Rooster woes ... any advice?

[SaraJayne]

Do you have a BB gun?

 

[tiggger1]

I'm guessing you don't eat chicken?

yes, I eat chicken, heck I own chickens, right now, I have 8 layers and my neighbor has over 50, so I know a little bit about birds Unless the roo is a meat bird breed , there isnt going to be much meat on it to make it worth killing to eat especially it if you are going to have to take it to a butcher who will charge you around $10 to do the "dirty work". even if it is a meat breed, since it has been living on its one for a while, my guess the meat is going to be pretty sparse!

I have offered to help her OP, Heck if I was closer I would go get it myself.. all you need is a have a hart trap and some scratch..( mixture of cracked corn and crimped oats)

 

[tzolkin]

See if you can find a local farmer. They may take it off your hands. If not, they may have a better recommendation.

Honestly, I can't see why any farmer is going to want this rooster.

Have you checked your local newspaper for an animal rescue of some kind? Usually if you call them and explain the nuisance they will find someone to help you. If that bird is annoying you it's got to be annoying others and at some point someone is going to hurt it... could be that's what happened to the one that died.

Most likely it was killed by the currently annoying rooster. That's what they do.

Yes, it may be awful to kill or get rid of it simply because it is annoying. I would be more worried about its temperment. If it did kill the other rooster, the last thing you want is for it to attack and spur your child. Often they are fine, but once they get to a certain age some can become very aggressive.

 

[bumbershoot]

Did Only the Lonely kill the other rooster?

I would assume so. Roosters don't tend to get along. Someone dropped their evil rooster off with us, and it was MISERABLE dealing with two. They were together b/c we only rarely put the rooster in with the hens and we didn't have 3 coops.

The newbie rooster did end up being stew for someone else (not us, they knew I would have flipped out to have eaten one of our chickens, even though I did eat meat as a child).

 

[tessiemez]

Wow, thanks for the feedback, guys! Let me catch up:

I think Only the Lonely DID kill the other rooster. I've seen them fight before.

Re: finding a farmer ... I've asked around at the farmer's market and asked many of the farming/chicken-keeping customers at my workplace, but haven't found any takers. I didn't think asking if I could borrow a cage, but perhaps if I could, animal control would be willing to take it then. Thanks for the tip!

Re: animal rescues, I called all of them that I could find but didn't find any that would take chickens, but that's been a while, so there could be a new one I'm not aware of, so I'll check! Thanks!

@Scurvy, my husband used a soft pellet gun at my suggestion, and it didn't do any good--they didn't even flinch. He then borrowed a BB gun from a coworker and shot at the bird from a rather long range (he didn't want to break skin on it), and after several shots got the chickens to run down the road, but they came back after a few days, and we didn't think it was the greatest idea to keep shooting them all the time. Believe it or not, I am a sappy animal lover. That's why we're still having this problem. I never thought of a super soaker ... that wouldn't hurt him but should really annoy him!

@Disfan, I didn't even think of FFA--great tip!

@Imzadi, I may have to buy a pack-and-play and try this. The past two nights I've ended up sitting on the couch with her asleep in my arms after hours of her crying. She's almost two, and our living room is connected to the kitchen so I never leave her in the living room by herself, but if I had a pack-and-play that she couldn't climb out of (she's in a toddler bed now), that might be an option. Our apartment is rather small for three people, but I'll bet I could make it work if I need to. Thanks!

To everyone re: animal cruelty, I really don't want any harm to have to come to this rooster, but I can't say I feel that way every morning for hours when my daughter is screaming because Only the Lonely won't shut up. Lack of sleep does nasty, terrible things to a child. I've been very conflicted because I love animals, but I have never felt so much contempt for an animal before. I got more sleep in the first couple weeks of motherhood than I'm getting now.

Speaking of which, she cried all afternoon from being tired and having a headache ... so at the peak of her shrieking, I took her down to the apartment office, sat her on the manager's desk and said "Let's talk about the rooster that keeps my daughter up all night." I know that's manipulative, but she did promise to make some calls about how to capture the chicken and what to do with it--and she seemed sincere. So, fingers crossed!

Thanks to everyone for feedback ... I'm definitely taking this advice to heart to try and get the situation resolved.

 

[Imzadi]

She's almost two, and our living room is connected to the kitchen so I never leave her in the living room by herself, but if I had a pack-and-play that she couldn't climb out of (she's in a toddler bed now), that might be an option. Our apartment is rather small for three people, but I'll bet I could make it work if I need to. Thanks!

Think of a baby gate, if it's possible to install one.

Speaking of which, she cried all afternoon from being tired and having a headache ... so at the peak of her shrieking, I took her down to the apartment office, sat her on the manager's desk and said "Let's talk about the rooster that keeps my daughter up all night." I know that's manipulative, but she did promise to make some calls about how to capture the chicken and what to do with it--and she seemed sincere. So, fingers crossed!

Good for YOU! You stopped from just being a complaint, to a real situation the management now can understand.

IF DD is shrieking tomorrow, go back in with her and ask how the those phone calls are coming along. Light a fire under them.

Plus, if the rooster is leaving for 3 days at a time, if you umm, give it some encouragement, that's better than nothing. Perhaps after the third or fourth encouragement, it will just stay at it's new digs.

It could also be someone else gave it some encouragement to move from it's new home after a few days. If you make it leave, and someone else starts to complain about the rooster, too, it could finally make the management get serious about it.

Also, once it leaves, or if you can get it away from it's roosting spot, can you destroy the spot by putting something in it's living space? Unrolled chicken wire, a wooden box, a pile of firewood, or some item, temporarily, so it realizes that that space is no longer viable as it's home.

I wouldn't think the neighbor or the management will mind something temporary, since they know what the situation is about.

 

[tlbwriter]

Speaking of which, she cried all afternoon from being tired and having a headache ... so at the peak of her shrieking, I took her down to the apartment office, sat her on the manager's desk and said "Let's talk about the rooster that keeps my daughter up all night." I know that's manipulative, but she did promise to make some calls about how to capture the chicken and what to do with it--and she seemed sincere. So, fingers crossed!

Now that's a good idea!

I just learned something interesting - a family member who keeps chickens says they hate onions, and avoid the onion section of his garden. So I wonder if you could chop up some onions and put them in that area? Worth a shot!

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

Since killing it seems out of the question, your best bet at catching it would be at night, generally speaking you can walk right up to them when its roosting. Get some gloves, put on a long sleave shirt, walk up to where it is and grab it, hold it's legs until you can put it in a sack, then relocate to the country. During this he'll flap his wings and squack and if you have never dealt with animals it'll probably scare you.

Paul

 

[GeorgeG]

Chicken parmagian!

 

[uncle duck]

start feeding it. then when it's used to feeding in this one spot, set out a live trap feed it into it. capture it. then sell it. take to animal control or have chicken an dumplings.
Bye Don