Are baby chicks always chicken?

[eggsited chickens]

When I open the door, most of mine look to see who it is and if it's me they will come to the door. I usually have lots of treats...worms, grubs, roly polies, and today i captured a cricket...boy they had that thing torn in pieces within seconds! I have tried yogurt and that didn't go over too good. Scrambled eggs was a treat too. Corn on the cob...picked them clean! I have one BO (not body order

) that will let me pick her up and she sits there so calm, the rest just run. I think i'm winning them over though! The roos, I can't even get close to along with the EE

 

[farmerlor]

Remember that those babies are hard wired from the egg to be afraid of scary big things that swoop over them. They usually need a couple of weeks to get used to that and the way you get them used to that is always announce yourself when you're bringing food and water. Just call to them and talk to them and get them used to the big scary thing being the food bringer and cuddler. And you don't get to complain when they walk up your arm to stand on your head.

 

[stretchc1]

I'm also a new egg. I began by overgeneralizing from the advice about being careful about letting children handle the chicks--I thought that if I handled them too much at first that I would stress them out. Now, I think that was wrong. My chicks are between 1.5 and 2.5 weeks old, and I'm making a concerted effort to get them to be more docile.

Since they are still not feathered out, and since it's still pretty chilly here in CT, I've begun taking one or two on a "field trip" to the kitchen or the screened-in porch each day. I have found that once they are out of sight of their brooder (in the basement), they are actually reluctant to leave my arm/hand--lots of wing flapping and balancing. I put my other hand under their breasts and they often snuggle down in my palm to rest--very sweet. I have noticed that they like to be petted on the breast, but not on the back. I don't keep them out too long; I have noticed that after about 10-15 minutes, their feet feel a little cool--so back to the brooder they go.

When I do put them down, I try to give each of the older girls a treat--e.g. a meal worm or "wounded" ant. I'm trying to get them to associate me with pleasure. (I know, I know, they're just chickens...but I can dream, can't I?). I just keep a container of Clorox wipes handy to wipe up the inevitable poo on the kitchen floor...

In the last two days, I have actually had two of my five chicks step into my palm when I put my arm down in the brooder. They don't do that all the time, but I can tell that at least four of them are getting less "flighty." The fifth one--a buff orphington, and thus supposedly the most docile of the 5 breeds I have--is a bit of a psycho. I'm still working on her and hope she'll come around.

Keep at it!

 

[Eggie and Me]

Quote:

Boy isn't that the truth. Ours (6 wks old) see an sparrow and heaven forbid they hear or see a crow,

instant running for their coop.

disclaimer: their yard also has a top, so they are perfectly safe...

 

[rhondapiper]

I've got 7 3-week-olds, and I've been in a lot of these threads agonizing over how to make them like me. I've gone from a hands off approach, to a hands on approach, to a more time is best approach.

Mine are in a brooder in the garage because I have cats and a dog who would eat them, so they don't get as much exposure to people as I'd like. While they were in a tote-style brooder, they were really skittish, hard to catch, and seemed to despise me. Of course, I was just this big thing that swept down from above while they were trapped with nowhere to go.

I moved them to a brooder on the floor with mesh sides, and now I sit in front of it and remove a side. I kept trying to pick them up, and they would scatter. I stopped that (against the advice I got on BYC) and the chickens got really friendly really quickly. Being on their level and having them not feel as trapped seemed to make a big difference. They can easily fly out into the garage when the side is off, and sometimes do, but always rush right back in.

The chicks swarm me instantly now as soon as I remove the side. If I put my arm in, they peck at my freckles and always check my hand for food. The two most brave, my black australorps, are at the point now that they are flying onto me and walking up to my face or roosting happily on me. The others still don't want to be picked up, but they're all much more at ease around me.

Most of the advice I got told me to force them to be held, and while that has definitely worked for other people, it kept backfiring on me and my chicks were more and more nervous, probably because the only time they saw people was when I was bothering them, since I could not put them in the house where they would be able to see me all day and just get pestered sometimes. But now that I am letting them hop up on their own and spending a LOT more time with them, they are taming up to the point where I think they are going to be downright annoying. Now I'm petting them a lot, which they run from, then come back for, then run away again. They're ridiculous.

They still startle easily and are terrified of anything new (pine shavings, OH NO, refilled waterer, OH NO, the roost, OH NO!) but as far as being as afraid of me, they've come a long way in about 4 days.

 

[shaggy]

mine just started climbing my arms when i stick them in the coop

mine are 3-4 weeks old ish

 

[RAWR]

my babies get really loud when i talk to them and the jump around and get all excited :] im pretty sure thats a good thing

 

[ChickieNikki]

Every night I catch junebugs and toss them in each brooder--they have a "peepathon" and do a big steeple chase around and then pass out from the exercise! I chat with them when I water them, the kids play in the garage for hours each day (and I have 5 plus there are ALWAYS neighbors too), so they're used to hearing people--loud, crying, whining, bickering, laughing, fussing, playing yelling people! So they aren't startled by voices. I slide the brooder around a bit when I water them, which makes them jumpy and fussy, but they are getting used to it and aren't so freaked by it (not trying to freak them out, but gotta do it). I also hold them every day, and the kids do, too. My 8 yr old son the most--and they are VERY calm around him. My 4 year old prefers the buff orps (they are all marked green and she calls them all PennyPenny), but it has made them very tame, but with her much more so than me. The barred rocks are very curious, and approach my arm rather than dash away, so that causes everyone else to approach, too. 3 of the BRs will jump onto my arm when I call "Come up, Baby" which is funny! The EEs are the most easygoing, but they are ALL chicken when something new is put in. Every bug is scary until someone gets up their nerve to peck it, a blob of yogurt might as well have been a giant racoon, and I have a little roosting branch I move between brooders, and that always scares the mess out of them for 3 minutes before they realize it's not going to eat them! I really enjoy these little critters, even more than I thought I would--they are SO entertaining!

 

[RAWR]

lol every chick i've ever been around has always loved bugs :] do JuneBugs come out yet around this tme of the year??

 

[1birdlady]

We started handling them from day 1...they were about 3 days old. 4 Barred Rocks.

Just holding them and whispering/talking.....

At about a month old we started giving them "treats",
a bit of broccoli, some oats from our hands.

Now at about 2 months old they are very tame and they are all comfortable with being held and hand fed their treats..........tho they are like "velocoraptors" when we bring the dish with spaghetti, broccoli and oats as their treat to get them back in the coop!

We're still catching them to hold and they are ok with that. They are such a pleasure!