How do you get your birds to be so friendly?

[Tookie]

In all my 8.5 years of chicken keeping, I haven't had a super friendly chicken. I've had many chickens over the years, and not one of them has been extremely friendly.
I see many people with very friendly birds and I'm wondering, how do y'all do it? How do you get them to hop on your lap, follow you around, ask for attention, ect...?
Is it the breed? How you raise them? How much attention they get? Where you get them? Or is it a luck of the draw type of a thing?
I'd like to hear about ducks too, as sometime soon I'd like to get them!

 

[SmiYa0126]

In all my 8.5 years of chicken keeping, I haven't had a super friendly chicken. I've had many chickens over the years, and not one of them has been extremely friendly.
I see many people with very friendly birds and I'm wondering, how do y'all do it? How do you get them to hop on your lap, follow you around, ask for attention, ect...?
Is it the breed? How you raise them? How much attention they get? Where you get them? Or is it a luck of the draw type of a thing?
I'd like to hear about ducks too, as sometime soon I'd like to get them!

Luck of the draw, I have one hen that I got as a pullet that runs to me, the rest tolerate me. I thought the ones I raised from chicks would be friendly but they're about the same.

 

[gimmie birdies]

My current hen that is friendly is my avatar. She is the boss hen, but goes down for me. One of the tricks is when they squat for you, give them attention for that. I pat their back and rock them a bit. If you see them do that but don't pat their back, they may not squat for you again.

 

[chickbliss]

Luck of the draw, I have one hen that I got as a pullet that runs to me, the rest tolerate me. I thought the ones I raised from chicks would be friendly but they're about the same.

Luck of the draw, I have one hen that I got as a pullet that runs to me, the rest tolerate me. I thought the ones I raised from chicks would be friendly but they're about the same.

Agree that luck plays a role. Every chicken has a different personality.

Some breeds seems to be more inclined to like people. For example, I read that Dominiques were “friendly” and added one to my chick order a few years ago. Of my current flock, “Louise” the Dominique is definitely the chicken most likely to jump in your lap. She is also the most food oriented, and the most likely time she will jump in your lap is when you are eating a sandwich. (Said sandwich may quickly disappear if you are a startled guest, believing you can enjoy a sandwich on my patio unmolested by a “friendly“ chicken.)

Of all my chickens over the years, the ones who follow me, fly up on an outstretched arm, or allow themselves to be picked up, are the ones who have at one time been sick or injured. They are the ones who get special food or have to be isolated (I am their only friend), or have to have regular handling of one kind or another.

Regular handling seems to be the key. Most of the time, I don’t have the time to carry all of them around. The ones that get extra handling get used to humans and getting picked up. The ones that get the most attention are the most tolerant. Some of these actually seek out human contact. Treat foods help, just don’t overdo the treats.

Good luck!

 

[nuthatched]

Ignore them and they cling to you like starving mosquitoes.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

Out of my 2 flocks i have had in the past 3 years. A few have been friendly.
I have found that as chicks just letting them climb all over you helps. But then they get to a stage where they hate you, i just let them be in this stage. My Orpington and Easter Eggers were the only ones that didnt hate me.
My Brahma has been shy and hated me since i helped her with pasty butt and she would chirp all day and night unless i held her, so we have a special connection is what i say. She runs up to me when she wants food or to be picked up, but other times she ignores me.
My Orpington is the only one who runs up to me everytime and loves to perch on my shoulder!
I only have one chicken i cant pick up she is a SLW and has always been that way.
I also sit with them in the run atleast once a week, and feed treats! They absolutely love this time!
I think its the luck of the draw.

 

[Tookie]

Thank you all for your comments! Much appreciated! So guess it's just luck mostly eh?

@chickbliss , my friendliest chicken I have is actually a Dominique, and she did have an injured wing, so I was with her a lot while taking care of her!

 

[BecksNesting]

I have the answer for getting friendly chickens .... it's called fresh cut grass (non fertilized), LOL!

 

[Happy hen lover]

In all my 8.5 years of chicken keeping, I haven't had a super friendly chicken. I've had many chickens over the years, and not one of them has been extremely friendly.
I see many people with very friendly birds and I'm wondering, how do y'all do it? How do you get them to hop on your lap, follow you around, ask for attention, ect...?
Is it the breed? How you raise them? How much attention they get? Where you get them? Or is it a luck of the draw type of a thing?
I'd like to hear about ducks too, as sometime soon I'd like to get them!

Luck of the draw!
I go to great extremes to feed babies out of my hand when small. Out of the 10 chicks I got last year only one ended up friendly. The others tolerate me. Most just run and fly when I go in.

 

[BecksNesting]

Ours will run and fly .............to us! Looks like an air raid! Now my husband did something funny last week. He did an "imitation" of a rooster crowing. Suddenly all the younger birds stood tall, then ran and hid as best they could. It was hilarious ... even after the 3rd time of him doing that, lol.

We keep tarps over our bull panel tunnel chicken runs, and it is a riot to see the tarps puffing as the chickens fly to the gate to greet me.