Kate in Arabia Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 It's common here for people to let their chickens roam freely about. Four days ago a rooster started coming into our garden. He generally comes in the morning, like at 3 am, and proceeds to crow off and on throughout the day, really, as he prowls around our outdoor area. On the positive side, he's nice to look at and the kids get a kick out of seeing him. On the negative side, he digs in my vegetable plot and leaves his droppings around. I guess I have a few questions. Is this normal behavior, that a rooster would wander off by himself virtually all day, every day? Should I be concerned? Should I try to track down his owner somehow? I don't see how we can really keep him out, we have a wall around our property that he can flutter to the top of and over.. he even, actually, likes to perch underneath the awning over our pool, which is quite high. When he crows the other roosters in the area crow back, and they get this echo thing going on, so I don't feel as if he is "lost" -- is that even possible? I guess I don't really know *for sure* that he goes home at night, I haven't checked, but I see him hop back over the wall now and then during the day, but when I go outside again he's back. Totally clueless as to chicken behavior, lol. Kate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audrey Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 They go where the hens are. It's possible he's been routed out by a bigger rooster in his own flock. Personally, I'd try asking around to see if he belongs to anyone. If no one claims him then I'd keep him around. I'd even give him a nice new name: Sunday-Supper-with-Mashed-Potatoes. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in the Kootenays Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Sounds like Rooster Soup to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doran Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 He's found some peace and quiet at your place. Your right, he'll tear up your gardens, and chickens poop like factories, so you're gonna be dealing with a lot of chickensh*t. :o If you know the neighborhood well enough, you could ask around for him. But, if he's not staying home now...well...he just may not ever. He must be getting food somewhere, though. Be wary. Roosters can have a nasty side once they get comfortable around you/kids. But, you're right -- they are pretty to look at! Doran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lvbnhome Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 BB Gun.. Oh, I'm sorry. I guess that is 2 words. Anyway, we've had chickens for years. It doesn't take too many times for them to get the "little spanking" (negative stimulus) and they get the idea really quick!:) It really works.. and no f l a m e s ppppplllleeeaaase :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*anj* Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Hey, and the poop is good for the garden, isn't it? Is there anything that you could leave in the garden that might have a scarecrow affect on him? Reflective glass? Cellophane? Toy snake? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate in Arabia Posted February 19, 2008 Author Share Posted February 19, 2008 Thanks for the comments. I now believe the rooster is living here 24/7. When I went out to pick up my ds from class at 8 pm I saw him sitting very cosily perched on the awning over our pool. He looked like he was in for the night. I talked to dh about it, he was kind of indifferent, but to me if we're going to go through the negatives of having folks from the chicken family, at least we should be getting eggs out of it, lol! We don't feed the rooster, I don't exactly know what or where he's eating -- can they forage enough to live on? I have noticed that he is much more brazen around me now -- if I am sitting outside with my coffee and toast or whatever, he walks to within three feet of me and gives me "the eye", lol. It doesn't work, so he starts this sort of low-level clucking (cussing me out, lol?) and wanders to another area of the garden. I guess I'm going to have to take a tour of the neighborhood. Maybe I should get a close-up pick of the rooster and print out some flyers -- "Does this rooster belong to you?" Ok, this is going to be an interesting undertaking. I do know the Arabic word for rooster, but I'm going to have to brush up on some other vocab. Actually, I don't know the local dialect very well, so I'm going to sound like a college professor or news announcer who just showed up on their doorstep asking them to come get their rooster, lol. Kate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrianne Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Unless threatened, they will return to where they want to be. He seems to like your yard. You could begin to chase him off with a broom taking swats at him here and there. Roosters need a pecking order and you must show him he is not wanted. Our dog does a good job of this for us. I have also chased our wandering chickens with a broom. Depending on his temperament, this may work. His pooh is actually great for your garden. Chicken pooh has the highest nitrogen content of all comparable animal droppings. Unfortunately he will rip your garden apart eating small seedlings and then fruits of your labor. We have 20 chickens and I use my dog (who loves to chase them) and chicken fencing to keep them out of my garden. The chicken fencing is not sturdy (like your wall) so they cannot perch and fly over it. This works well for us. Once he gets comfortable around you and your place he will become more destructive, he may even begin to "fight" your children. Roosters can be very nasty and protective of their territory. Adrianne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate in Arabia Posted February 26, 2008 Author Share Posted February 26, 2008 For anyone who's interested, lol, after reading the comments here and getting really annoyed at the digging in my garden, we decided to repatriate the rooster. I walked around to the nearest house I could find that looked like (sounded like) it had live poultry, and asked them if they had lost a rooster. The housemaid said she didn't know, and would have to come over and check to see if it was theirs -- and it was! So we spent about half an hour that day trying to chase it back home, without success. Ultimately it fluttered over a wire fence into the area of one of the palaces here, so we left it. That night the rooster came back to perch over our pool. The next day when I came home me, my younger ds (6) and my dd (2) made a concerted effort to