Nooooo

30 Aug 2011, 19:22

Best thing I think is to leave things as they are for a couple of days, just set up a cage with seed and water near the hens cage so that if he returns he can feed and have a drink. You may be lucky and catch him...it has been known.
Putting another cock in there, he wont help the hen raise those eggs/babies all he will want to do is mate with the hen and she will desert the current eggs/babies/nest to be with the new male. So if in a day or so you did manage to catch the runaway cock bird the hen wouldn't take him back after being with the 2nd male.

So you have to be patient and see if you can catch him.

30 Aug 2011, 20:35

Agree with BB don't touch the nest as you may be able to get the cock back as it has happened before. Leave the nest as there is a slight chance she may continue to do the motherly thing. Most breeders at one stage or another has lost a bird through escape so take this as a learning curve Harvey and after this unfortunate escape I bet that it won't happen again. If your hen decides to abandon the nest then you can get rid of the eggs and in about 3 days you can replace the cock if he hasn't returned. Sorry Harvey but this is one of those things most people will learn from, but chin up you know your hen can raise young so she might just rear these without him.

30 Aug 2011, 21:17

Lol deb I do remember your advice about me draping myself in something like a dress. But I must admit it works! Hehehe

31 Aug 2011, 08:42

The hen has layed another egg this morning,we moved her fledging out of the cabinet so she is by herself now,the fledging where eating on there own and there becks are going orange.
She seems to be looking after her eggs.Now i will just leave her alone

Harv

01 Sep 2011, 09:12

Any sightings of the escapee?

04 Sep 2011, 20:48

Quick update.

Then hen layed 4 eggs and is sitting on them,looks like she is looking after the eggs

Brett,Harvey

05 Sep 2011, 21:40

Sorry for the loss. I have had an escape of about 6 at one time once and they stayed around until the night but until then they were always cling onto the wire and around the aviary. We left the garage door open and the light on for a little while and within an hour or two we found them flying around in there. We then chased them into the house and caught them there. I`m not sure if this was just luck or they were attracted to light or something.
Dan