biggmackk17
In the Brooder
- Apr 15, 2024
- 11
- 6
- 14
Hi there! We have 4 roos, that we rescued when they were about a week old. The plan has always been to rescue them and then either return them to the wild, or preferably find a home, but now that they are grown and have established their pecking order, I have some concerns.
These are the 4 Roos in order of pecking order.
Pissy
Crouton
Mo
Nugget
Mo has always been the outcast of the group. As they've grown older, crouton wont even let him near the rest of the flock. Pissy will just intimidate him away, but Crouton will full on attack (Jump onto his back, pin him, and start pecking). I work within earshot so if I ever hear this beginning to happen I can run down and separate them, and it doesn't happen often anymore as Mo is extremely cautious and skittish around them. If crouton is removed from the situation, then while Mo is not entirely accepted, he is at least tolerated.
Now if the top two are off on their own and the bottom two are together (Mo and Nugget), Mo then becomes the instigator. He will bully Nugget away from food/water, and while he is not nearly as aggressive as crouton, he will sneak in the occasional peck.
They all free range in the backyard, are sleep in their own little slots in the rafters under the house. They were in with a small coop at night for a while, but the bullying got bad and Mo and Nugget were extremely stressed while confined to the run and were kept out of the coop by pissy and crouton so I had to stop caging them up. They all have started crowing which the neighbors are not thrilled about, and this was never supposed to be a permanent solution. The plan had always been to rescue them and then give them off to a farm or anyone that would take them in (oh how naive we were back then
), or worst case scenario release them back to the wild.
So this brings me to my problem. There is a stream up the road in the jungle where I was planning on dropping them off now that they are large and can fend for themselves. There are no other hens or roo's that I know of up there so there will be no reproducing (we are already overrun as far as feral chickens go) and it will be a safe, comfortable place for them to live out their days. In a perfect world, I would drop all 4 of them off, check up on them once a week and that would be the end of it. But with Mo being an outcast and crouton being a bully it throws a wrench in my plan.
If I drop them all off, and they decide to leave Mo in the dust, then poor Mo is out alone in the jungle which breaks my heart. We have grown very close, and I worry about him a lot. They all sleep in the general vicinity of each other right now, but with a location change I'm not sure if that would stay the same, and Mo is prone to wandering off away from the rest.
I could split them up 2 and 2. Although nugget gets along well with the other two, and I wonder if he'd wander off to try and find them. Also I don't know how well chickens do in flocks of two.
Lastly I move Pissy, Crouton and Nugget out to the jungle, and then try and find a flock that Mo would fit into. But if these guys aren't taking him in im not sure if he would find a fit anywhere else. Nobody will take in a rooster out here, and a lot of people will snatch Roo's out of public areas for cockfighting, so I have be extremely selective on where I could release him. Even if the stars align and I find a flock, what are the chances they would accept him? If they dont, then the other 3 are already settled in the jungle and there's no way Mo would fit in, if we could even find them.
So with that long explanation aside I suppose my questions are:
Is there a way to integrate Mo back into the flock or is he forever an outcast?
Does splitting them into groups of 2 sounds reasonable or will that cause even more stress since Nugget will then be separated from the flock?
Are there any alternatives that I am not thinking of?
Thanks for reading my short novel of a post, and I appreciate any advice or answers given!
These are the 4 Roos in order of pecking order.
Pissy
Crouton
Mo
Nugget
Mo has always been the outcast of the group. As they've grown older, crouton wont even let him near the rest of the flock. Pissy will just intimidate him away, but Crouton will full on attack (Jump onto his back, pin him, and start pecking). I work within earshot so if I ever hear this beginning to happen I can run down and separate them, and it doesn't happen often anymore as Mo is extremely cautious and skittish around them. If crouton is removed from the situation, then while Mo is not entirely accepted, he is at least tolerated.
Now if the top two are off on their own and the bottom two are together (Mo and Nugget), Mo then becomes the instigator. He will bully Nugget away from food/water, and while he is not nearly as aggressive as crouton, he will sneak in the occasional peck.
They all free range in the backyard, are sleep in their own little slots in the rafters under the house. They were in with a small coop at night for a while, but the bullying got bad and Mo and Nugget were extremely stressed while confined to the run and were kept out of the coop by pissy and crouton so I had to stop caging them up. They all have started crowing which the neighbors are not thrilled about, and this was never supposed to be a permanent solution. The plan had always been to rescue them and then give them off to a farm or anyone that would take them in (oh how naive we were back then
), or worst case scenario release them back to the wild.So this brings me to my problem. There is a stream up the road in the jungle where I was planning on dropping them off now that they are large and can fend for themselves. There are no other hens or roo's that I know of up there so there will be no reproducing (we are already overrun as far as feral chickens go) and it will be a safe, comfortable place for them to live out their days. In a perfect world, I would drop all 4 of them off, check up on them once a week and that would be the end of it. But with Mo being an outcast and crouton being a bully it throws a wrench in my plan.
If I drop them all off, and they decide to leave Mo in the dust, then poor Mo is out alone in the jungle which breaks my heart. We have grown very close, and I worry about him a lot. They all sleep in the general vicinity of each other right now, but with a location change I'm not sure if that would stay the same, and Mo is prone to wandering off away from the rest.
I could split them up 2 and 2. Although nugget gets along well with the other two, and I wonder if he'd wander off to try and find them. Also I don't know how well chickens do in flocks of two.
Lastly I move Pissy, Crouton and Nugget out to the jungle, and then try and find a flock that Mo would fit into. But if these guys aren't taking him in im not sure if he would find a fit anywhere else. Nobody will take in a rooster out here, and a lot of people will snatch Roo's out of public areas for cockfighting, so I have be extremely selective on where I could release him. Even if the stars align and I find a flock, what are the chances they would accept him? If they dont, then the other 3 are already settled in the jungle and there's no way Mo would fit in, if we could even find them.
So with that long explanation aside I suppose my questions are:
Is there a way to integrate Mo back into the flock or is he forever an outcast?
Does splitting them into groups of 2 sounds reasonable or will that cause even more stress since Nugget will then be separated from the flock?
Are there any alternatives that I am not thinking of?
Thanks for reading my short novel of a post, and I appreciate any advice or answers given!
