How can I get my chickens to like me again??

[Margy1]

When we got our chickens (EE) when they were a week old, we played with them, loved on them, gave them treats. They loved us, would let us walk around holding them and eat out of our hands.

Now they are about 21 weeks old and will not let us touch them. They have a big pen and a big coop. Every once in awhile I can pick one up, but she gets so scared! We go out everyday and spend time with them, I have tried to get them to eat from my hands, they wont. They barely come near us, yesterday they came over and started picking off the little "hitchhikers" from the grass that were stuck to my slippers. I have read posts about going out and sitting with them, bringing them treats, talking to them getting them used to my voice, and then eventually trying to get them to eat out of my hands, I have tried all that and they are still so scared! We have another chicken its a free range and she will let us touch her and pick her up and love on her.

How can we make them like us again???

 

[chooks4life]

Hmm, sounds like you've already checked out the predominant successful methods out there. If you use your voice in communicating with them, is it working? Or are they ignoring you?

Most chooks will show greater tolerance for humans when young, if handled, but many chooks simply don't like people or have complete apathy towards them. If they just don't like you there's not much you can do. However, they're still young, basically young adults now, they should settle down more with time.

You could try a very friendly rooster; some of those are quite good at getting even feral hens to come right to you. I'd try other methods first though, last thing you'd need is to try to get a good rooster and find he's just more trouble.

When you pick them up, do you prevent them struggling or are they left to flap and fight? The less they're able to fight, the more they're likely to settle down and learn instead. They can get stuck into a pattern of struggling and panicking when held if someone routinely picks them up in a way that makes them feel unsafe or unbalanced. Holding their wings to their bodies helps with that. Then you can sit them on your leg and when they're calm, let them walk off. Soon enough most chooks learn it's nothing to be feared.

Are they allowed to spend time hanging around you without you trying to touch them? Do you let them walk over you and take treats while you sit on the ground and don't try to grab them? Do you go digging in the garden with them or call them for treats regularly? All those things can help train them to trust you. While an automatic feeder could make life a bit simpler, with longer times between feeds, I prefer my chooks to know I'm the source of food, since it helps keep even human-averse chooks more human-oriented and docile.

They may be anti-human or may just need more time. They react strongly to your mood so being calm and relaxed about them helps a lot.

Best wishes and good luck.

 

[chooks4life]

Forgot to say... Your nice hen who doesn't mind being held is being watched by the others, so you can use her as an example, and a teacher. Chances are it's working that way whether you're doing it deliberately or not. I found, after years of getting in basically wild chickens and taming them, that having tame chooks act as an example is at least half the job done. They don't need a predator to attack them to learn that such an animal kills chickens, they learn after watching it kill other chooks. The same premise works here. If they're not seeing you harming them, they will come to view you as a non-threat. For this reason it's important for them all, not just the ones you're handling at the time, that you ensure they don't struggle as you release them.

I had some hens once, two years old when I got them, which had come from some extremely traumatic conditions, and were terrified of humans beyond the point of retaining any sense of self preservation in their attempts to escape the human touch. You couldn't walk within 20 feet of their cage before they were screaming and smashing themselves into the walls. I've never seen chooks so scared before or since. I let them take their time to come to know people, expecting they'd take longer due to their history and age, but as I've since seen happen many times, they observed the social situation and took it in their stride. They changed and trusted people because the other chooks did. Animals are generally very good at reading intention.

Another thing that can help is touching them on the perch at night, and talking to them while you do. Depends on the chooks though, some chooks are very anti-touch at night and will lash out at anything that moves. Not too smart, those ones. Most will recognize you just fine though. I routinely check my chooks at night, partly due to pythons and partly to keep an easy eye on condition. I check their weight by touch, pet them, sometimes check abdomens and crops, stuff like that. It helps.

Given time to observe a good social situation before engaging, many chickens will adapt their own behaviors to it, in my experience. I'd make your nice hen a real star pupil if I were you, if they're watching chances are they're learning. It can take months before they act on it though. Not all are like that, not all will learn, but most will.

It's also possible/probable that your hens just need more time. As everyone's noted, plenty of hens do become spackier around point of lay or early adult life, most animals do. Overdose of hormones and instincts yelling at them does that.

Best wishes.

 

[aart]

chooks gives good advice and asks great questions.

I've found that even the friendliest of chicks do not always continue to like to be touched, let alone held, after they get older. But most will come and eat treats out of hand, but i never try to pick them up while doing that or pretty soon they won't come to hand feed.

