Hen pecked handler

[Angelbirdy]

I love my hens, but dang, they peck hard at everything from my freckles to small cuts to my painted pinky toes when wearing my coop sandals. They also take flying leaps up to yank my hair. Any suggestions? I tried “pecking” at a head or two with my finger, but they aren’t deterred.

They do eat pretty nicely out of my hand.

Surveying the next target

 

[Mamatomany123]

Stop hand feeding them for 1. Never let them jump onto you. That's something that should have been stopped when they were babies. Dont ever walk around them. I always walk straight and my girls move out of my way. They have never tried to fly up to me. The worst one has done is peck at my shoe because it had flowers and she thought she could eat it

 

[RW1984]

Stop hand feeding them for 1. Never let them jump onto you. That's something that should have been stopped when they were babies. Dont ever walk around them. I always walk straight and my girls move out of my way. They have never tried to fly up to me. The worst one has done is peck at my shoe because it had flowers and she thought she could eat it

I would second this. I’m pretty new to chickens but I treat them like I do my dogs.
They jump, they get a knee to the chest as they jump and a smack on the snout.
the birds tried that once with me and I just grabbed it and put it on the ground. I never walk around them either. I walk thru them and if they don’t move (I have 7 Roos) they either get moved out of the way with my foot or I puff up and“dance” aggressively towards them till they run off.
They’re about 5 months old now and I haven’t had a problem for at least the last two months to be honest. Other than the occasional roo trying to puff up on me but I just do my dance and he runs off lol.

 

[aart]

I tried “pecking” at a head or two with my finger, but they aren’t deterred.

Peck them harder. ...be the 'head hen'.
Do not let them fly onto your body, if they try knock them down.

Might stop hand feeding for awhile.

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

 

[Angelbirdy]

Thank you everyone for your great advice. I really want my chickens to be friendly, but I had to unlearn some bad habits. The more forceful pecking really did it, no pecking at all. Unfortunately they run away from me now too, once they find out I’m not bringing snacks.
Our silkie is a different story...

 

[thepick4uchicks]

Thank you everyone for your great advice. I really want my chickens to be friendly, but I had to unlearn some bad habits. The more forceful pecking really did it, no pecking at all. Unfortunately they run away from me now too, once they find out I’m not bringing snacks.
Our silkie is a different story...

I am a relative newbie as well. My flock is sixteen weeks old. I love my girls but sometimes they can peck the stew out of you and it hurts. One day I was wearing shorts but thankfully had my taller pear of muck boots on and my favorite little “baby” hen came from behind when I was hand feeding them all some mealworms and pecked the fire out of my calf muscle at the back of my leg twice really fast. It drew blood and made a knot. It made a fire in my head too!! I was ready to put her in the pot! God loves her and so do I but at the time it hurt like heck and surprised the heck out of me too! There was no reason for it! I was giving them all treats! I guess she thought I needed to shave my legs! They can be some mean heifers when they want too. They take a while to learn the tensile strength of their beaks. I think that’s the right terminology. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong. Please do. My Black Orpingtons are way worse than my Swedish Flower Hens which are so sweet. My other three Creme Legbars are sort of in between.

 

[Angelbirdy]

I am a relative newbie as well. My flock is sixteen weeks old. I love my girls but sometimes they can peck the stew out of you and it hurts. One day I was wearing shorts but thankfully had my taller pear of muck boots on and my favorite little “baby” hen came from behind when I was hand feeding them all some mealworms and pecked the fire out of my calf muscle at the back of my leg twice really fast. It drew blood and made a knot. It made a fire in my head too!! I was ready to put her in the pot! God loves her and so do I but at the time it hurt like heck and surprised the heck out of me too! There was no reason for it! I was giving them all treats! I guess she thought I needed to shave my legs! They can be some mean heifers when they want too. They take a while to learn the tensile strength of their beaks. I think that’s the right terminology. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong. Please do. My Black Orpingtons are way worse than my Swedish Flower Hens which are so sweet. My other three Creme Legbars are sort of in between.

Funny! But ouch!

 

[baysidechicks]

When my girls pecked me too hard I grabbed their beaks and went "hey!". I didn't "peck" them back, just tugged on the beak a little. They were startled. They'll peck a freckle once in a while but it's never hard, more curiousity (or saying "Ma! Ma! Ma! Ma!"). I also do not allow them to land on me - I had one that like to do that as a chick, but when she got older she tried to fly to my shoulder and I literally caught her on my hand mid air and put her back on the floor, like you see falconers catch a hawk. She will still try to climb on top of me if I am bent over in the run so I am always on the look out for that and discourage it strongly! I started giving them their meal worms in a plastic measuring cup because they were pecking really hard at those, but yesterday I fed them some scratch from my hand and they were fine. I've been treating them like I do my dogs - lovingly but firmly - and they are pretty good girls so far.