What are my chances that he's going to stay so nice?

[The Kibble Goddess]

Well, it's official, my Silkie, Storm, is a Roo. Heard a pitiful little crow Saturday and sure enough it was him. Crow is so soft I originally thought one of the hens was being weird. We thought we heard crowing weeks ago, but not since. Storm was out all day Saturday and we were home and I heard him crow only 3 times. Was home Sunday & Monday and didn't hear any crowing. But we saw him treading one of the ladies, Hazel (BO), Monday afternoon. Storm is quiet, stays mostly with Cloud, our other Silkie, is not pushey, rude or agressive as I've heard other roos can be. He's about 20 - 22 weeks old. We're not supposed to have roos, but if no one complains, we're OK. We live on a 1/2 acre lot. There are 8 hens total for himI thought Hubby was going to be strict and say he has to go, but he seems quite impressed with how nice Storm is. So what are my chances that he's going to stay so nice and so quiet?

 

[Alethea]

I don't know the statistics. Some stay nice, some don't. I wish you and Storm and everyone peace and harmony. May the flock be with you.

 

[Farm_Maven]

My dominant BR roo just came into his "manhood" recently. So far he is still being nice, as is his brother. I do make sure he knows I am alpha by pushing him gently to the ground until he stays still for a few seconds, and he will often lie there for a few more seconds after I let him go.

 

[magicpigeon]

I don't know about whether this holds true for y'all Americans but here in Aus, silkies are notorious for being noisy crowers.

 

[gritsar]

Ignore the roo, push him away if he gets too close - in your personal space. Teach him to keep his distance and don't let him be the boss of the hens while you are present.

 

[The Kibble Goddess]

That's just it, Storm isn't the boss of the hens whether I'm there or not. Big Sister is the boss. When Storm wants to tread the ladies, he goes up, cocks his head and kind of goes "Hunh?" If they don't walk off, he goes to, but if they give him the stink-eye he just starts looking for bugs again.

 

[PTFowl]

Quote:
I never thought about it before (i'm a new soon-to-be chicken keeper) but it seems to make sense--chickens establish a pecking order similar to dogs so asserting your alpha status with a rooster would let him know he's not the top dog at least when you're around. gristar alluded to the same idea. i guess the important thing is does it work, and obviously for at least the two of you, it does. fascinating.

 

[Rocky Top Chick]

Chance of being good: 50/50 and the ball is in his court

 

[zookeeper15133]

My 3 year old silkie roo had a pittful crow until I got a roo that knew how to crow. Then he learned.

 

[The Kibble Goddess]

Update: Storm's crow is improving in quality and thankfully, the volume and reoccurances are not going up. And he's still a very nice roo. Funny too. Yesterday he was under (!) the coop crowing. Silly.