At 21 weeks they are probably just laying or getting close. They can get real spooky at that time, some will calm back down after they get the laying thing worked out, some will not.

I have a couple that come up to me every morning and do not fight at all being picked up and more important IMO being put back down....other avoid it like the plague. These 2 did not particularly like being handled as chicks either..so ya never know.

I try to handle most of them regularly by being sneaky in grabbing them calmly(oxymoron?) and getting control immediately by holding down wings and stabilizing feet, most will submit but do not like it. I try to put them back down while still holding wings and get them to stay still when feet touch the ground just for a second, sometimes picking them back up if they struggle. Some I can only handle off the roost at night, I won't chase/corner them unless it is absolutely necessary.

Overall I don't think of chickens as pets to pet. If they like it - great, if not - I have dogs to pet.

 

[azygous]

I agree with the previous two posters. I believe what you have here is a hormone thing. At times of hormonal changes, whether it's from a surge preceding onset of laying or in the case of cockerels, coming into their maturity, and then during molt when hormones drain away, chickens are more apt to be irritable and standoffish. After hormones normalize, they usually revert back to their friendly natures, if they were friendly before.

As has also been pointed out, there are chickens that have anti-social natures. I have a few of those, and no matter how much I try to get on their good side, if there is one, they are having none of it, preferring instead to fight and flap and screech and bite when held. If you have fourteen out of a flock of eighteen that are cuddly and love being held, I count that as a huge success.

 

[Margy1]

Thank you all for the excellent advice.

I wen't out to the coop earlier, and they were eating the weeds off my slippers, and then just standing around me, I bent down to just run my fingers over one of their backs (Mr. T - she is a female lol) and she just stood there, I slowly grabbed her and picked her up and she just went with it. Did not act scared at all, pet her little head, under her neck, she just seemed so happy! I put her down after a minute or two so I didn't overwhelm her, once I put her down she stood right at my feet for a minute, then walked away. Maybe we are making progress?!

 

[chooks4life]

If I am outside of their coop/run area they will listen to me when I talk to them. They run over to me to see if I am going to give them grass (they have eaten all the grass inside their run and right outside the boarder lol.

Alright, you've obviously done the groundwork there and achieved success. Good job.

When I get one that I am going to pick up I do hold her wings to her sides, I let her get used to my touch and calm down before I actually lift her off the ground, then I will hold them away from me a little and then I will put them up towards my chest. Usually after about a minute their little lets start shaking so I put them down and as I get them to the ground they get frantic and start flapping their wings like crazy.

Their legs shouldn't start shaking, to me that sounds like maybe they're avoiding you or avoiding being held because their nerves are insufficiently 'fit' to cope with it. So they're being overstimulated by things that shouldn't stress them, basically, overreacting due to physical not psychological causes. A little bit of stress becomes too much when the animal (or human) hasn't got good nerves.

Various things could be causing the shaking but low calcium/magnesium and/or B vitamins are three of the main culprits. If they don't have extra calcium supplementation I'd supply it, chances are that's the most likely deficiency if that's what's going on here.

Everybody else who's posted has made good points, and I very much agree with the concept of it being more important how it ends than how it began. I've always seen with mine it doesn't matter how it began as long as it ends well, since that's mainly what they remember.

As aart said, it's important to have a calm release. If they panic as they leave your grasp, in their minds it becomes akin to escaping a predator. You've noted that the hens begin getting frantic and struggling as you release them; that's the problem here, I reckon. That, and their physical reaction with the shaking, which I'd expect is likely dietary in basis.

I sit mine on my lap, and when they're calm, they are allowed to walk off. Not jump in any anxious manner, or burst away from me flapping, nor exhibiting any other fearful behaviors; if they do, I will simply catch them again and repeat the exercise until they leave me calm. If they just won't, after I've repeated it a good few times, I know chances are that one's just human-averse and don't waste time on it. It's important that they settle and become calm before you allow them to walk away, so their end perception of the interaction is that it's nothing to fear or flee from. Making eye contact with them can often break the barrier with some chooks, and with some others, it's skin on skin contact, holding their feet in your hand for example. They're all different.

We don't have an automatic feeder, we have a 7 gallon one which we fill maybe once a week. I don't always try to pick them up when I go in there, more often then not I just go in and stand or kneel down (I don't sit as its all dirt in there).

