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I have just got a new cockerel (as homer my previous one died last week) he is a old english game cockerel whom we have called nik nak

but he hates going in the house to roost last night he decided to roost up one of our conifer trees, and we needed a step ladder to get him out.

we tonight have had to lock him in ,

will he learn to go in or will he always be wandering

help maggie

He's possibly safe enough up a tree... isn't that their natural preference anyway.

There are some at Inverurie, up here, and they always roosted in the trees, so they just built the cage around them :)

Our Christmas dinner, sorry, cockerel lives in the rafters of the generator room. He's completely bonkers and has the evil eye, so we call him Rasputin.

He flies around 10-12ft off the floor and only comes down to eat when he thinks no ones looking. But all you have to do is put the food down, walk behind the oil tank where he can't see you and down he comes where I can catch him and check his weight.

The other cockerels might fly up on log piles, boulder piles or occasionally the Land Rover, but that's it. One of the reasons Rasputin is inside is because he really can fly extremely well - by chicken standards.

My neighbor used to have hens, and her dog sat on them. She has one bantam left, and it ran away from home and started roosting in the conifers at another neighbour's house.

She would often come and hang out with my girls, and last winter, I trapped her in the coop because she is about 11 years old or so and it was cold cold cold. The snow was about 4" deep up here, which is very deep for a bantam!

Anyway, she has finally decided that this is the life for a hen, and she now lives with us all the time. She is the bottom of the pecking order, poor old thing, and doesn't lay anymore, but is warm, comfortable and well fed in her retirement.

Which is a long way of telling you that she lived in the trees for several years and survived.

I thought i would keep you up to date with new cockerel Nik Nak he tonight for the first night since he has been here, went into the hen house un assisted

hurray maggie

Great - I expect you feel a bit relieved!