Help! My Chick has a Tear Under her Butt!!!!!

[dlhunicorn]

patience...patience...patience....
you will have to repeat each day... set your hand by the feed...you will see they calm down and then dare to walk on your hand to get to the feed....
then after a few days try putting the feed IN your hand ... the more they see of you (and realize that YOU are the FOOD PERSON the more they will "like" you!

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

Every time I go in to check for pasting up or to feed them they seem to be so scared. I put my hand in just to let them smell me without picking them up too. A few start peeping and they all freak out. How can I get them used to being handled. I want them to be loving. Last year, I raised 7 silkies and they would come to me but never let me get near them. I speak very softly to them too. Any suggestions? I don't want them to be scared of me.

Mille, mine used to do the same thing! I was so worried they would be running from me all the time. But what I did was take one out at a time and spend 5 min at first with each of them. Don't give them a treat IN the brooder but take them out and set them on a table and talk to them and pet them and give them a little treat there. That way they look forward to being picked up in no time! Mine ALL come running and jumping on my hand now when they see me

they are all 4 1/2 weeks old now. I love that they are no longer scared of me. At age 2 weeks I started taking them out for 10 min at a time. Talk to them like you would a baby...they seem to like that

GOOD LUCK! Patience is the key...you have to have lots when it comes to chickens. NOW i have a new little batch that I am starting all over with but it's great fun!​

 

[Melle]

Thanks for the replies. What kind of treats can you give to the baby chickens? Should they have yogurt? Also what about PolyViSol?

 

[justsidney]

Hello!
I'm new myself, but I experienced similar trama when my day old chicks arrived. No one ever told me they have scabby little navels, so I was picking at that! Poor things, it had to hurt until someone finally explained what I as doing wrong. I felt pretty silly, and bad, but they don't seem to hold it against me. I read you can feed your little babies hard boiled egg yolk as a treat. And my 8 little chickens and I are great palls! I picked each one up for at least 5 minutes a day (sometimes I did this twice a day, I really loved playing with those babies). Soon they were flying up to perch on me! Maybe the key is acting confident and fallowing through. Let them see you, but grab them and don't give up. I have 8 chickens, and two became roosters. Three can't live without sitting in my lap and love to fly up to my shoulder, two like being held but they don't jump up voluntarily, my one rooster likes to be held once he is comfortable but acts crazy untill he relaxes, and my dominant rooster likes it when I give him treats, but dosn't want to be a lap chicken. I don't know much, but that is my two cents!

 

[Melle]

Quote:
Wow that's amazing! What kind of chickens do you have????

 

[justsidney]

I have two buff orpingtons and a dominique who are my best little friends, two ameracaunas (I'm a bad speller forgive me if I mess up these breed names) who like to be held, but won't jump up themselves, one bantam ameracauna who isn't so sure about the handling but likes to follow me around, one silkie roo who falls asleep in my lap once he settles down and my golden sebright roo is the little guy who would rather not be held, but likes me because I give him treats. I think my advantge is that I have never had chickens before, and have never been around chickens before. Mainly I have had dogs, so I just expected them to be my little palls, and they are! Some people are surprised how nice they are, but people on here seem to have had similar nice experiences with chickens.
On a side note, the dominique is the most cudly of all. She loves me, you can see it in her eyes! Well, my mother in law came to visit. We have never gotten along very well, and we are very different. I never wear makeup or paint my nails, and I have dark brown hair. She has bleach blond hair, bright pink nails and tons of makeup on all the time. Anyway, I took her to show her the coop and the chickens thought her painted toenails were food, so they all started pecking her toes! She was screaming at them, and when she was distracted Bathilda (the dominique) saw her chance to investigate that shiny yellow hair. Batty flew up right into her hair and left little muddy bird tracks all over the shoulders of her nice white bouse! You should have heard her scream! I was laughing so hard I thought I couldn't get a grip on my chicken! Did I metion I love those birds?

 

[Melle]

justsydney.....
That is hilarious! I bet she'll never want to go see them again!

Michelle