Handling very young pet chicks: Yea or Nay?

[CochinBrahmaLover]

LOL!!!!!! cute story, i heard of the same thing happening with a dog, she had something wrong with her foot so when ever their owner would give them their food she would limp to get attention

animals are the only friend that will never stop loving you

 

[stormylady]

Oh Yea!!! ABSOLUTELY HOLD THEM BABIES!!!! Not only will it make for very friendly chickens but should the occation arise that you need to treat them for whatever reason it is so much easier!
AND its very theariputic (for me atleast) to hold and love on them!! LOL

 

[Nsampsel]

I have chicks & ducklings both and every kid in the neighborhood was here playing with them for the first week. Now they aren't mauled quite as much, but none of them run from me except the 2 pekin ducks that were a couple days older when we got them...and they only run when outside cuz they know we are going back in when I pick them up...lol They don't really go far, they just struggle & squawk cuz they want to stay outside. My coop is almost complete (today will be the 3rd day we have worked on it) & all that is left is to put doors on it, spread sand in the run, stuff the walls with hay/straw, finish the roof with tarp, & put the top wire on. Once it's finished my babies will be outside all they want so that should make them VERY happy. My son carried all of the chicks out on the front porch the other night & sat them on the rail. None even tried to get away. They are very tame.

 

[heath_elisha]

We just brought home some little ones this weekend. Marans variety pack- between 2 -4 weeks old (between all ten of them) and they are terrified of people. Any time you walk by the brooder, they startle. I have been handling them, but they still tremble when I do. I feel bad that they start trembling, breathing heavy- one even chirps like crazy as if it is being hurt. I want them to be as friendly as my other "babies" , who are older now. Our last batch of babies we brought home were 9 weeks old and that took weeks for them to be ok in the presence of me. Still not overly friendly, but they are coming around. But the little ones..... it is tough when you don't want to stress them too much. Maybe I'll just have to really prove that I am the crazy chicken lady (my current nickname) and start bringing them into the house. I could hold one for large amounts of time during the day..... hmm..... how would my hubby feel about that..... guess we'll have to see!

 

[Nicole01]

If you want friendly lap chickens, by all means handle them everyday.

I handled mine daily since day one and they are extremely friendly. They are all at my feet when I enter the coop, they follow me around jumping on my head, shoulders and back. When I bring a chair in there, they all jump up on my lap and shoulders.

 

[Lynzi777]

Newbie Here

I'm so glad I came across this forum because I have a question regarding this handling of chicks topic. We have yet to get started with any chickens - we are waiting till June as we are in between moving. We are going to be living out in farm country and my son and I are huge animal lovers. He's going to be hatching chicks in his classroom and is very excited about it. He did it when he was 3 in Pre-K (Although he doesn't remember) and got so upset after they hatched because he wanted so badly to bring one home and I told him we couldn't because we lived in an apartment. He's 5, going on 6 and is doing this again in his Kindergarten class. I told him now that we are going to have a house of our own with lots of land that maybe we can get into this chicken thing on our own, Mommy has to do lots of research first though!

Getting back to my purpose of this post - handling of chicks. I've been coming across all these "precautions" I guess you call them about young kids and touching chickens. It's kind of scaring me on the whole getting chickens idea because of how they state to NOT let children under 5 touch them. And then to be sure to ALWAYS wash your hands or have sanitizer around until you can get to washing them more thoroughly. Now this is obviously what I would stress with my kids with any animal they handled but I have a 3 year old. Can she really not touch the chicks?? But then again, I go back to my son having chicks in his 3yr Pre-K classroom and I have pictures of him holding the chicks. So how serious is the handling of chicks with little ones?

 

[Aeropennchick]

As long as you practice good hand washing before and after, there shouldn't be any problem with little kids handling them. If you are worried one of the kids will be too rough, have them pet the chick while it sits in your lap on a towel. I talk to mine all the time and offer them their chick crumbles in the palm of my hand, and they are always super excited to see me - they fight over who gets to stand on my hand while they are all pecking away!

 

[Disco Hen]

Newbie Here

I'm so glad I came across this forum because I have a question regarding this handling of chicks topic. We have yet to get started with any chickens - we are waiting till June as we are in between moving. We are going to be living out in farm country and my son and I are huge animal lovers. He's going to be hatching chicks in his classroom and is very excited about it. He did it when he was 3 in Pre-K (Although he doesn't remember) and got so upset after they hatched because he wanted so badly to bring one home and I told him we couldn't because we lived in an apartment. He's 5, going on 6 and is doing this again in his Kindergarten class. I told him now that we are going to have a house of our own with lots of land that maybe we can get into this chicken thing on our own, Mommy has to do lots of research first though!

Getting back to my purpose of this post - handling of chicks. I've been coming across all these "precautions" I guess you call them about young kids and touching chickens. It's kind of scaring me on the whole getting chickens idea because of how they state to NOT let children under 5 touch them. And then to be sure to ALWAYS wash your hands or have sanitizer around until you can get to washing them more thoroughly. Now this is obviously what I would stress with my kids with any animal they handled but I have a 3 year old. Can she really not touch the chicks?? But then again, I go back to my son having chicks in his 3yr Pre-K classroom and I have pictures of him holding the chicks. So how serious is the handling of chicks with little ones?

Well you just have to be care ful if your kid picks one up and accidental squeezes the chicken they can die pretty easy from that, what I would recommend is you hold the chicken and let your younger kid pet it in your hand. But it is all up to you. I hope you have a good time with the chickens!

I think you will really enjoy BYC! Welcome!

 

[ClareScifi]

I have read that you should not hold little chicks much, that it's not a good idea for the chick. So my first two chicks I didn't touch much when they were little, but they still grew up to be very friendly and loving hens.

Last fall I hatched chicks under a StepMama hen, and she nearly pecked one to death. I had to remove him from the nest, because she would have surely killed him, and his just-hatched brother was beginning to peck at the wounds the StepMama had made on the side of the chick's face.

I immediately put him on my bare tummy for an hour and cuddled him until help arrived for setting up a brooder box. I raised him indoors, and since he had no playmates, I felt I needed to touch him all the time, so he wouldn't get lonely.

He loved it, and soon would fly up onto my hand or on top of my head. He did this until he grew too large. He is a very gentle and loving rooster. Just this morning I picked him up and petted his eyebrows, and he loved it. People say it's rare to have such a gentle roo, and I do believe it's from my having petted and held him a lot when he was little.

Have fun! I'm glad I had a reason to ignore the no-touching advice I'd read, or I would still believe it to be true. It may be best in some cases, so little kids don't injure the chicks, but it's not true in all cases. My little boy would have gotten terribly lonely with a hands-off approach.

 

[Lynzi777]

I would make sure to educate them on handling the chicks - if they were to handle them at all. My kids would probably rather me place the chicks on their lap rather than to try picking them up themselves. My concern was more with the germ aspect of it all. All these warnings about the spreading of salmonella germs.