bonding

[briteday]

We are getting a silky chick in the spring, as a pet, and we were wondering how to have it bond to us. In some places i've read that all you have to do is handle the chick, other places say there are certain things you should do with them (head butting and chest stroking?). we have laying hens but this is more of a companion pet for my teenage daughter and she would like it to be a little more dependent on her. any advice?

 

[rockabilly7]

My suggestion would be get the chick really early like a day old that way it sees your daughter as its mother and will bond very quickly with her and make sure she is the only one to clean it and feed it so it knows her as its care-taker. Silkies are great I had one when I was 16 I loved him!!!

 

[HorseFeathers]

Hold it as often as possible. We have a batch of hens we held tons when they were little and are waaay friendly, and another we didn't hold as much who aren't as people-friendly (still sweet though). And yes, get it early.

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

Yep, as young as possible. When we hatched chicks, the little ones were much more social than the ones we ordered from the hatchary. We'd have them following out hands around! So cute!

Talk in a soft tone to them. Loud noises tend to shoo away any animal, chickens no different in that sense. We have had hens and roosters who would respond to a noise that I'd make, and for thier efforts I'd get them a treat. We really trained our flock to come and stop!

It didn't take much work, either.

Learn to understand that certain noises mean certain things. The 'singing' people say their chickens do in something any chicken should do, and tends to mean the bird is happy. Harsh chirps and peeps tend to mean 'stop it' or 'help' or something danger-wise.

Let everyone in the family socialize with the bird as soon as possible. The earlier to get to know your family, the better.

Good luck!