Gentle pecker??

[Zealo]

I've got three girls, two Barred rocks and one Rhode island red.

My Rhode Island, Mim, is a fierce pecker. You have to watch out when giving her treats because she is Not afraid to grab skin too.

Both of my Barred rocks however, go to peck at something and often miss.
If there is no threat of someone else stealing it (like Mim), they usually get it pretty quick. But when there is not, they'll go to peck it, but have a thing for drawing back before they even touch it. Its like their afraid to peck it to hard.

Eventually they got it, but makes me wonder if my Barred rocks have some eye sight problem, or that their really just soft peckers??

 

[familyfarm1]

They probably don't have an eyesight problem they are just different from the Rhode Island red.

 

[azygous]

Some very young chickens get very excited when treats are passed out and tend to grab skin and maybe entire fingers. Some of it is because they are competing for the treats and what to be speedy and get it first.

You can train them to slow down and learn the difference between the treat and your fingers by feeding them treats individually for a while until they learn to slow down and take the treat more carefully.

It requires patience, but they outgrow this tendency to grab skin.