I found chooks often showed a bit of a different attitude to me while I was in the cages; I ended up bringing something to sit on precisely so I could capitalize on that. You can hang up or stand up a piece of board for example, or a cushion if you prefer, in the cage so it doesn't get pooped on but it's always ready to use. It's a great place to gain their trust; plenty of them enjoy my visits to their coops because they associate it with something nice. New perches, fresh nest materials, nesting disputes resolved, fresh water, new food, stuff like that.

I ended up with a regular escort of chooks that would come to stickybeak in what I was doing whenever I visited the cages. Roosters in particular were always very interested in me building new cages or rearranging nests and would inspect every new potential nesting site and perch, and encourage the hens to test them out. Half the time I couldn't get the job done before they were in there passing judgment on it, lol. They're very quick at putting two and two together, generally, if you're regularly the source of nice new developments they will view you in a positive light. Provided they're smart enough, not all chooks are, of course.

If I do pick one up and hold it once I put it down I stay for another minute or two and then go outside of their area, sit and talk for a few minutes to them and then leave them be. I don't want to tramatize them too much.

I am definetly going to try going out with treats more frequently, they won't eat their grit we have for them so I get scared to give them stuff they would need grit for.

If your area is rocky they may be sourcing enough grit already. Or they may need different grits. Some people wash the grits they sell in chemicals and the chooks don't like that. Sometimes it's too fine, too sharp, too blunt... They become pretty discerning about what they need and when. If they have a good supply of grit internally they will only add more when it runs low.

They need soluble calcium-rich grits too. In many commercial feeds the calcium grit they add just does not seem to get decent results and supplementation is often needed in quite a few areas despite the food being described as complete.

Dicalcium phosphate is one thing many layer feeds add as a calcium source that's really not ideal. It's known to exacerbate many existing health conditions, especially digestive system ones, and according to some authorities up to 80% of all poultry deaths are due to digestive disease so it's really something worth going out of your way to avoid. From pharmaceutical studies referenced by Wikipedia:
Quote:

It's associated with quite a few issues, pretty contentious stuff; a lot of livestock keepers (of horses, sheep etc) won't touch it.

The correct utilization of most nutrients is dependent on them being in organic form or as close as possible to natural form, and in the correct spectrum (accompaniment of the other nutrients used to digest them). There are many forms of calcium and some are not safe at all.

Taking calcium without magnesium, whatever the form of calcium being taken, is often either inefficient or harmful, and generally hard on the kidneys. If calcium goes in without being in conjunction with sufficient magnesium, it balances itself by taking that magnesium out of the animal's stores. Same as the reverse. This can make it harmful especially in already depleted individuals. It's why supplement manufacturers for humans have now added multiple other nutrients to calcium and magnesium supplements, including forms of vit D and multiple forms of vit C. Long term studies showed it can be harmful to take isolated, purified and overprocessed nutrients, which prompted that change. Since the average commercial feed for chickens is made for chooks that are generally expected to be culled very young, around 2 years on average, long-term survivability on their feed formulas is not a consideration. I believe long-term reliance on those feeds causes numerous deficiency diseases since they only contain basic survival rations, not actually a complete feed for longevity.

Calcium and magnesium need to be in the correct ratio for the body to use them properly and dicalcium phosphate is not the correct form for true health. Like many of the other ingredients in common poultry foods, it's cheap and convenient and will do at a pinch but for the best long term health you do generally have to get something better quality which generally means spending more or learning to mix your own feeds which can be cheaper in the long run but does take more time.

It definitely sounds like your hens need more calcium. Overreactions to everything are common without enough calcium as it coats the nerves, insulates for all intents and purposes... When they become a little stimulated, with sufficient calcium they remain calm but just more watchful, with insufficient calcium they can become hysterical. Personally, I never bothered with trying to handle animals with obviously poor calcium levels if it could be avoided. That's the profile of the animal most likely to die from cardiac arrest, because calcium and magnesium are extremely important for correct heart function. But that's not the most likely end result of handling animals low in cal-mag, most cope since the body basically 'digests' the long bones in order to gain sufficient cal-mag to keep the heart and brain working sufficiently... The real reason I didn't bother is because their over-excitability means more harm than good can be done in handling them, in terms of what they learn from it and how likely they are to react reasonably.

Another thing you can do is offer something like wholemeal bread buns with poppy seed in or on them. Or just the poppy seed added to feed, like a wet mix, so it binds to the food rather than falls to the bottom. While it's quite low in its opiate qualities compared to its pharmaceutical relative, culinary poppy seed can still help soothe fractious or anxious animals. Chamomile can too, rosemary is another nerve tonic, stinging nettle tea or dried leaves added to a wet mix are also great for supplying cal-mag and many other nutrients including protein and vitamin E, but generally just giving them a more rounded diet than what the typical layer feed supplies can help a lot.

