Hand raised chicks! I want to hear your stories!

[HetaChick]

People hatch and brood chicks all the time but people who have that one special chick or small group of chicks they hatch and baby know that there's something magic to hand raised chicks. I like hearing stories about these little babies so does anyone want to share chicken stories? I don't mean the ones you check once a day but that little baby who cries to be held because you couldn't keep yourself from babying it and still comes when you call it's name and has that unique personality. Post pics too

 

[silkiechicken]

I hatched out a lone silkie chick once. Named it lampshade. Taught it color discrimination. Could pick out a blue ball. Cried when left alone. However, when it was his time to be a chicken, it would hide in the feral cat box, under coops, wedge himself into the wood shed and once inside the front bumper of the truck... he didn't last long with that behavior, but was an awesome little rooster.

Then had a silkie named peep peep. He would cry and jump on the front door to be let into the house every night. Then he hit maturity, found girls and spent the rest of his life defending standard sized hens. Ultimate sacrifice of his life was to protect those girls.

 

[HetaChick]

Silkies in general have a lot of character I think. They sound like they were wonderful birds.... That's very interesting about color discrimination, how did you teach that? Your peep peep sounded like a very brave rooster.

 

[wbruder17]

I hatched 9 chicks that are from my D'Uccle roo and several EE hens. I can make guesses at the mamas, but it really doesn't matter... I have a little roo from this hatching. He was attacked by a cat? At a few weeks old where one of his hatchmates was killed. I saved him, but he had a huge hole ripped out of his neck. He healed and became my "favorite". He is trained to come and fly onto my arm when he is called. His name is Gash.

This is him several weeks ago. I need to get more current pics, as he is gorgeous now.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/59865_2011-11-17_16-48-52_89.jpg

 

[OldGuy43]

OldGal hand raised a duckling once. Made one mistake. When it was little she taught it to sit on her shoulder and give her kisses. You can imagine how that worked out when it got bigger.

 

[HetaChick]

Quote:
What a cute little guy! Glad to hear he was okay. ^^ He's very pretty, and personally i just adore friendly roosters. I currently am hand raising a tiny OEGB that i hope turns into a great pet bird….

Also about the duckling, i always wanted to raise a domestic duck breed they seem to be such little loves. I hear quite a few about amazing pet ducks, i raised wild ducklings i found orphaned before but they weren't the same and were eventually released. Ducky kisses sound so cute lol my geese used to eat my hair… but that''s not as cute haha.

 

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
Just used classic conditioning. Like Pavlov's dog.