Chicken Aunt turned Chicken Mom

[ShweeB1229]

Thats great! Just make sure everything other than their commercial feed only takes up to 10% of their diet. So 25 chickens, for example, get 1/2 a cup of treats a day, so not a lot at all.

Yes, thank you! I was over feeding them with treats & cut down on them. The mealworms are merely for coaxing them back into the safety of their run after foraging

 

[RoosterWhisperer]

Hi all! Finally joining this group as it pops up anytime I ask a chicken-related question I inherited 3 laying hens after 8 months of being their primary caretaker. I want to be the best chicken mom I can be & figured joining a community like this would be a great help!

Welcome friend! . I see you put yogurt on their eating log, a good choice of a treat!

 

[ShweeB1229]

Welcome friend! . I see you put yogurt on their eating log, a good choice of a treat!

Just learned about it haha They looooved it!

 

[Texasclucker]

I'm trying! Trust takes time apparently haha

Yep I hear you on that one but the more you work with them and expose them to yourself and be gentle and comforting with them they will be very sweet for example about 2 months ago I got two new heifers and they hated me wellllll now we are at the current day and someone won’t stop licking my elbows

 

[ShweeB1229]

Yep I hear you on that one but the more you work with them and expose them to yourself and be gentle and comforting with them they will be very sweet for example about 2 months ago I got two new heifers and they hated me wellllll now we are at the current day and someone won’t stop licking my elbows

I'm waiting for the moment when one of them will jump up & relax on me. Only 1 of the 3 will jump up on me so far after a year with them a few hours a day.

 

[Texasclucker]

I'm waiting for the moment when one of them will jump up & relax on me. Only 1 of the 3 will jump up on me so far after a year with them a few hours a day.

Hmmm maybe you should try catching them and feeding them the mealworms in your lap it worked for me then they start realizing that you aren’t gonna eat them

 

[ShweeB1229]

Hmmm maybe you should try catching them and feeding them the mealworms in your lap it worked for me then they start realizing that you aren’t gonna eat them

I'll try that after they're over the flooding trauma here in NJ & let you know!

 

[RoosterWhisperer]

I'm trying! Trust takes time apparently haha

Yes, my little girls would jump up on my back to get out lol! . Just sit out with them, talk with them, and feed them from your hand and on your lap. I can't love on every one of my chickens because I have 50+ that I co-own with my twin sister. We're twin chicken owners.

 

[RoosterWhisperer]

Hmmm maybe you should try catching them and feeding them the mealworms in your lap it worked for me then they start realizing that you aren’t gonna eat them

That's perfect! I do that too every now and them.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

If you have to chase them to catch them, you may just make them more afraid of you.

I managed to terrify mine today by accident so it may take a bit to rebuild their trust in me! I had some elderberries in a fairly large box and decided (like a fool!) to toss them over the fence to them instead of opening the gate to their run. They were all standing there looking expectantly at me, as I had given the "treat" call. But as I lifted the box over my head, George screamed in panic and they all ran away in terror! I have never seen anything disappear so quickly! They were there, then they weren't! And they would not come back out, no matter how i coaxed and called. An hour later when I came to give them a little scratch and let them out to free-range, none of them wanted anything to do with me. After all, from their perspective, my head had suddenly become a big, brown rectangle spewing black blobs at them (that later proved to be delicious berries, but that's beside the point!).

Ah, chickens!