Chickens and little kids... Need help!

[Wildheartsfarm]

We are new to chickens - we got three chicks from a neighbor in April and now 9 from Alchemist farm. Of the three original ones, one of them has already been eaten because he was aggressive, and now the other two (1 male 1 very assertive/top female) are chasing my 3 year old who is very small for her age.

We so wanted to let our chickens free range, but at this point I have to keep them separate from my daughter. I feel I must be doing something wrong to have now had all three of our original chickens show aggression towards my child. Please help!

We handled them a lot when they were young, and were hoping for friendly chickens we could enjoy as pets. I've been told our chickens now think we are chickens, and my daughter is the low hen on the totem pole.

What I can tell you is they are extremely interested in her (and all of us). They watch our every move, follow us closely whenever we are outside, and it definitely feels like they are sizing us up and trying to boss us around. They do not "go about their chicken business and largely ignore us," as I expected/hoped -- they are obsessed with us. If we sit on our patio they fly up on the table and get right in our faces (I always remove them and put them away). I noticed the uptick in their assertiveness (it's definitely corresponding with their teenage hormones) and started keeping close to my daughter when the chickens were out. They try to sneak around me and run at her. Because of these behaviors I now have to put them away when we are hanging outside as a family. (Which makes the chickens mad!) My daughter is starting to get fearful around them which I think made it worse. I may be over reacting (my husband says they are just being friendly) but I'm very careful now after the first rooster (the one we ate) attacked my daughter unprovoked.

She never chased them or was antagonistic towards them, and doesn't feed them treats. (I don't really either - they don't "come running for treats.") They lived in our house for 8 weeks and we spent a lot of time with them out of the brooder. The female is an Ameraucana who has always been extremely bold -- she bosses the rooster around and starting around 6 weeks she would fly out of the brooder and land on my daughter's head or on my arm. Now she seems to want to get back into the house and is often sitting on the railing outside the door peering in the window and pecking. I thought it was cute!! But it's getting out of hand. The rooster is just as obsessed with us and I think he's trying to dance/breed with my daughter.

We definitely took a wrong turn somewhere...

Any advice appreciated. I am hoping for a better outcome with these next 9 chicks. And maybe we can turn things around with our older two?

 

[Wildheartsfarm]

This is them

 

[thecatumbrella]

I would be cautious of the male (for obvious reasons), but is the chasing aggressive in nature? Are they lunging at her or using beaks/claws? Or simply following her around?

Almost all of my chickens have been like this because we spend lots of time with them. One is an absolute stalker. Jumps at me to be held (when I am NOT ready). Chickens are not gentle pets. I'm constantly being beaked for attention.

You could easily rehome your overly friendly girl. With the new chicks, the only way to attempt to correct things is to keep your interactions strictly business (clean, food/water change, etc). That will hopefully keep them more on the flighty side. So you won't have friendly birds, but you'll have peace.