At wits end with biting chickens...

[Folly's place]

Turkeys, especially in confinement, are a different issue entirely, not a small backyard flock of chickens. I wear any colors, hats, no hats, boots, whatever, and the chickens know who I am regardless. The only thing they worry about is the fish net if I'm waving it around, and then it's about moving away from it.
I wear scrubs to work, and have red, orange, yellow, and various greens and other colors. Nobody cares!
Mary

 

[Stephine]

I have had chickens for almost eight years now, and this is what I have learned so far. Some chickens are just not nice. I have been focusing more and more on friendly, people oriented, mellow breeds. I want to be able to relax around my chickens and even give a cuddles or a few pets. I have only breeds that have no problem with me reaching under them while sitting in the nest box now. I have a Green Queen that used to peck my legs hard. I started picking her up every time she did it and pet her for a bit (under the chin, on the cheeks, on her chest - I make sure to avoid the top of the head and back, and focus on places another chicken wouldn’t peck, so there’s no confusion), and put her back down. Turns out she liked it and after a few times she started pecking me and waiting expectantly. When she pecked hard I yelped and she learned to peck gently to ask to be picked up. She runs to me as fast as her little legs will take her. She has become my snuggle bug.
My newest roo (7 months old now) started biting my hands at around 5 months old, when I reached down for their food bowl or anything. So I started picking him up and talking to him and petting him gently each time he bit me. It took a few months, but now he just lets me pick him up. He is no longer scared of my hands. He stands between my legs to eat from the trough because we’re friends now and he knows I will keep the older hens from bothering him. My goal is to behave as un-chicken like as possible, so they can stop worrying about where I might be in the pecking order. Not responding to an affront by fighting or running, but calmly picking a chicken up and being gentle and sweet is not in their vocabulary, so it seems to jolt them out of their instincts and trigger the little bit of learning they are capable of. And I am sure there are chickens that just can’t adjust, too, but this has been working in my case. So, I recommend not imitating a chicken or predator in response to a chicken attack, but staying the friendly caretaker. Gloves and heavy pants help.

 

[DarkKnight]

Excellent advice on technique! Thank you!

One problem I've had is I find I need to take the offending chicken (who are we kidding... it's Pepper) into a separate pen to prevent the other chickens from interfering. This creates a delay between action and consequence. Of course I swoop them up immediately, which they also hate, but I'm wondering if my subsequent dominance routine is now disjointed from their action?

Perhaps it doesn't matter. There's a split second delay between pecking me and getting grabbed. The entire ordeal is unpleasant for them. I will focus more on making sure she stays down once I pin.

Well, if Pepper attacks, it's really suboptimal to relocate her before disciplining her. The time delay involved lessens (and sometimes fully negates) the really important 'immediate repercussions' aspect of animal behavior modification.

Chickens are (from my reading) visual learners. The lesson you teach Pepper will be much more effective if you do it in full view of the flock. It really does send a message to the rest of them about your place in the flock, just as it does when they watch you flee an attack.

If one of the others attacks you while holding Pepper, then use your other hand and grab the attacking one by the neck. Above all else, you must protect yourself from injury. Being polite to aggressive poultry is not worth losing an eye or getting an infection from being raked.

We all want to be nice to and be loved by our chickens, but the ones that choose violence have shown they don't love you. So failing kindness, you must establish dominance just as another chicken would. If the grip won't work for you, pinch the offending chicken between the wings and without letting go, let them freak out about it. When they go into a corner, peck them repeatedly until they dive their head down and put their butt up in the air. Give them a couple more hard pecks for good measure until they don't want to even be near you any more. Hopefully you will earn their respect and things will calm down.

If you get attacked while doing this, switch targets and chase the new attacker in the corner. Escalate, get angry, rinse & repeat until the attacks stop.

