My Blind Chicken Steve (aka Stevie Wonder)

[BigBlueHen53]

Can I just say YOU ROCK! Steve is one lucky bird to have landed at your place.

I would definitely suggest making the ramp wider. I would also suggest repeatedly shaking a can of food up there & calling him up the ramp. It would take a few days of effort on your part, but chickens learn pretty quick. As with any blind animal, once he learns be sure not to change anything.

A quick comment about the bell... I read that she waits for him, which means he's not following her. Wouldn't putting a bell around her neck be pointless?

@room onthebroom I agree, OP does rock! And Steve is lucky indeed to have landed there.

As for my suggestion about the bell... at this point, Steve cannot follow Juliet because he has no way of knowing where she is. With a bell on her, I think there is a chance he may learn to follow her. And then, with time, she may learn to lead him. As I said, it is worth a try. I am sure we have all heard of goats leading horses, etc. There is sure to be a learning curve, but it has to start somewhere. It was just a suggestion.

 

[room onthebroom]

@room onthebroom I agree, OP does rock! And Steve is lucky indeed to have landed there.

As for my suggestion about the bell... at this point, Steve cannot follow Juliet because he has no way of knowing where she is. With a bell on her, I think there is a chance he may learn to follow her. And then, with time, she may learn to lead him. As I said, it is worth a try. I am sure we have all heard of goats leading horses, etc. There is sure to be a learning curve, but it has to start somewhere. It was just a suggestion.

Dont get me wrong, I think the bell is an interesting idea (Juliet might not think so.) I also think it would be a cool experiment to see if it worked. I'm just pointing out that if he doesn't follow her now, why would he start? I'm seriously not trying to be a jerk here &
I'm sorry if I sound like one, but whats to tell him that the bell = Juliet?

There's instant gratification with hearing the snack can shake & then getting to eat something yummy. So again, how does the op let Steve know that the bell is Juliet?
I'm so curious now to see how this works out.

 

[HennyPenny2019]

Yes, Steve’s eyes look fine. Here is a picture of my coop

Cute coop! The ramp looks steep, maybe side rails so he doesn’t fall off the sides?

 

[Lizzy733]

I agree with the suggestions to widen and rail the ramp. Silkies aren't the easiest to ramp train in the first place - I think they're a bit more of a ground bird than your typical chicken. It took mine over a month to figure out how to use the ramp with normal eyesight - though mine is waist high.
I was thinking of putting in an accessibility porch until one day when it finally clicked.
You can start by placing your hen halfway or further up the ramp facing the coop and see if she can get used to traversing the surface and going the rest of the way up on her own and go with the bell.
He will need a lot of encouragement to figure out that the bell in the coop means he needs to go up. I've recently watched our new batch of chicks go through ramp training and they were very confused when the hen went up and called from the coop for several days - they would circle under the coop trying to find her. If you see your roo doing this, helping him halfway up the ramp could be the ticket to him figuring it out.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Dont get me wrong, I think the bell is an interesting idea (Juliet might not think so.) I also think it would be a cool experiment to see if it worked. I'm just pointing out that if he doesn't follow her now, why would he start? I'm seriously not trying to be a jerk here &
I'm sorry if I sound like one, but whats to tell him that the bell = Juliet?

There's instant gratification with hearing the snack can shake & then getting to eat something yummy. So again, how does the op let Steve know that the bell is Juliet?
I'm so curious now to see how this works out.

Great questions, @room onthebroom . All this would be experimental, of course. Here's my thinking. OP says Juliet is Steve's "wife." So he is bonded to her in some way. Sense of smell? He can see her up close? Recognizes her cluck? Who knows. But if she has a bell, whatever sense he uses now, I think he'd transfer to the bell - because (other than her cluck, which I just thought of) he could hear farther away than whatever he is using now, and begin to associate with her and follow it. So he'll start gravitating to the bell once he knows the sound of the bell equals Juliet, will and stay closer to her.

Then (goes my thinking) she'll begin to recognize his dependence on her and start leading him. A long shot, I realize, except for the fact that animals do this with their blind companions quite frequently. Once she has a way to "call" him, and he begins to follow her, I think there's at least a chance she might start leading him.

If she doesn't... well then, if he does start to follow her, we might have to figure out a way to get her to go in first. But that would be Phase 2. Phase 1 is, get him to follow the bell. ...

