First Timer - Panicking

[jdoane]

You can start taming them now! Mine ran from me a lot when I'd pick them up but then once I held them they would calm down. I think part of it was when I picked them up I had to come in from the top to catch them (like a predator). I spent a lot of time between when we got them and when we moved them outside feed thing out of my hand. I would sort of just lean over the brooder with my hand at their level - not moving it - with their favorite treat (Tomatoes). They became much less shy of my hand at that point. One of them very soon learned to jump up on my hand so that I would lift her out of the brooder (she was a little lazy and wanted an elevator ride and not have to fly up to the top of the brooder). LOL

The other thing that helped was a friend of my daughters who does 4H. She taught me a different way of holding them which all but one of them much preferred. They would just mellow right out. The hold is their beak pointing toward your wrist. and your middle finger between their two legs so that you have two fingers and a thumb and a finger on each side to sort of cradle them. Sometimes I had to use my other hand to get them settled and their wings relaxed and tucked back in but after they were settled I could then rub their chest. My daughters friend told me that if they start flapping you can tighten your fingers around their legs to hold them. I never really had to do that.

I did have one chick who HATED this hold and would prefer to just be cuddled up against my chest. This is the one chick that at 7 weeks I highly suspect is a roo. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.

All my chicks are out in the coop and run now. They are still hard to catch but again once I have them they settle down. And they do come right over to me. When I was feeding them tomatoes I always called them "Chook, chook, chook." Now that's all I have to do and they come running.

Just be patient and they'll adjust.

 

[itgns]

I tried grass and I tried tomatoes. They just are completely uninterested in treats! I don't get it.

I've been spending more of my time when I get home from work sitting next to the brooder to get them used to me being there when I'm not snatching them up to check for pasty butt or cleaning, you know?

One of the Dominiques has been acting slow today. I feel hyper-attentive because of how we lost the Light Brahma so I'm watching her. She's lighter than the rest and not feathering out as fast. But she's still getting the feathers.
I just don't want to lose her, too.

 

[Gelo75]

I had two Buff Orps and got them at about two weeks old at the feed store by my house. They didn't like to be held but I put some feed in my hand, and after a while, they started eating right out of it. They got more used to me but didn't really like being picked up. I had patience and soon they didn't mind too much. When they were about a month and a half, I let them go outside. They used to follow me around and would walk around my feet and sometimes jump on my lap. They didn't like treats

, but it didn't stop them from enjoying to play with me.

 

[itgns]

I've started taking the feeder out for about 30 minutes to an hour, then returning and sprinkling the food on the ground after I've changed the paper towels. This gets them eating and I say, "chick chick chick chick" so hopefully they'll learn to associate me with receiving food since they're not getting excited about any treats.

I tried strawberries yesterday. A few of them nibbled and run around for a bit, but then stopped being interested very quickly.

Also, the Dominique I was concerned about seems to be doing just fine. She just doesn't seem to run away from me as much. So of course she's becoming my favorite. She's still smaller and feathering out slower, but she's eating and drinking all the same.

 

[itgns]

Oh! You can see my little roo right in front on the left with the green band on his leg.

 

[itgns]

Got them to eat out of my hand with scrambled eggs and now they are enjoying some clumps of grass and dirt.

 

[itgns]

I set up a little area for them to run around outside. We had like a little dog pen that can be moved. They could escape through the holes, though, so I wrapped some chicken wire around it as far as it would go, then covered the last two panels with old screens from our windows.

Once the sun comes over the side of the house, I'll be putting them outside for the first time.

 

[itgns]

!!!!! If you get a sex marking service and they put a band around the chick's leg omg for god's sake take it off after the first week. I just remembered that the little roo had it on so it was a battle. It bled just a tiny bit. I put some neosporin on it... can I put neosporin on him? Anyway, almost no blood even on the q-tip I used. I feel so stupid. I thought it was a rubber band!

*Sigh* Everyone is doing okay. One of the lady Dominiques is growing super slow. She's eating and drinking like the rest of them but it just slow. Thoughts, anyone?

Being outside was fun for them. They started playing in the dirt and giving themselves dust bathes. It took almost ten minutes for them to venture out of the box but after they were out, they didn't want to go back in once their time outside was done.

I put a broom handle in the bathtub so they can roost on something. They're starting to take to it.

 

[itgns]

Everyone got about an hour outside today. I've been turning off the heat lamp during the day, too, but putting it on at night since temps drop low at night in our house.

The Roo and the Easter Egger got into it today. Then the New Hampshire came over and was like, "What's going on?" And the Easter Egger got super big and was like, "MIND YOUR OWN" and the New Hampshire was like, "Okay." Then the Easter Egger stomped the Roo for trying to mess with her. He started it.

Should I intervene at all in their squabbles or just let them figure it out?

 

[jdoane]

Let them figure it out. They have to establish they're pecking order!