Handling very young pet chicks: Yea or Nay?

[honeynajar]

I work too..... but I cuddle my babies every morning and evening. They come running when I go to the crate and are waiting at the door for it to open. I sit down and they are on top of me in an instant - well except for one who is a bit shy but she's comin' round too! If I miss a cuddle in the morning because I'm running late I do it extra long in the evening. I took my babies out to the run last night and they followed me around like lil babies after their mama! I was SO proud! So do it as often as you can and you won't regret it!

Odd question:

How much is *enough*?

I work most of the day and'll likely only be able to check in on my chicks in the morning (to feed and water them) and the evening (to make sure the water's fresh, clean the brooder, and handle them).

Will that be enough to get them acclimated?
We have 2 Easter Eggers and 2 Welsummers due next week and I don't want them to be basket cases

 

[rendezvous1838]

Mine are 12 days old and held every day, at least once or twice, for a minute or two. Today when I went to clean the brooder I was holding Chicken Polka, Chicken Nugget flew (as much as a 3/4 feathered winged bird can muster) directly at me, nearly out of the brooder. I read this as "No! Hold ME!" yeah, it worked for Nugget.

 

[mercurysmith]

We just got our first chickens this week. They're maybe 12 weeks old. I was actually wondering, "I wonder if it's alright to pick them up and love on them?" I'm laughing now because I think I've just read 92 posts that say "yes, duh!"
My 9 year old has been my partner in this. The coop is too short for me to comfortably walk in, so he's been climbing in to see who he can coax into his arms. The Black Australorp is so funny to us because, after the first time which involved a little bit of a chase, she now hangs around more or less patiently until we've failed to catch another bird. She lets us pick her up and seems so calm in our arms. This is hugely therapeutic for me since I've historically been pretty bird phobic up until now.

I'll try some treats, but if the other 4 birds never come around, I can deal with loving them from arm's length. Either way is ok with me.

 

[truthfulkindnes]

I think dog behavior with chickens is very dog-specific.

Growing up, we had a miniature poodle named "Gigi". She became a chicken-killer. After she killed one chicken (of the neighbors) we were never able to break her of it. The only solution was to prevent her access to chickens. I suspect that if we had chickens at our house that were handled frequently by humans and had a lot of human smell with them, she never would have killed the first one, but there is no way to know for sure.

We had a pet coyote when I was growing up. His name was "Junior". He was wonderful with mixed-breed dogs of the "cow-dog" variety; he would clean them and baby them. We were requested to foster one or two litters per year and they stayed in his large dog-pen with him. But if you let a poodle out (even an adult) you could see a huge change in the coyote's personality. All at once he became a wild animal. It started with intensity of the eyes, then went to "stalking" behavior (even inside his dog-run). We never lost a puppy because we were vigilant. The coyote was definitely a pet and very bonded to my mother, but for him poodles were "food" not "babies". Before we let any poodle outside, we had to make sure the coyote was in the pen.

As an adult I had another miniature poodle, named "Brandy". I got 2 day-old goslings when Brandy was maybe 10yo. I could completely predict Brandy's behavior because she had tried to "adopt" so many other species before. She was always "stealing" babies of any species & carting them off as hers. The momma cat got angry about that. Brandy was also intense about human babies; anything with a "baby" smell was HERS altho she was never pregnant. But I still watched her close for a while before I was sure that she wouldn't "turn" on the goslings. It only takes a second. I handled the goslings a lot, but not as much as Brandy did. She would yelp when the goslings pulled her belly hairs, then resume their cleaning. She died long ago.

I now have four 1-week old Jersey Giants that I handle 3hrs a day (I put a diaper under my chin and let them nap morning noon & evening). My 10yo Newfoundland Service Dog that weighs over 100lbs (for pulling my wheelchair) mostly ignores them unless there have been recent changes in or around their box, then she needs to investigate. Of course, as with all service dogs, she was well "socialized" to any species we came across both as a puppy and adult. Unlike my poodle with the goslings, i dont leave them unsupervised tho & I pay close attention to her attitude when they are around, because it only takes a second. The more they smell like me, and the more she is around me when I interact with them, the less likely she is to think of them as food. I expect that in a week or so I will be pretty certain of what to expect between this particular dog and these particular chickens.

-- "Truthful" and "Blessing" the wheelchair Service Dog

 

[NU2chickseen]

Ok New guy here,I got my chicks today three days old, six of them.How long do I wait before i can start holding them on a reguler basis, should i give a week or so to adjust to my home.And right now they are sleeping comfy under the light and not peeping, they are in a semi circle and seem happy,am I off to a good start?.

 

[toddreed]

Thanks, Train-Wreck is a very mutty barred-rock mixed with who knows what. He's a very big boy. I can't take full responsibility for his demeanor, but I think I have something to do with it. In all honesty, though, I've raised some of his sons to sexual maturity with a similarly caring environment and they turned out sort of mean, well, one in particular. TW is special.

 

[ClareScifi]

What a gorgeous rooster!

So interesting, that roosters, just like kids, can turn out so differently when raised the same. I find that fascinating.

 

[Rachel96]

Ok New guy here,I got my chicks today three days old, six of them.How long do I wait before i can start holding them on a reguler basis, should i give a week or so to adjust to my home.And right now they are sleeping comfy under the light and not peeping, they are in a semi circle and seem happy,am I off to a good start?.

NU2chickseen, my advice is to start holding them as soon as you want to! From my point of view, you've got three days to make up for! Most chicks seem to love being held. Of course, if you'd prefer to let them sleep in peace, by all means do that. If they do peep, I always hold mine for a few moments to get them to be quite, unless they peep when they're seperated, but at that age, you can hold two at once. But yes, you're off to a good start. Chicks are pretty easy to please, as long as they're not too hot or cold, and they have food and water and friends, they love you. If you want them to be friendly as adults, I'd advise not waiting too long to start holding them - as I've said, you've got 3 days to make up for!

I agree that simply holding them doesn't make a friendly personality - I've had chickens who I've held since the word go who are still skittish or nasty, and I've had chickens who I've bought as POL who haven't been handled much who are sweet and friendly. But the general rule I've found is that, the more you hold them as chicks, the friendlier they are with humans.

from Rachel.

 

[musikfan6]

I'll put my additional two sense in here, even though I'm a novice. I would heartily agree with everyone else's comments. I was bent on having mine tame from day two. So I've picked them up and held them and talked to them every day. Now at three weeks, as soon as I put my hand down in the brooder, they all come running because they expect me to have something for them. Two of them are now jumping up on my arms and wanting to see the wide world outside the brooder. They are so ready to go places. As soon as I lift off the screen, they start flapping around. They're funny!

 

[Dapplepony]

We've been handling chicks from 1 day old. If you're gentle about it, I'd say yea to the question.