Holding chicks

[Chickensarecool123]

Love all the advice thanks guys~

 

[PLW]

There is such a thing as TOO many lap chickens. When you have 6-8 full grown chickens trying to get on your lap at the same time, it can be a bit of a fluster cluck.

In all seriousness, generally, chicks do not respond well to things (hands) coming at them from above. The best thing you can do, in my experience, is just sit near them. I have always set my brooders up so I can be on the floor with them. Let them jump up on your legs (they will eventually get curious) and if you're going to put your hand near them, do so slowly and from the side/front and low (below head height).

Chicks and chickens typically don't want to be picked up and "held", but I have found that many of them do like to jump onto my lap and get a scratch on the head or a bit of a squeeze - it must be on THEIR terms, though.

If I sit in my chicken yard, one of my girls will come running and jump up on my lap and I put my arm around her and she snuggles right in and will stay for as long as I let her. Another one, will jump up with her and I will hold her as well. That's 2 out of 20 (lol)... many of the others will jump up on my lap for a moment or two and then jump down. And several of them will not come within 5 feet of me.

As @ChickenChick46 said, it does have a lot to do with the individual personalities of the chicks, but it also has to do with the way you are interacting with them and how often. My 2 "lap chickens" are from the first chicks I ever got. I raised them in a tent in my spare bedroom and was sitting inside the tent with them several times/ day for 6 weeks. They were never afraid of me because I was in that brooder from day 1, letting them use me as a jungle gym.

All of my other chicks have been brooded outdoors. I did try to spend as much time as possible with them and let them get used to me like I described (sitting with them and letting them decide how much interaction they wanted), but it wasn't nearly as much time as I was able to spend with my first group, so the hens from the subsequent groups aren't nearly as friendly as my first (but they're friendly enough).

I'm going to work on incorporating fluster cluck into my regular vocabulary

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Another observation - when pin feathers come in, it's actually painful for them to be touched. You may notice your sweetest chicks/ chickens being very touchy or grumpy with each other during molt for this reason, not wanting to be close to each other, etc. I notice it at treat time, that even my sweetest birds will scream and peck viciously when other birds crowd them during molt. So your cute baby fuzzballs may early learn that it hurts to be picked up, petted, stroked or cuddled, and it may be a lesson they never forget.