My chicks are a week old, will be two weeks old on Wed., and whenever I try to pick them up, or feed, them, or... GIVE THEM A BOWL OF YOGURT they RUN AWAY... all twittering, flailing, running away and they all stand in the corner until I've left. DO THEY HATE ME OR SOMETHING?... seriously! I've tried putting some feed in my hand and seeing what they do, some caustiously come over, none eat from my hand, or anything...they stand about 5 inches away and just stare and then run away. Also, When can I take them outside the first time... It's been raining non-stop for like a month here, if that makes a difference. I was thinking of setting up one of our tall metal dog pens (we have the fold out pens that you can buy at petsmart), and sitting with them in there and seeing if any come up to me. I can't leave them be, as we currently have 3 gigantic eagles using our property as a hunting ground, which is nice because they take off huge numbers of field mice, etc...but not so great for chickens! three huge ones were sitting and sunning themselves ontop of our barn yesterday.
Drawing on my own limited experience.... my girls are not the friendliest chickens either. From what I learned here at BYC I also didn't expect them to be due to the breeds I wanted for egg laying. However while they don't like to be petted or cuddled they have become "companions", they EXPECT treats which they take from our hands and follow me in the run or come to see what I'm up to if in the coop. They may have turned out a bit friendier but I let my 5yo son be very hands on since day one...it gives him great joy to chase them when my back is turned, I do have 3 barred holland's which lay the white eggs which was a concession to DH and supposed to be much friendlier than the leghorns which I have found to be true. When DS catches one of them they sit quietly in his lap & will even nap, they don't come looking for affection but when caught will tolerate it lol. Like you mentioned I tried the feed in the hand trick...didn't work for me either. What did work was at around 2wks old we would dig up worms as treats, the wiggling of the worms was irresistable to all but of a couple of them. I know lots of people recommend meal worms, maybe you could give that a try. Good luck!
Quote:Yeah...they're going to be 2 weeks on Wed, and they just flee when I try to feed, or change water, or as of yesterday give them some yogurt (which as soon as i leave they devour like they've been on a hunger strike for 3 weeks). I have made some progress, they now come over to the bowl when I hold it with the yogurt in it... they seem interested, and are a tad bit more comfortable with me. I think and am hoping that after I get them out in the yard, and I sit in the pen with them and bring out the potted nasturium they may, come over to the dark side, as it were. I have Rhode Island Red X Columbian Rock... cold hardy, and supposed to be sweet natured and calm. It might have something to do with the fact that they're young, I'm hoping that once they're older they will start to come around.. I try to handle them as much as possible, but at the same time I think that scaring the wits out of them isnt the best idea either lol. At least now when I do manage to pick one up, it doesnt screech its head off like im pulling its wings off, they've gained weight and are getting their feathers now... very cute!