How to tame chicks (teaching them to not be afraid of you)

[silkie2001]

After hatching my chicks from eggs I was not the first living thing they saw so I wanted then to think I'm their mother. ( I did this with silkies) each and every night I would hold them and talk to the chicks, I also would hand feed some of them.

 

[deborahca]

Mine came from the feed store almost a week old. I've been trying to handle them every day, but two of them are really unhappy about it. The other two are putting up with it OK. I'm not sure if I'm pushing the interaction too hard and should be more patient, or if I'm doing the right thing. I'm also not sure what hte best technique is for picking up a 2-week old chick, and how that should change as they get bigger.

 

[lightchick]

Wow! Thanks for the info! I've been trying to help them become used to me and it works OK but I got to get them to love me! My first chick was easy because she was the only chick and I became her mom. (I had my first chick last year) I wish I could tell you everything but it's kind of a long story. I had to give her to a farm because I wasn't really ready for her adult years or as a matter of fact her chick days. (I raised her with NO heat lamp and kept her in a bird cage in my house)

 

[Bean789]

My babes are 3 weeks old and I have had them since day 3. I pick them up every day and my daughter handles them as well. They are not always happy about it, but they are getting used to it and are a little calmer each time. We talk to them a lot and they are in my kitchen in their brooder so they hear us all the time. The kids are running around also so they are used to human noise. They now look up at me when I lean over their brooder and cock their head sideways to see me. They chirp back to me sometimes, or I like to think so, or they are just making soft chirp noises when I speak to them. Every one in the household is learning to care for them and handle them. As for picking them up, I use one hand around their bodies with their feet confined by my fingers and the other one supporting their chest. Cupping them within my hands. As they have gotten bigger, they don't like to be held held so much but will sit on my lap or my knee while we examine them and talk to them. Sometimes they will walk away or flutter off into the kitchen but most times, they just sit there. They are turned upside down and over and wings examined each time and they just look at us while they are being handled. It is funny sometimes. One of them was ill for a short while and was held more than the others. She is quite spoiled now.

 

[silkie2001]

Mine came from the feed store almost a week old.  I've been trying to handle them every day, but two of them are really unhappy about it.  The other two are putting up with it OK.  I'm not sure if I'm pushing the interaction too hard and should be more patient, or if I'm doing the right thing.  I'm also not sure what hte best technique is for picking up a 2-week old chick, and how that should change as they get bigger.

My chicks are 5 weeks old and about a third of them hate to be handled, I think it's about wether or not they like to be tamed.

 

[SILKIEOBESSESED]

Feed them treats!! Put your hand in the brooder and just wait. They might come and peck at it but don't move or they will get startled. Just sit by the brooder and talk to them. If you really want to hold them catch one and talk softly to it and pet it. After they are used to being held, you might want to start holding them how your going to hold them when they are much bigger.

 

[alyssaplavigne]

What kind of treats would you use?

 

[lightchick]

What kind of treats would you use?

Yeah....what kind of treats do you use?

 

[silkie2001]

Yeah....what kind of treats do you use?

i use strawberries or warmed up tortilla pieces

 

[topdog24]

Food and calm is the answer for me, no sudden moves, I would take my chicks feeder out to clean it, leave it our for awhile, before putting it back, i would fill my hand with feed and lay my hand inside the brooder on the floor, the chicks ate off of my hand until they learned to trust me, then they jumped up on my hand and ate, after about 4 or 5 days, they come to the door when i would approach them, they would jump up on my empty hand and actually fight over getting to set on my hand, i then placed a 1 x 1 strip of wood in the brooder and set them on it one by one until they would stay on it, then i added more and they were roosting before 2 weeks old, i can handle all 39 of my chicks.