Taming Peepers

[jannakaye]

Peepers is a 7 year old silkie roo who has despised all other life forms since he started crowing. Peepers had to be moved away from the hens and put into a cage by himself because of him being so violent. Each morning Peeps is "wrangled" with a towel and given fresh food and water, this is also how I get him out to clean his cage. In the winter of 2013, the temp dropped unexpectedly during the night and Peepers froze. We all cried and I was saying goodbye he started kicking. After several weeks of living in my bathroom and getting special attention, he was moved back outside in a new pen, this time with a heat lamp. During his dying and undying spell, he calmed down quite a bit and was very loving, but as soon as he was put out he was back to his old habits. I've had Peepers since he was a week old and he has NEVER been mistreated while he's been here. Peepers is only violent when he's on the ground, if he's being held, he's as calm as can be. I am going to try, once again, to tame Peepers. If anyone has ANY advice on taming a voilent roo, don't hesitate to comment. I know most people would have culled him but I just don't have the heart to. If this proves to be an impossible task, I will leave him in his cage and let him live out his days in comfortable solitude.

 

[krista74]

I have no idea how to tame a rooster, but my (very limited) knowledge on chickens does remind me that they are flock animals. I am wondering if there is any other animal he would tolerate, so that he could have a friend?

I understand that he is a bit antisocial, but the introduction of any new chicken to an existing one will always result in a bit of a fight as they sort out their differences. But maybe introducing a little (female) silkie might make Peeper's life a little more bearable. 7 years in virtual isolation would not be good for anyone's temperament I would suspect, although I understand why that was so.

As I said, I have only had my rooster for a year and I really know nothing about taming them so I can't offer you any advice in that regard. But I do wish you all the very best in figuring out how best to help him lead a happier life.

- Krista

 

[sourland]

A 7 year old rooster has some pretty strongly engrained behavioral patterns. Modifying them would be iffy at best. I would provide him with a spacious pen and allow him to complete his life in solitude.

 

[jannakaye]

Thanks for the input! I would love to be able to tell you we've made tons of progress but sadly we haven't. :/ I've been handling Peepers at least once a day for around ten mins at a time and he seems to be more comfortable than he was before, but he's still violent when on the ground.