chase the rooster out. Finally some neighbor kids came over to help us chase a while, until finally it went into someone else's garden (over a wall) who had a bird net, which we used to catch it then put it in a large box that we carried back to the original owner. The chicken pen they have has very high walls/fencing, but in the middle is a tallish tree that the chickens perch in; my hypothesis is the rooster fluttered or was driven off the tree and over the fence. (The branches don't hang over the fence, so some fluttering must have been involved.) So, I got rid of the rooster (yay!), met several of my neighbors (the rooster fluttered over several walls so I had to ring doorbells and introduce myself to get them to chase the rooster back out again), and my kids now have new local playmates (the boys now come to invite the kids over and vice versa). It's an interesting way to introduce yourself to the community, lol! Kate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 Next time, someone asks how to meet new neighbors, be sure to post! It sounds like the great bunny chase we had a few years ago when a neighborhood bunny got out! It is legend in our community. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIY-DY Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 So, I got rid of the rooster (yay!), met several of my neighbors (the rooster fluttered over several walls so I had to ring doorbells and introduce myself to get them to chase the rooster back out again), and my kids now have new local playmates (the boys now come to invite the kids over and vice versa). It's an interesting way to introduce yourself to the community, lol! Kate I'm glad you got rid of the rooster and met your neighbors! We just moved a ton of dirt around our house to improve the grade, but now I'm going to have to re-seed everything to keep the clover down (DS is violently allergic to clover) and I'm dreading it b/c the neighbors' rooster and five hens spend their mornings in my meadow, yard, and garden. Wish you lived close enough to help me repatriate this guy, too! How are you liking the new area, btw? Getting all settled in? (Not like you've had time between the soccer and the rooster and all...;)) Dy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*anj* Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 Yay for you!! I was actually wondering about you the other day. The images in my mind are cracking me up! Oh, and could you post a photo of "one of the palaces" by any chance? Most of us don't have things like that within a stone's throw of our houses. That is too cool! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doran Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 ...So, I got rid of the rooster (yay!), met several of my neighbors (the rooster fluttered over several walls so I had to ring doorbells and introduce myself to get them to chase the rooster back out again), and my kids now have new local playmates (the boys now come to invite the kids over and vice versa). It's an interesting way to introduce yourself to the community, lol! Kate I love happy endings! Thanks for sharing this story. Post some pictures, sometime...pretty please. :) Doran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam "SFSOM" in TN Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 ... we decided to repatriate the rooster. Kate That made me snort with laughter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate in Arabia Posted February 27, 2008 Author Share Posted February 27, 2008 I guess we're all settling in ok. My kids are, at least. Now they're into some regular activities, and so they see the same kids a couple days a week, they are getting more attached to being here. We added some outside classes in addition to sports, so now that they have something outside to do pretty much every day, they are generally more excited. I still haven't found my niche, however. I miss my friends, and even more just the friendship itself, if you kwim. I haven't really connected with anyone here, so while I have a pretty large circle of "acquaintances", I don't really have anyone yet that I feel comfortable just calling up and saying "meet me at Starbucks in an hour," or what have you. I guess that will take even longer. But dh is *so much* happier teaching here, which makes all the difference. It was not much fun to have him come home every day in a depressed state; you know, life is just too short to be unhappy like that. So regardless of the other things, that has made it worth the move. And our housing is much better. We could never have afforded to live in a house (they call it a villa here, but it's just a house) in Abu Dhabi, but here we have a nice house with a walled yard/garden area, so the kids can ride their bikes etc. About the palace, we have one of the sons of the ruling sheikh living across the street from us. There's this huge hill right across the street, and his palace is at the top. You actually can't see much of it, because it's high up there and there's a wall and the security guys with their guardhouses and all. Dh has spoken to the man a couple of times, and was invited up for coffee or whatever, but he's not gone yet. I actually did walk up to the door on the other side of the compound. It's kind of a funny story, because I had walked to a (sort of) nearby supermarket, thought I would get some exercise and look around plus get a few things I needed. Well, I don't know where my mind was, but I ended up buying a watermelon, among my other purchases. What was I thinking?! So here I am trying to haul this watermelon about a mile to get home, and there's a huge hill between me and my house (with the palace sitting at the top). So I am hiking all around trying to find a shortcut, hobbling up this huge hill with a watermelon, and see that I'm approaching the back gate of the palace compound, which is this enormous wooden, carved gate with a tiny door set inside. I felt like the wicked witch from Snow White hobbling up there with my poisoned apple, er watermelon, lol. So I made it up there, then circled around the wall hoping to find a path down the other side to get home. Saw some little kids playing up there and asked them if they thought I could get down that way, and they just laughed at me. Ha-ha, little brats. Long story short, I made it home, with the watermelon, but was exhausted. I visited a couple of palaces in Abu Dhabi; they don't really look like palaces from the outside, they are huge walled compounds, but inside -- something else! Thanks for asking! :) Kate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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