Help! My chicken is biting me!

[barred2rock]

Have had this happen several times, mostly with hand fed chicks often as they come of age and get spunky. It's pretty easily curbed with calm and deliberate determination.

I peck them back, on the head or anywhere I can reach, with the tips of thumb and first 2 fingers, as hard and fast as many times as I can before they get away. Well, not hard enough to hurt them, just startle them and let them you mean business. That's what another chicken would do, so they understand that kind of communication.

If that doesn't work after a couple applications, I hold them down to the ground with my hand on their back until they submit....again firmly enough to get the job done but not hurt them....add a few finger pecks and/or tug on the feathers on the back of their neck.

x2
I "peck" them back anytime they peck me beyond exploratory pecks. I'll "peck" & chase them at arms length for a few seconds.

 

[FrankHomestead]

This may sound silly...but do you have a mole on your arm or large freckle? It took my chickens a while to learn that my moles and freckles weren't bugs! I also learned not to wear my ring around them nor paint my nails red.

 

[Irishsilk]

Yep...my girls all run to me expecting treats, and the ones at the front will jump and grab at my hands if I'm not careful. With mine it's definitely not them being viscous....just eager to get food first.
They also jump at the buttons on my coat...peck my toes...my wedding ring. It's just the fact that they are desperate to get the food before the other 49 hens get it. I'm trying to teach them that my hands and toes are not edible....!!

 

[haasle]

This may sound silly...but do you have a mole on your arm or large freckle? It took my chickens a while to learn that my moles and freckles weren't bugs! I also learned not to wear my ring around them nor paint my nails red.

Hmmmm....I do usually wear bracelets, I always have my nails painted...I wear gloves when doing coop maintenance.

 

[haasle]

Hello, are you sure they're all hens? Could this aggressive chicken be male? Roosters can be very aggressive. I had a very mean rooster years ago. I actually had to carry a rolled up (I taped it) magazine sticking out of my back pocket and when he would come at me I'd give him a whack with it. But he was relentless. He even tried to sneak up behind me and peck the back of my calf. I finally re-homed him, because I just didn't enjoy going to the chicken coop with him around. I've had an aggressive hen before too, but nothing to the level of aggression that the rooster had. She would peck me, and I just grabbed her up and held her like a football under my arm as I did my chores. She was quite the character.

All 4 chickens look pretty much the same- 2 cinnamon queens and 2 NH Reds. Some are a little larger than others, but their combs/wattles are all equal in size, so I don't think she's a Rooster.

 

[FrankHomestead]

Hmmmm....I do usually wear bracelets, I always have my nails painted...I wear gloves when doing coop maintenance.

Sorry but you gotta be plain Jane around your girls lol everything bright or shiny they want to eat! not trying to be mean just trying to get the goods before someone else does!

 

[BrandonMcfly]

This may sound silly...but do you have a mole on your arm or large freckle? It took my chickens a while to learn that my moles and freckles weren't bugs! I also learned not to wear my ring around them nor paint my nails red.

Oh my baby chicks bite my arm because of a freckle & my palm when I carry them , it's kinda cute till they get bigger then it'll hurt

 

[FrankHomestead]

Oh my baby chicks bite my arm because of a freckle & my palm when I carry them , it's kinda cute till they get bigger then it'll hurt

Oh yea when my pullets we're babies they we're brutal on my moles and freckles! one try pulling a mole OFF!! Owwwwwe

 

[haasle]

Could you post pictures of the one that's pecking you? Good, close pictures of the feathers around the bottom of the neck and on the lower back would be especially helpful. Take a good look at this bird. Does it look just like the other one of the same breed? Or are the comb and wattles maybe a bit larger and more red? How about the legs - are they longer or sturdier looking than the other one of that breed?

It's possible you have a cockerel on your hands, or you could have a very dominant pullet. You are correct in that she may be associating you with food. If that's the case, you may want to back off on the treats for a while. If it pecks you and you immediately give it a treat to make it stop, you have trained the chicken to keep pecking at you.

If it were my bird, I'd stop the treats. I would also stop the cuddling and petting, and put some distance between me and the bird. I'd make it move away every time I went to the coop. I'd "walk through" it. Meaning I wouldn't go around it. If it were between me and where I wanted to go, it would move, not me.

 

[aart]

Looks like a female to me.....how old?
Blood on her beak from biting you?!