Hi all,
We got 5 Silk chickens (2 weeks old tomorrow) 2 days ago. Having never had chickens before, but eeveerry other animal as well as geese and runner ducks before, this might be a silly post but here I go:
1) We have made it a habit these past 3 days already to pick up and hold the chicks in our hands about every hour when they are awake (which is of course very often
). However just like in the other posts, the chicks are still scared and run into the corners. We do still catch them though, as such "force" them to be picked up. Would you guys say that is OK, or rather wait out patiently until they come by themselves into our hands?
2) when I clean the cage with a spoon at the moment (the poo is just so tiny still!) there are two chicks that keep running to attack the spoon. Is this normal behaviour or maybe a behaviour also common for roosters? Unfortunately we are not sure if there is a rooster with this bunch yet, as the breeder was only sure 85% are female... Out of a bunch of 8 chicks.
I have at the moment always picked these two up if they come running and peck aggressively at the hand (which they have done too) and that stopped them from doing that after two times. Is this however an OK method of getting the "agrression" out. Of course I know they are still scared and it is a normal response to react, but I definitely do not want to have aggressive chickens
Any advice would be of much help
We got 5 Silk chickens (2 weeks old tomorrow) 2 days ago. Having never had chickens before, but eeveerry other animal as well as geese and runner ducks before, this might be a silly post but here I go:
1) We have made it a habit these past 3 days already to pick up and hold the chicks in our hands about every hour when they are awake (which is of course very often
). However just like in the other posts, the chicks are still scared and run into the corners. We do still catch them though, as such "force" them to be picked up. Would you guys say that is OK, or rather wait out patiently until they come by themselves into our hands? 2) when I clean the cage with a spoon at the moment (the poo is just so tiny still!) there are two chicks that keep running to attack the spoon. Is this normal behaviour or maybe a behaviour also common for roosters? Unfortunately we are not sure if there is a rooster with this bunch yet, as the breeder was only sure 85% are female... Out of a bunch of 8 chicks.
I have at the moment always picked these two up if they come running and peck aggressively at the hand (which they have done too) and that stopped them from doing that after two times. Is this however an OK method of getting the "agrression" out. Of course I know they are still scared and it is a normal response to react, but I definitely do not want to have aggressive chickens
Any advice would be of much help
