Chicks pecking at me and climbing me

[pixieschickens]

Hi! I just joined, and this is my first question on BYC! So, I have α few chicks, I think 31. They are about 4 weeks old and whenever I go into their coop and lower myself α little , they peck at my legs and climb my legs. Some are very cuddly! But I’m scared to pet them since they might peck at my hands. How do I stop the pecking? Maybe it’s because they love me.

 

[nikolairapunzel]

They usually peck at shoes, legs, pants because they see freckles or lint, etc and want to see if they can eat it. If you hold them, they dont usually peck. They like to be held firmly against you and they get used to it the more you do it.

 

[pixieschickens]

They usually peck at shoes, legs, pants because they see freckles or lint, etc and want to see if they can eat it. If you hold them, they dont usually peck. They like to be held firmly against you and they get used to it the more you do it.

Thank you so much!

 

[50-45-1]

They are curious and explore by pecking.
This pecking should not hurt you. They are babies. Even some of my adult hens when eating seed out of my hand peck hard and it hurts a little, but they never break the skin or make me bleed.

 

[BaaKaaawk]

31 chicks? You have a big future coop for these I hope?

A chick surely can't hurt you with its pecking and now is the ideal time to handle them if you want them to be nice as they get older.

 

[pixieschickens]

31 chicks? You have a big future coop for these I hope?

A chick surely can't hurt you with its pecking and now is the ideal time to handle them if you want them to be nice as they get older.

Their coop is a big warm room! Im afraid if I handle them too much they will grow to be spoiled and peck at me since I had that happen with a chicken.

 

[BaaKaaawk]

Their coop is a big warm room! Im afraid if I handle them too much they will grow to be spoiled and peck at me since I had that happen with a chicken.

You're really worried about being pecked at... that's a bit odd. Chickens are typically very docile animals- and flighty. They typically want nothing to do with their humans- it's the humans who generally want to interact with their chickens. I have had hundreds of birds and never had a hen that just like attacked me or pecked at me for no apparent reason. So if that has happened to you, I think that was a very rare occassion and I'm sorry for that- but that is 100% not the norm.