Hmm. Maybe we should start with training him to orient to the bell, and THEN put the bell on her. Is that what you're thinking? Like, give him treats in association with the bell? Hmmmm.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

PS @room onthebroom - you don't sound like a jerk at all! If you said I was an idiot then I might object, but you're just stimulating my thinking here, and I love it! Carry on! We have a problem to solve!

 

[webbysmeme]

PS @room onthebroom - you don't sound like a jerk at all! If you said I was an idiot then I might object, but you're just stimulating my thinking here, and I love it! Carry on! We have a problem to solve!

I had two blind hens last summer. I'm sorry to say I only have one now. I bought mine at a community sale that is held every year. I didn't know anything was wrong until I got them home. Sad, people sale poor animals like that just to get rid of them.
Anyways, I go out to the coop several times a day to make sure she gets food and water. And, I give her extra treats. When She hears my voice, she starts coming in my direction, chickens are very smart and easy to train.
In my case, it's a little different. My girl is old. I don't know how old. But I can just tell. I open the door every morning to let the other 13 ladies out to free range if they want to. If they don't, they just hang out in the barn. My coop is in the barn. I keep a board in front of the door, so my old girl can't get out, unless I'm out there to watch her. The other girls can jump right over the board, it's just 8" high. I have two cozy coop heaters in there. One at each end and a 250 watt red heat bulb for when it's really cold. It hangs from the ceiling in the center. The reason for this post is to give a suggestion for roosting post. I have formed an H in the coop with 4"x4"s. She finds one in any direction she goes. I have two others at each end. Close to the heaters, but away from the upper roosting post, so she doesn't get pooped on. She knows that the two water and two food containers are located at the end of her post.
I'm looking forward to my old girl living a long time. We work pretty well together. I'm so glad you kept Stevie. Good luck with all you do for him. You'll get rewarded for it one day!
Thank you, KH

 

[room onthebroom]

Great questions, @room onthebroom . All this would be experimental, of course. Here's my thinking. OP says Juliet is Steve's "wife." So he is bonded to her in some way. Sense of smell? He can see her up close? Recognizes her cluck? Who knows. But if she has a bell, whatever sense he uses now, I think he'd transfer to the bell - because (other than her cluck, which I just thought of) he could hear farther away than whatever he is using now, and begin to associate with her and follow it. So he'll start gravitating to the bell once he knows the sound of the bell equals Juliet, will and stay closer to her.

Then (goes my thinking) she'll begin to recognize his dependence on her and start leading him. A long shot, I realize, except for the fact that animals do this with their blind companions quite frequently. Once she has a way to "call" him, and he begins to follow her, I think there's at least a chance she might start leading him.

If she doesn't... well then, if he does start to follow her, we might have to figure out a way to get her to go in first. But that would be Phase 2. Phase 1 is, get him to follow the bell. ...

Hmm. Maybe we should start with training him to orient to the bell, and THEN put the bell on her. Is that what you're thinking? Like, give him treats in association with the bell? Hmmmm.

Training him to the bell first is brilliant! I hadn’t thought of that. If for some reason Juliet won’t tolerate the bell, op could always hang it (or a few) in the coop door like a wind chime. I have no clue if this would work or not, but I can’t wait to see what happens.

 

[Artistanniekay]

Ok so here is what I’ve done with Steve and Juliet. After watching their interactions, I have noticed that Juliet keeps up a fairly quiet but almost constant low clucking. Steve doesn’t stay with her constantly, but when he wants he is able to find her. The weather has turned brutally cold here very quickly so I had to make some pretty quick decisions on what to do. I put a heat lamp in the coop but that didn’t really solve the water solution for Steve. He can’t figure out the heated dog dish. Plus on days when it’s super cold I keep the door closed but then some of the hens pick on Steve. I decided to put Steve and Juliet in a 2 x 5 hamster cage inside the barn. I got a heated mat that they can go on and I can set the waterer on that and it doesn’t freeze. On nice days I put them out in the chicken yard with the other chickens otherwise I take them out of their pen for a half an hour or so and let them walk around in the barn while I feed the horses, clean their pens, and finish up all of my chores. I also installed safety railings on the ramp but Steve still can’t figure it out. I think this is going to be my solution for the winter. I leave the lights on during the day otherwise the barn is dark so Juliet can maintain a normal schedule.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Good job! Not perfect, and a lot of work on your part, but it sounds like it will work.