I'm noticing the different personalities of the new chicks becoming more obvious each day. (They are 4 weeks old now)
Freckles, the Ancona, is great at being picked up. She'll approach me, sit or stand quietly in my hand when I pick her up, will stand in front of me and let me reach out and scratch/pat her etc. She's such a lovely docile chick, but is also the most curious and will approach anything new long before the others do. She also likes to pick at the spots on my skin and will dive into my cleavage given half a chance. LOL
Lacey, the Light Sussex, is really skittish and noisy and gets very distressed still when separated from her coop mates. She hates being caught, but will sit fairly quiet until I let her go again.
Nutmeg (my favourite!) is a Barnevelder and she is feisty! She is hard to pick up, and will actually peck at my hand quite hard as I reach for her, to warn me to back off. When I pick her up I can only hold her if I completely immobilise her by having one hand over her wings, and one under her breast. She will however let me examine her if I need to.
Cinnamon the Welsummer is the problem one. She absolutely will not let me catch her, and when caught she will flap and struggle until she is free. It makes it difficult to put her to bed at night as they still haven't figured out the ramp so I lift them up and down each day.
If I persist with handling her daily and try to make it as positive an experience as possible, what are the chances she'll stop fighting it? Or should I just accept she's not into being handled and leave her alone? I hate that it stresses her every time I put her in the coop at night.
Freckles, the Ancona, is great at being picked up. She'll approach me, sit or stand quietly in my hand when I pick her up, will stand in front of me and let me reach out and scratch/pat her etc. She's such a lovely docile chick, but is also the most curious and will approach anything new long before the others do. She also likes to pick at the spots on my skin and will dive into my cleavage given half a chance. LOL
Lacey, the Light Sussex, is really skittish and noisy and gets very distressed still when separated from her coop mates. She hates being caught, but will sit fairly quiet until I let her go again.
Nutmeg (my favourite!) is a Barnevelder and she is feisty! She is hard to pick up, and will actually peck at my hand quite hard as I reach for her, to warn me to back off. When I pick her up I can only hold her if I completely immobilise her by having one hand over her wings, and one under her breast. She will however let me examine her if I need to.
Cinnamon the Welsummer is the problem one. She absolutely will not let me catch her, and when caught she will flap and struggle until she is free. It makes it difficult to put her to bed at night as they still haven't figured out the ramp so I lift them up and down each day.
If I persist with handling her daily and try to make it as positive an experience as possible, what are the chances she'll stop fighting it? Or should I just accept she's not into being handled and leave her alone? I hate that it stresses her every time I put her in the coop at night.
Last edited: