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cluckymclucker

cluckymclucker

In the Brooder
5 Years
Jul 23, 2014
8
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I just wanted to say hello, as I just joined about an hour ago :) We currently have 6 Ameraucana's (3 roos and 3 hens) that free range our little homestead thing here in Minnesota. They're about 2-3 months old now and still pretty skittish. Any suggestions on how to make them warm up to us is always appreciated. This weekend we may be bringing more hens into our flock so that should be interesting. Pretty excited to get as much information as I can about my new obsession!
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! There are some nice articles in the Learning Center on taming/teaching chicks. Basically spending as much time as possible with them, feeding them treats, just call them and throw it near them and keep throwing it closer to you each time and eventually they may eat it out of your hand, a lot of people like to take a chair into the coop with a bowl of treats, many pullets especially will get tamer once they start to lay eggs. http://www.backyard chickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-and-raising-chicks
There is also a nice article on combining flocks, and if you need to do a health quarantine, after quarantine letting them get used to each other separated by wire for a few weeks seems to work best. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock
 
Hello there and welcome from Ohio!

Love the Ameraucanas! I like free ranging my flock as well, but hope you've got a nice secure area for them to sleep safely during the night.....Predators are always lurking.....especially after dark! ;)

I'm glad to hear you're getting more hens! That'll keep your roosters happy.

A way to a chicken's heart is through their stomach! LOL If you give your little flock treats, like, say some raspberries or a little melon or strawberries cut up, they will come around and be more friendly. I have wild berries growing around the property, so I just collect some and feed them. Now they run to me when they see me.

Take care and glad you've joined and are enjoying your chickens!

Sharon
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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X2 on the food! Food is a wonderful bonding agent. So go sit with them outside on the ground and be packing goodies. Sit with them for about 20 mins a day. Move slowly around them, don't pick them up for a couple weeks, talk quietly and just keep the stress down around them. Pretty soon they will see you as a positive thing in their lives and really look forward to see you coming.

Good luck with your new flock and welcome to ours!
 
Thank you for the advice. I may get mealworms for them this weekend. I sit with them a lot and I think I've made some progress :) I've won their favor with some black sunflower seeds and some bits of veg from our garden (without disclosing the location of our garden). Yes, they free range pretty much all day but they have a nice spacious chicken coop to go into whenever they like. At night we close the door and they're in for the night. I'm home all day with my kids so I keep a loose eye on them and since it's summer, we're almost always out there with them when we're working in the garden. Our ladies and gents are beautiful little things and I've gotten a taste for petting them. It's so painful to sit quietly and not reach out to give one lovin'! But again, thank you for the advice. It sounds like I'm on the right track!
 
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

X3 on the food . Chickens are all about food so this is a great tool for bonding with them.
 
Sounds like you are doing well with them
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keep it up and before you know it they will be climbing all over you to look for treats and probably leave great full "tips" all over your clothes and hair. That's chickens for you.
 
cluckymclucker said:
This weekend we may be bringing more hens into our flock so that should be interesting.
Click to expand...
Welcome to BYC! Glad you decided to join our flock. We are all chicken obsessed here. I'm glad to hear you are planning to get more hens. I have replied to 5 or 6 new members in the past two days who were having serious problems because they had too many roosters for the amount of hens they had. The recommended ratio of roosters to hens is 1 rooster for every 10 hens. Any more roosters than that can quickly lead to aggression, fights, feather plucking, and over-bred and battered hens. When you really get down to it, the only reason you really need a rooster is to fertilize eggs for hatching. I currently have 25 hens, no roosters, and I get loads of eggs without feeding any non-egg laying mouths, without the aggression, fights, crowing in the middle of the night, and over-bred and battered hens that frequently goes along with having roosters (especially too many of them). I'm very happy to hear that your going to get some more hens. At some point your probably either going to need a lot more or your going to need to cull a rooster or two. You were asking about getting your Ameraucanas to warm up to you. Do you know if they are true Ameraucanas or Easter Eggers? A lot of members purchase Easter Eggers thinking that they are getting true Americauanas because the hatcheries often market the Easter Eggers as Araucanas or Ameraucanas (frequently misspelled Americana or Americauna), and customers who don't know the difference buy them thinking they're getting true Ameraucanas. There is nothing wrong with Easter Eggers. We have some of them, and they outlay true Ameraucanas, and lay eggs in a number of different colors (true Ameraucanas lay only blue eggs). The EEs are my granddaughter's favorite hens as she loves the colored eggs. If you don't know for sure which you have, there is a good article on the difference between Araucanas, Ameraucanas, and Easter Eggers at http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/09/ameraucana-easter-egger-or-araucana.html. Good luck with your flock.
 
Yes we will either be culling or giving away our two other roos. Luckily they are young enough that we haven't noticed any aggression really. Just typical pecking order things. We do plan on breeding them so our main roo will stay. As far as whether they are EE's or not, I am not entirely sure. We received ours from Tractor Supply and I have heard of many people having issues with both breed and chicks the store claimed to be sexed. I know my fiancee received chickens they said were all hens and were all roosters instead. So I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't Ameraucana's. They aren't laying yet so I guess that will be the tell tale sign :) I will read the article you linked as well. The hens we are getting are a mix of BO's, Austrolorps, Rocks, and possibly Red Stars. It depends on what they have available in the age range of the flock we have already. Thank you so much for your response and the great advice!
 

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