Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[pennyJo1960]

Hey good morning Val great news he is home.
I taught Pete in real short order to take food from my fist not pecking me.
He gives it to his girls one by one.
He had to trust me first took four days.

 

[ValerieJ]

No @Smokerbill , for the time being I'm leaving him in with the other chickens. That's really all he wanted he just flew over the wrong fence. He won't leave as long as he gets to hang out with the ladies And I have too many of them for Pippi to guard all of them all of the time.

The main thing is if he and Pippi can get along for now. I think my hens are keeping Cooper in line when it comes to them. They are not young vulnerable pullets.

Headed out to check on him now again. Will be doing that periodically all day.

 

[ValerieJ]

Hey good morning Val great news he is home.
I taught Pete in real short order to take food from my fist not pecking me.
He gives it to his girls one by one.
He had to trust me first took four days.

Cooper will not come near a human. I've been trying to give him treats. Even when he was on the run. I would scatter some and offer some and he wouldn't touch any of it. He's pretty happy now.

 

[pennyJo1960]

It will take timer Val when he learns your not evil he should not run.
Give him a week to start.

 

[ValerieJ]

I know. He's not my first skittish cockerel. Just checked on him. He is keeping his distance from Pippi. I have the door open to his bachelor pad, which all the hens and Pippi thinks is fantastic. They are in there rummaging about. It hasn't been occupied for more than a year, so I imagine there are bugs to be had. Cooper is in the big run with a few hens. I just brought him some 3 grain scratch to make sure he is eating. He ran from me at first, but once I moved away he started eating it with a couple hens. I think it will work out to just allow him to stay in the big run.

I don't know if he will go into the big coop tonight. That is the next hurdle. But he has to go in. That is where they are confined for the night.

 

[pennyJo1960]

You know what your doing. I was worried about Pete killing Jake he was slow to grow.
They seem to have found a peace between them.

 

[Smokerbill]

I know. He's not my first skittish cockerel. Just checked on him. He is keeping his distance from Pippi. I have the door open to his bachelor pad, which all the hens and Pippi thinks is fantastic. They are in there rummaging about. It hasn't been occupied for more than a year, so I imagine there are bugs to be had. Cooper is in the big run with a few hens. I just brought him some 3 grain scratch to make sure he is eating. He ran from me at first, but once I moved away he started eating it with a couple hens. I think it will work out to just allow him to stay in the big run.

I don't know if he will go into the big coop tonight. That is the next hurdle. But he has to go in. That is where they are confined for the night.

When I wasn't isolating him from the pullets he roosted with the them. The pullets would complain to each other when finding their positions, but Cooper would just jump up where he wanted and the pullets accepted it, no problem.

I think he'll be a great rooster once the kinks get worked out. I just didn't have the patience, I guess. Maybe I'll try with another again if I can move the coop to the other end of the property. LOL

 

[ValerieJ]

BTW, @Smokerbill, how old is Cooper? What month was he born in? It will help me judge how long we'll be going through the hormones.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Might mean something that Pete roosts on the table with the girls.
There is double two 2 x 4's covering the cement blocks.
Jake and his 6 pullets roost behind on them.

 

[ValerieJ]

Well, Cooper had not roosted anywhere before he bolted. He is very different from Pete. He is very scared of people. But, no worries. We will win him over. We are pretty good to chickens around here.