I once watched a rooster attack a duck. That duck bit the rooster in the back and held onto that rooster for a good 2 or 3 minutes while running around the pen. The rooster eventually got lose by wedging the duck around a tree and ripping his own feathers out. I believe the rooster left the duck alone after that.

 

[DarkKnight]

I have had chickens for almost eight years now, and this is what I have learned so far. Some chickens are just not nice. I have been focusing more and more on friendly, people oriented, mellow breeds. I want to be able to relax around my chickens and even give a cuddles or a few pets. I have only breeds that have no problem with me reaching under them while sitting in the nest box now. I have a Green Queen that used to peck my legs hard. I started picking her up every time she did it and pet her for a bit (under the chin, on the cheeks, on her chest - I make sure to avoid the top of the head and back, and focus on places another chicken wouldn’t peck, so there’s no confusion), and put her back down. Turns out she liked it and after a few times she started pecking me and waiting expectantly. When she pecked hard I yelped and she learned to peck gently to ask to be picked up. She runs to me as fast as her little legs will take her. She has become my snuggle bug.
My newest roo (7 months old now) started biting my hands at around 5 months old, when I reached down for their food bowl or anything. So I started picking him up and talking to him and petting him gently each time he bit me. It took a few months, but now he just lets me pick him up. He is no longer scared of my hands. He stands between my legs to eat from the trough because we’re friends now and he knows I will keep the older hens from bothering him. My goal is to behave as un-chicken like as possible, so they can stop worrying about where I might be in the pecking order. Not responding to an affront by fighting or running, but calmly picking a chicken up and being gentle and sweet is not in their vocabulary, so it seems to jolt them out of their instincts and trigger the little bit of learning they are capable of. And I am sure there are chickens that just can’t adjust, too, but this has been working in my case. So, I recommend not imitating a chicken or predator in response to a chicken attack, but staying the friendly caretaker. Gloves and heavy pants help.

Although the exact opposite advice from me, I think this is a very good approach for some people & some chickens. I don't have the patients or the tolerance for injury to do this myself, nor do I want to dress in armor just to see my chickens, but I can see the appeal of it.

There's no one size fits all approach to relationships. You have to find the one that works for you and the specific chickens you have. I'm not sure a 'talking to' will stop an angry hen/roo flying at you with malice, but if it hasn't gotten that far, this is a good deescalation.

 

[Debbie292d]

Turkeys, especially in confinement, are a different issue entirely, not a small backyard flock of chickens. I wear any colors, hats, no hats, boots, whatever, and the chickens know who I am regardless. The only thing they worry about is the fish net if I'm waving it around, and then it's about moving away from it.
I wear scrubs to work, and have red, orange, yellow, and various greens and other colors. Nobody cares!
Mary

Nobody's suggesting anything, just points to ponder or consider when trying different things, as someone else mentioned.

I too wear whatever I happen to be wearing, but I don't have issues with any chickens right now either. I haven't paid attention to what I was wearing when I did, lol.

 

[Stephine]

Although the exact opposite advice from me, I think this is a very good approach for some people & some chickens. I don't have the patients or the tolerance for injury to do this myself, nor do I want to dress in armor just to see my chickens, but I can see the appeal of it.

There's no one size fits all approach to relationships. You have to find the one that works for you and the specific chickens you have. I'm not sure a 'talking to' will stop an angry hen/roo flying at you with malice, but if it hasn't gotten that far, this is a good deescalation.

Yes, this is my “nip it in the bud” approach - young chickens and from first infraction. I am sure it won’t always work, but with breeds that are naturally more friendly and mellow it seems to do the trick when someone is starting in the wrong direction.
For an approach that may or may not work, I definitely like the calm friendly way better. And so far I have been lucky. I am absolutely not willing to arm myself on the daily in a struggle with an aggressive chicken. Roos have gone to big free range flocks or the feed store before, and I haven’t yet had an aggressive hen besides my Green Queen. I wonder if a pair of pinless peepers would help for a hen, might throw her off just enough.