Another thread on socializing chicks

[theawesomechick]

I know exactly how you feel! My original plan was to socialize slowly, and let the only touch from me be a calm, easy one - no drama, no trauma. But we've had an epidemic of "pasty butt" here and now when they see me coming they run as far and as fast as they can! I posted on another thread that I swear one of them pointed to another one with his wing cheeping, "Pick her, pick her!" <sigh> Found out how to get ahead of the "pasty butt" with ACV and yogurt, but now I'm in an uphill battle to win their trust back.

Those chicks just don't get the fact that buying a roast chicken from Costco is cheaper than waiting for them to grow up!

I've starting holding them one by one and talking to them when I move them to their playpen outside each day. Everyone but Speckles, the cuckoo marans, is starting to relax just a little bit.

 

[natalie53079]

I know you posted this a little bit ago, but I just wanted to see how things were going with the chicks. Here is my 2 cents worth of advice.... When you hold them, one at a time, walk away from the site of their brooder. If they can see their little friends... they will want to flap and fly to get back to them. I have 8 chicks in a brooder. I plan on about 20 minutes in the morning, about 20 minutes when I get home from work, and another 20 minutes before bed to do "chicken chores" which is mostly socialization.

I will take one out, walk away with it, sit down in a chair... talk to it, pull out each wing, stretch out each leg, remind chicky of it's name, tell it I love it and walk it back. Each chick has about 2 minutes of private time with me, and doing that a couple times per day has made all my chicks adore me. When I reach in the brooder to change water or top off food, they all gather around my hand and want to be the lucky one that gets picked up. It's kinda like they are all eagerly watching, begging, Pick-Me... Pick Me...

Good luck with your babies.

 

[ShockValue]

Mine hated me picking them up and scattered a bit when I tried. I found that some struggled when held, some didn't.

However, I put a towel or blanket on my lap, and many times if I sat and just put them on my lap they would calm down and snuggle in a little.
Then I would slowly and gently pet them.

Other times they cried for their sisters, so the petting session didn't last too long.


Now that they're getting older, I can bribe them with treats. At first they turned their beaks up at them. But we've recently discovered that anyone with a grape in their fingers is GOD.

 

[JessicaThistle]

My chicks like to make a bit of noise and struggle when I pick them up too. But I feel like I am the boss and I am going to snuggle these cuties. I found if I pulled them close to my chest where she could feel my body warmth and talk to them, they would be sleeping in my arms before I knew it.

The girls are now in the coop as they are almost 6 weeks old. I take a small stool into the run and just sit while talking to them. They all take their turns jumping up on my lap or shoulders and visiting me. I decided since they are bigger that I would let them decide. I guess they like me because 5 of the 8 of them decided they were going to sit on my lap at the same time the other day. The other 3 were looking for a spot too, but I'm not that big. Thankfully, no one got on my head.