Are my Chicks too comfertable with people?? Did I mess up..

[LTygress]

I'm with everyone else here. My top roo always wanted to be picked up when he was younger. He was a cuddler! Now, he won't let me pick him up. I can get close, and touch him on his neck and chest, but NO picking him up!

However, he won't even let most others get close to him. Anyone else within 10 feet is a threat, and he will take off running! So I'm glad that I spent that time with him when he was a chick, or I wouldn't be able to touch him now!

 

[birdbrain99]

I am kindof in the same boat as you my chick was so attatched to me but now she is starting to explore and is not so attatched. I wouldn't worry, my chick acted like a pet bird too but she has just learnt about scratching and catching bugs from my older chicken and is now acting more like a chicken. When they get abit older, just go outside and stay with them but let them explore. Don't worry, all chicks are attatched to people When they are older, they will probably follow you around sometimes but will not always have to. good luck.

 

[GD91]

My chickens where handreared & they race in the house if you leave the door open. They will even slip between legs etc to get in. One in particular called "Naughty Nugget" will leg it through to the living room & flap straight onto my lap where she proceeds to stretch out in the sunbathing position & demand to be petted by pecking your leg.

They were spoilt rotten as chicks.

 

[Bairdfamily]

Thanks EVERYONE for the help I feel much more comfortable with them and YES they are starting to want to be left alone now that there getting a lil older. ( They are 5 1/2wks old and at the funny looking stage when their feathers are poking straight up on there head lol !! I love it ) I let them out in the yard yesterday for about 15 minutes and they loved it ( and followed me around everywhere!) but when I stayed still they explored a little bit and really seemed to enjoy it. PLUS it was super easy to put them back into coop!


P.S> I assume the sunbathing position is when they stretch their legs and wings out and lay on their side ( I thought they were all dying but soon realized they just wanted the sun) I Love BYC so glad i joined. THANKS AGAIN to ALL

-CARRIE

 

[aart]

I've read that sometimes roosters can get human aggressive if handled too much as chicks, but I don't think it's a problem with hens. Probably make them easier to handle as adults if they need tending to for checkups, injuries or illness.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

There is a phenomena in chicks called imprinting. At or shortly after hatching the first large (bigger than the chick) moving object that a chick sees it will bond to that object or animal and treat it like it is the chicks mother. This may be why some roosters attack strangers but ignore their owners' family members.

I can assure you that a baby chick will imprint on a running lawnmower and unfortunately it will run under the lawn mower like it was the chick's mother. Notice how the hybrid imprinted chick in the video tries to get the dogs to hover it or to find it food

.

 

[SampyArctica]

HAHA. Thank you for posting that video, that was so cute and funny! Although, I did kinda feel a little sorry for the chick who just wanted it's "Mumma".

My nearly 13-week old 'chicks' were hand raised with their brooder inside the house, I didn't even consider raising them any other way since I got them as day-olds and neither of my two older girls (we got them as point of lay) ever go broody or are the mothering type. I guess you could say they were raised as pets, which is also what they are now - we got them purely for extra companionship, the fact they'll be laying yummy, yummy eggs is just a plus.

They really are just backyard chickens though, we live on a residential block in the suburbs, so we were never planning on 'farming' our chickens other than for the eggs they lay - so we really have no problem with treating them like pets.

They used to fall asleep on my lap all the time when we had them inside, while I would be reading or watching TV, they even used to use my arms as a perch while I'd be using my laptop and sometimes we'd let them wander around the house so they would get used to us big things lumbering around in close proximity to them (we've got tiled floors throughout, any messes were cleaned up easily).

Now they free-range all day, every day and only get shut in their coops overnight. They had no problem at all integrating with our older girls, but that may also be because I had them in the coop next to the older girls' for about a month and a half before letting them out at the same time as the other girls so they got used to each other through the wire. Minimal pecking once they were actually face to face, was all sorted out rather quickly and now they all get along fine.

Now that they spend more of their day awake, they don't like being touched or picked up very much during the day...but about half an hour before bedtime, they both still jump up into my lap to be showered with affection. It's the one time of day that they love being cuddled and fussed over, right before falling asleep in my lap. They will take themselves into their hutch if I'm not around, but if I am - then they have to get their 'goodnight' cuddles first, haha.

It will be interesting to see if this behaviour continues after they start laying, as I have also heard that a chickens behaviour will change many times in it's first year. Since I'm the only one this happens to though (they won't let anybody else even touch them), I'm not really fussed with discouraging the behaviour as they get older...and bigger.

If they did try to do it to other people though and at more times of the day than just bed time, I probably would try to train it out of them so not to cause any unwilling bodies injury/inconvenience. But just me? I'm more than okay with it.

 

[hope4rainbow]

Ours tolerate being picked up and petted. Except our D'uccle pullet. She hops up on us, likes to ride on my shoulder, tries to climb on my head, and is really sweet and cuddly. She is more like a parrot, size-wise anyway gh:

 

[Bairdfamily]

Thanks again for all the posts! And this site is awesome I feel a lot more comfortable raising Chickens with all this new knowledge! Everyone on the site is great funny stories and cutie cute pics!

I had a chicken pass away a few nights ago

it is a sweet and sad story as follows:
So, one of my RIR named Twerk had a fling with my dog Buster, it was ridiculous every time I let them free roam Twerk and buster were always off together lying together, she would pick bugs off him, basically I'm trying to say I think they were in Love

.
The other night I guess I didn't secure the door well enough

and Twerk got out....Long story short, Buster and Twerk snuggled that night and Buster being much bigger and fatter than her... She got smothered and died.. The morning I went out and found her I knew right away that something was wrong. About 5am Buster woke me up whining and scratching at the door. So I got my Coffee and went to check out the situation. as soon as I went to head to the coop, Buster just stopped at the door(which is NOT normal he usually is right up my butt the whole way to the coop running circles around me) and had this "I just did a BAD BAD thing " look on his face. Not wanting to go see what he did, I go out there, and Poor little Twerk is Lying dead right outside the coop door. You could literally see a Buster shaped imprint on the ground around where she was lying. Poor Buster thought he was in big trouble but I think he was just trying to cuddle and stay warm with his girl. Poor Buster doesn't even go near the coop now he stays his distance and stays on the porch most of the day, I am hoping this will pass and he will be same old buster ( and im sure it will it has only been a day since this happening)
Anyways....life happens and we keep moving forward. My husband remade the door to secure better and I got thee more 1 week old Americana's. Henny Penny, Lady Chika, & Chick-A-Dee



Hope everyone stays warm!!!! Lots of love
With Pecks&Poops
Bairdfamily

 

[creepygothnursi]

Enjoy it while it lasts! Mine have never much wanted anything to do with me, so be happy that you have a friendly bunch. Only thing to be careful of is that if you baby a rooster too much they can sometimes take this as a sign that they are dominant over you and they may turn violent, but hens, cuddle away!