Petting

[monicci]

Our Roo is so sweet, he jumps up on my husbands lap many times thruout the day. he will sit there and love to be petted slowly and he actually falls asleep. Our 4 silkies do it too, and our roos girlfriend will sit with him on my husbands lap, she is a polish. our bars wont do it. oh by the way our roo was given to us at a year old a couple months ago because his flockmates did not care for hi m.mabe thats why, he is too sweet, lol.

 

[gander111]

Normally, chickens will return to their coop at dusk. You can train your chichs with treats. When I go outside I start singing, "chickie chickie chickies" and I can see and hear them getting excited, when I get to their pen I either let them out and throw them scratch or throw it in the run. When I want them to return to the pen later, I sing to them again and they run to me and then I throw scratch in the pen and they all run inside. I keep the same routine pretty much and it works smoothly.

 

[gander111]

Chickens love scratch, so I add dried mealworms and small sunflower seeds to it. Also, you can slice cucumbers or zucchini lengthwise, they love it!
Apples, with seeds removed, grapes and blueberries too.

 

[mithious]

Chickens love scratch, so I add dried mealworms and small sunflower seeds to it. Also, you can slice cucumbers or zucchini lengthwise, they love it!
Apples, with seeds removed, grapes and blueberries too.

Ok, this is prolly a really dumb question, but why do the apple seeds need to be removed? Are they poisonous?

 

[Island Chick]

Apple seeds contain cyanide, generally chickens eat them no problem as the amount of cyanide in them is pretty tiny but some seem to be more sensitive and have died after eating only a few.

 

[mithious]

Thank you, I had no idea, as we had apple trees and our BR's used to eat the drops...guess the BR's are one of the breeds that aren't affected. They eat just about anything LOL. Atleast ours did. My Mom used to collect everything in a container in the sink, can't remember what they called it, there was a name for the container though, and feed everything to them...she would just throw it over their fence, after we had dinna, so that it didn't stink or attract flies.

Learn something new everyday, aye? We have tons of apple trees here too, very old ones, so not good to eat, for us anyways...thought I might have to rethink my fencing plans for next spring!!!! Glad to know it's not something new that I have to be worried about!!! I'll have to check on the Dom's though, even though they are one of the breeds that went into making the BR's, they might have a different constitution! That's ok though, plenty of room to range them separate here! We have about 20 acres, or so. Not counting the pond way down in the back.

Huge thanks again!!!

 

[panola108]

I agree; 2 out of 3 of my hens love to be held, but I have had to re-train all of them on occasion by keeping them "cooped up" and making them wait for me to hand-pick them out of the coop. Will have to work on the 3rd one again.

 

[Island Chick]

Thank you, I had no idea, as we had apple trees and our BR's used to eat the drops...guess the BR's are one of the breeds that aren't affected. They eat just about anything LOL. Atleast ours did. My Mom used to collect everything in a container in the sink, can't remember what they called it, there was a name for the container though, and feed everything to them...she would just throw it over their fence, after we had dinna, so that it didn't stink or attract flies. Learn something new everyday, aye? We have tons of apple trees here too, very old ones, so not good to eat, for us anyways...thought I might have to rethink my fencing plans for next spring!!!! Glad to know it's not something new that I have to be worried about!!! I'll have to check on the Dom's though, even though they are one of the breeds that went into making the BR's, they might have a different constitution! That's ok though, plenty of room to range them separate here! We have about 20 acres, or so. Not counting the pond way down in the back. Huge thanks again!!!

Not sure it is so much a breed thing, as an individual chicken thing? Similar to how some people are able to handle more alcohol than others, some birds just can't handle toxins in their systems as well as others. Alcohol might not be best analogy but the idea is the same. I think it's one of those things where if you feel better about removing the seeds, go for it but unless the chicken eats more than like 10 seeds I wouldn't worry too much. I don't know of any apples that have more than a few seeds at most anyways and doubt a chicken is going to eat several apples at once.

 

[84097newbei]

If it's your desire to interact affectionately with your baby chicks, do it! All baby chicks will respond well to being cuddled closely. They love the warmth of being held under your chin, and it's wonderful to hear them respond with their version of puring - a sort of whistling. Older chicks will calm down when a hand is placed gently on their backs, and their head is stroked very gently on the back of the neck. They also love having their tiny cheek stroked. That will usually bliss out any chicken, young and old.

More and more, people are discovering what wonderful, affectionate pets chickens are. Chickens love being petted if they are introduced to it from the very beginning. Older chickens that have never been held and petted won't be trusting at first when a human wants to pet them, but with time, even those usually can be converted into little hug hogs.

It all depends on your own intentions, confidence, and willingness to love these charming little beasts.

I started with five 2 day old chicks Easter 2012. Never did it before, just wanted baby chicks. From day one I held each one daily, talked to them and just spent time with them. People who have chickens that I know, say they have never seen birds like mine. They free roam in our back yard and of course when I go out they come running for treats. But they also allow me to scratch their backs and will jump into my lap when I set with them. I can pick them up any time. They are wonderful! Have 4 Reds and 1 Blk Wyandotte... "Queen Layteffia and The Golden Girls"

 

[gander111]

It's called "compost"