Topic of the Week - Raising People Friendly Poultry

Love your hen house! Love the color…. everything. Pretty. But, naughty little chickens LOL. My hen houses are affectionately named Castle One and Castle Two. After all, it’s my little chicken kingdom! My Bobwhite quail house is called the Quail Kingdom. It’s a pretty big building with 3 regular house doors, an outer room for feed and supply storage, and the quail room has a huge viewing window, so I can check on them any time without entering their room if I don’t need to. We finished the exterior of all 3 buildings with rough-cut lumber. Didn’t paint or anything, because I wanted them to weather and look rustic. You have a beautiful little flock. I have some of those same breeds. They’re really very sweet, aren’t they?

I got my chicks a few days old and handled them a lot. As soon as they were big enough to start jumping out of the brooder, the brooder became mostly for nighttime and if I had to leave the house. Otherwise, they spent a lot of time in my home office running around while I worked with a heat lamp in one corner of the room (my floors are extremely easy to clean - would never recommend this to anyone with carpets!). The brooder was in a spare room just down from my bedroom, so if they got upset in the middle of the night I'd hear it and go see what the problem was, whether it was that someone got pooped on or just randomly being upset and needing to be held a bit to calm down. That pattern was certainly rough on my sleep pattern but I think it went a long way to them trusting me early. A couple of my six chicks were never too fond of being picked up in a grabbing sort of way, so I just let them come and sit on me if they wanted, which they did more as time went on. All of them are now very huggy creatures to a degree I was never expecting when I first got them.

I made a point of hand feeding new foods and treats as they grew up, but I think treats had less impact in my case than social rituals - things like going into the brooder room in my PJs at the crack of dawn to let the chicks jump around on me while I had a coffee and tried to wake up. That particular one evolved into me going out to the coop each morning to have coffee with a pile of chickens on my lap.

Ascholten said:

Oh and when they do the run and squat, if you reach down, scritchy scratch their backs and pull on their tails a bit, they LOVE it and tend to want to follow you around a bit more it seems. yes I know what this is and well, it works.

Click to expand...

I do similarly with mine, whether it's a pat on the back or some feather ruffles. It may be a bit weird but it seemed important to acknowledge the gesture if I want them to continue to trust and follow me around.

We would LOVE to think it's trust and love, like chickens are cockatoos but the real reason chickens follow us around is not love, companionship, trust.. but food

Now granted I am sure some people have some exceptions to the rule who are little fluff balls of luvin on me hooman but for the most part, they know the leggy thing throws food down and all I have to do is pretend I like it !!

Aaron

the_peanut_coop said:

I don't know. All the chickens I've ever had super trust me because I raised them as chicks and they trust me with their chicks.

Click to expand...

This might be true. I do not have a roo so so baby chicks will be hatching but whether an egg or broody on a ceramic egg (has happened 3 times) I can touch and reach under them and they do not peck my hand. By the way, it is nice and warm under them,

Ascholten said:

if you reach down, scritchy scratch their backs and pull on their tails a bit, they LOVE it and tend to want to follow you around a bit more it seems. yes I know what this is and well, it works.

Click to expand...

LOL, Yeap! I wonder at times if they think I am a roo,lol In the summer it seems to make them want to lay eggs, lol

Show Sebright said:

I bought Minnie at 6 months. She was not tame at all. But I sat with her every day and she grew really attached to me. She follows me now and will not leave my sight if we are somewhere new. at fair I thought Minnie got out of her cage and I was looking for her and she was just following me around and I didn’t even realize it for a while but she was coming back to me because other birds were scary and she wanted mom where she would be safe.

Click to expand...

I amin love withyour Minnie! I have 2 golden Lace and they are not too tame at all. They are 11 months now. I can only get them when they are in the roo to sleep in the summer. I do not goout muchin the winter,lol too cold, YEAP you an call me chicken,lol

Dreamzchaser said:

LOL, Yeap! I wonder at times if they think I am a roo,lol In the summer it seems to make them want to lay eggs, lol

Click to expand...

From what I have been told, that is what it is. They are submitting to you like they'd submit to the roo, and you ruffling them, giving them a little tug etc is pretty much the 'attention' the roo would give them... without out the feather pulling, bleeding, and other issues that an overly aggressive roo might cause.

Either way, they seem to like it, and if it keeps them friendlier, well, thats a good thing.

Bantamz said:

It is key to handle them when they are young. I act like a mother kindave to them when they are young, let them cuddle with me in a big warm blanket, share my food with them and handle them alot. (I wait to handle them until they are a few days old because they are very fragile and i want to make shure they arent sick)

Click to expand...

When can chicks have human food ? What do the babies seem to like ?