprised he didn't just follow the ladies in?

 

[RiseNShyne]

I am surprised he didn't just follow the ladies in?

It was probably because I was around. He'll get within 3-4ft of me if I'm standing but will get closer if I'm sitting down. I didn't leave the door to the coop itself wide open for him because I didn't want the ladies to get out and go rogue as well...

But on the positive side - he's been caught! logged in to update and saw your post.

I was out picking veggies and heard him calling from inside the shed so I ran down to the corner of the property as fast as I could and closed the door and was able to easily catch him once he was a little more contained. He had no where to go and pretty much jumped into my arms and I wrapped him with one arm and quickly grabbed his legs with the other.

He's officially in the coop now with the whole flock! YAY!

 

[3KillerBs]

He's officially in the coop now with the whole flock! YAY!

Photos of him and his ladies?

 

[RiseNShyne]

Photos of him and his ladies?

For sure! I'll let everyone settle down and take pictures when I go raid their eggs tomorrow after work! They get worked up when I walk in the coop as it is so not trying to stress them out TOO much after all the changes/activity. The two I had in the tractor are really used to me and don't get too bothered but the others have been kepts inside a barn and the only interaction they've gotten is when someone comes to take one, (my neighbor has an external feeder and waterer set up so he only looks in the barn to make sure everyone's okay). So I'll be spending some time sitting with them as well to get them a little more comfortable with people presence.

The guy that gave the rooster to me just called him a "Heritage breed" - he's white - and the ladies are Black Stars and buff orpingtons.