Handling chicks

veramax

In the Brooder
Aug 26, 2020
4
6
11
I have 4 Rhode Island Red chicks I purchased at one week old and are now four weeks old. My son, who is 40, helps me with my hens; so we are trying to handle the chicks to tame them to us so the are easier to handle as they mature. But the chicks are attack and peck or run in fear when we approach them in their brooder/cage. I talk to them the same way each time and gently and reach in at their level slowly and not above. But they're just not buying it. One runs around in a panic, one attacks and pecks, the other two hide unless you pick them up then they might peck but make noise mercilessly as if being killed and need lots of cuddling to get the calm any at all. What ever shall I do?
 
You may be triggering their predator response by the way you approach and handle the chicks. If you go at them from above, swooping in with your hands, they react as if an aerial predator is coming in for a kill.

Your chicks are old enough to move outside to a roomy run, at least during the day. If they have more room so as not to feel trapped in a small space with no sense of escape, they will be more likely to accept handling.

I brood right in my run. Even when my chicks are just days old, I climb into the brooder pen with them, sit on the ground, and let them climb on my legs. Try that. Don't grab your chicks. Give them a choice over how much contact they want with you.

As they become comfortable with you, try offering a limited number of meal worms, after giving them access to suitable grit for digestion. This will cement the bond and generate high quality entertainment. Try it.
P7090061.jpeg
Chick magnet.
 
You may be triggering their predator response by the way you approach and handle the chicks. If you go at them from above, swooping in with your hands, they react as if an aerial predator is coming in for a kill.

Your chicks are old enough to move outside to a roomy run, at least during the day. If they have more room so as not to feel trapped in a small space with no sense of escape, they will be more likely to accept handling.

I brood right in my run. Even when my chicks are just days old, I climb into the brooder pen with them, sit on the ground, and let them climb on my legs. Try that. Don't grab your chicks. Give them a choice over how much contact they want with you.

As they become comfortable with you, try offering a limited number of meal worms, after giving them access to suitable grit for digestion. This will cement the bond and generate high quality entertainment. Try it.View attachment 2306943Chick magnet.
Thanks for such valuable advice. I am doing some of the things you suggested. My setup is different so I can't get in the brooder with them but I take them out and let them walk on my lap. The brooder is built up high and so, as I said, I approach at their level. They seem okay after when handling but it's that initial approach and picking them up. I'll work on it as you said. Thanks again.
 
Thanks for such valuable advice. I am doing some of the things you suggested. My setup is different so I can't get in the brooder with them but I take them out and let them walk on my lap. The brooder is built up high and so, as I said, I approach at their level. They seem okay after when handling but it's that initial approach and picking them up. I'll work on it as you said. Thanks again.
 

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You may be triggering their predator response by the way you approach and handle the chicks. If you go at them from above, swooping in with your hands, they react as if an aerial predator is coming in for a kill.

Your chicks are old enough to move outside to a roomy run, at least during the day. If they have more room so as not to feel trapped in a small space with no sense of escape, they will be more likely to accept handling.

I brood right in my run. Even when my chicks are just days old, I climb into the brooder pen with them, sit on the ground, and let them climb on my legs. Try that. Don't grab your chicks. Give them a choice over how much contact they want with you.

As they become comfortable with you, try offering a limited number of meal worms, after giving them access to suitable grit for digestion. This will cement the bond and generate high quality entertainment. Try it.View attachment 2306943Chick magnet.
Woah!! Your pen is super clean!! That is awesome. :bow
 
Ours are only 7 weeks and 4 weeks old. We handled then from day one. Reaching from above spooks them. We reach under them and they are happy to come up, most of them. A mealworm reward helps a lot too.
 
Offering things they like to eat can get them to run toward you.
Giving too many treats can be bad (because of not being nutritionally balanced.)

But I have a "treat" that they can have as often as they like: wet chicken food!
Just add water to a small amount of the normal chicken food. Most chickens really like it that way, and will soon come running up to get it.

Don't give them enough that it sits around and spoils, of course. With only 4 chicks, you probably only want a spoonful or so at a time. But if they fill up on it and don't eat their normal dry chicken food--no problem, because it's the same stuff!
 
As they age and begin to lay, they settle down. Sone breeds are more flighty than others. Not sure about RIR, I only have one. Keep working with them and they will come around, most likely. We’ve had done chickens that are always more flighty or stand-offish.
 

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