Sounds like a good idea. With my chickens I just let them perch on me, but I could probably do that with them as well. They don't really scratch much though
Yeah, they still kick when I touch their bellies. It could be part of why they still run away from me after so much human interaction. I do it sometime so I don't get scratched up, but I guess I'll stop it.
Oh, I wasn't meaning to strike fear into them, I read somewhere that others did it so I started doing it. I might stop knowing that. Even if it's not true I don't want to make them dislike me even more.
Holding them like this seems to calm them down a bit. Also it's one way to not get scratched by them. All of them besides Mina our mallard seem
to like it, of course most mallard don't like people so that's not surprising.