chick behavior

[adirondackjack]

My chicks are almost 6 weeks old. one of them was being pecked and had a small injury on it's toe. There was so much pecking that i was afraid the chick would be seriously injured or killed. I finally had to find another home for that chick, as i was not able to re-integrate her to the flock. So far, there are no further behavior problems in this flock. I believe that they are all hens. I had no problems handling them when they were small. Now that they are bigger, in their coop, which is the right size and all other elements of their environment are as they should be, they are reluctant to being handled, and, if approached with direct human physical contact, eg. touching, etc. Also, when they peck humans, it's starting to hurt some. Is this normal? I have tried backing off a bit, eg, just going into the pen and waiting for them to approach me, but they just peck and if i try to touch them, they just run away. Am I expecting too much interation for chicks that will be egg layers? Is there a way to stop such behavior? Any suggestions?

 

[faykokoWV]

my chickens went just went through a "rebellious stage" as well. I read on the forum that treats were a good way to get around this.

I go into the coop once a day, usually around dinner time and take a treat of some sort. The only ones that get the treat are the ones that will come up to me and take it. While they get the treat, I reach down and pet them a little. If they are too aggressive taking the treat I just tell them " no treat for you!"

Now my oldest chicks that are abour 16 weeks come right up to me, hop on my lap and look for the treat. The ones that are at 11 weeks will come closer than before and are starting to dash in for a treat.