How long does socializing chicks take?

Hello,

I recently bought a 2 acre farm and naturally picked up 6 chicks last week. I grew up with horses and have a degree in Animal Science, but my college didn't have a poultry farm, so my experience with birds is limited. I am a high school horticulture teacher and am picking breeds based largely on personality so I can bring some hens in to the school for the kids to interact with occasionally (it is a title 1 school near the downtown of a large city, so most of the kids haven't had much animal interaction). I picked up 3 Buff Orpingtons and 3 Golden Laced Wyandottes on Friday (the 21st). The Wyandottes were born on April 12th and the Buffs were born on the 19th. I had them in a large Rubbermaid bin originally but just built a 3ft x 5ft plywood box for them as I will be adding 9 more chicks this Friday (which are probably hatching now). I have a couple of questions. First, is it ok for me to put the new tiny babies in with the other chicks, which will be 1 and 2 weeks old? Second, how long does it take for them to become friendly? I spend at least 30min - 1hr with them each day, they will eat out of my hand, but only one tolerates being picked up and petted without hollering so far (one of the wyandottes). Now that the brooder is larger I actually get in there and sit with them, but because it is larger it is harder to catch them and enforce loving on them, lol. Is this something that will get better as they associate me with treats or should I just chase them down and handle them despite the peeping/flapping? Oh, and one more thing, I have seen a lot of people on this forum mention giving yogurt to chicks, and I tried to offer some to them the other day, but they were completely uninterested. They just kept walking through it then obsessively wiping their feet to get it off. I tried sprinkling some of their chick starter in it and dipping a couple of beaks in it, and left it in there for about 30 min, but it was untouched. I have had more success since then with some pak choy (they have an overturned piece of sod for grit). Do I just need to keep trying the yogurt?

So I tried the yogurt again tonight and they actually ate it. Here is a pic of my friendliest chick, Eleanor


Here is my pile of peeps:

Hi and welcome to BYC - thanks for joining us.

I'd be hesitant to introduce day old chicks to week / 2 week olds. Better to keep them separate, at least for a couple of weeks IMO.

Just spending time with chicks each day usually helps to socialise them. Some will be uber friendly, others will never be - its just their personalities. Personally, I do not give treats to young chicks. Starter feed is nutritionally balanced and other foods can interfere with this. Other people do give treats - I guess its just a personal thing. Maybe try some meal worms - that should be fun to watch.

These links may be interesting:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-and-raising-chicks
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/raising-your-baby-chicks
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...ks-the-first-60-days-of-raising-baby-chickens

You'll find lots of info in the Learning Centre - https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center and if you have a specific topic in mind, just type it in the search box - there's a wealth of information on past and present threads.

You may wish to consider joining your state thread as it will put you in touch with other BYC members in your area - https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/270925/find-your-states-thread#post_3239224

All the best
CT

G’Day from down under misneachfarm Welcome!

Adorable littlies!

Raising People Friendly Poultry was a recent Topic of the Week and you might find this thread helpful: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1166424/topic-of-the-week-raising-people-friendly-poultry

I hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun.

If you would like to share more pictures and stories of your flock, you have come to the right place. BYC’ers never tire of these and do not back away slowly or commence eye rolling when the photo album or home videos come out