I don't know exactly what they're eating obviously, my guessing what they're eating is based on the most common issues with a dietary basis one sees, and it's never one size fits all, so good luck with your experiments in that area if you decide to do so. There can be other reasons why a diet sufficient in the right forms of cal-mag is still not enough, for example intake of toxins robbing the body of its stores, since calcium is used to detox, and illness and injury even of so low a level no symptoms show still can really chew away at their calcium stores.

Best wishes.

 

[lovemy6hens]

Great advice from everyone above!

I thought mine didn't like me either when they were around that age and found all of the above advice applied. It took me a month or so to realize they prefer me sitting on the ground with them like I did when they were babies. We've slowly moved up to sitting in a chair, but they still prefer me sitting on the ground. It may be the height. My Katy Pecky hesitates to jump more than several inches, so she walks down my arm from her reserved place on my shoulder. They'll only snuggle outside the run if they're very sleepy. There are so many distractions outside the run that they're not very interested in me. When I'm sitting in there with them, I'm the center of attention. I've found ignoring them while I sit there also helps. They're very curious.

 

[oklip955]

Most of my lastest group that I got when they were 3 months old and lived in a guys back yard. (his dog got out of it pen and killed one or two and he decided that chickens were not a good idea. Anyway there was 7 hens and 1 rooster. He really never did much as far as handling them. We caught them using a roll of plastic fence and making the area they were in smaller until we could grab them and put them in my traveling cage. I put them in the hen house with me 12 yo production red who hates the world, one shy Austolope and 3 guineas that didn't want to have anything to do with anyone. Well after a week of me filling feeders and bringing out treats, the new guys lined up on the pearch and took their turns taking a bit out of the apple or other treats. They just kept getting friendlier and would fly up and land on my arm or shoulder. Now the others are friendly. My shy Autrolope who suffered a juobone fracture after I slammed the coopdoor in her face and took her to the state vet teaching hospital (she had 3 hrs of surgery and a partial upper beak cast) who allow them to carry her around the building to visit the staff. The three days she was up there after her surgery, the vet students took her out around the college campus wearing a dog harness and leash. I came home with a leash broke, pottie trained hen. Since she had to spend 6 weeks in the house, it was nice to have her pottie trained. I would let her out of her dog kennel twice a day on newspaper. She would squat and wait for me to put more paper under her. Anyway, she is perfectly tame. I did nothing to get a coop of friendly chickens and guineas, after 20 yrs of having chickens, they are just that way.

 

[chooks4life]

Congrats on the egg. Always cool to get that first one ever.

@1chickendog142 potatoes are fine raw as long as not green. In fact they're a good liver support, very healthy for them. Can be too hard for some chooks to peck, though others will eat raw carrots and potatoes just fine.

As for avocadoes, like mangoes and some other foods including grapes, the 'toxic' aspect is not proven to apply across the board. I'm as yet unaware of any studies proving they're lethal, I suspect perhaps they've got this reputation wrongly, i.e. someone accused them for causing a death they could not pinpoint the cause of, or perhaps someone had severely deficient hens which then had access only to green mangoes, or unripe avocadoes, or the leaves of either tree, any of which if eaten in excess could be fatal. Another theory is that someone had recently sprayed with pesticides and someone let their chooks eat the fruits or leaves, which could easily be fatal.

When it comes to appleseeds, the toxicity potential is over-hyped as well. 'Only 7 seeds can kill someone' they say, yet when you're drinking whole apple juice, you're consuming often far more than that per two liters. Often we consume much more in apple pie and other sources too, cooked or raw.

I get boxes of apples and smash them on the ground for the chooks to have free choice, and one of the first things they go for are the seeds and I've never had a death or illness due to it.

Lettuce also contains arsenic, many things do, yet nobody's careful about feeding large amounts of that due to the arsenic content.

Better safe than sorry of course, but many of us find out sooner or later that we're being overcautious in some area. Then again some of us get away with seriously dangerous things for a long time that others do not find themselves so lucky with; just recently I saw a woman recommend giving chickens polystyrene foam to eat to distract them from feather picking. She thought it was fine, never had a death due to it, and the breeder she got her chooks off did the same thing and recommended it to her in the first place, also no deaths. Yet every year many animals die from consuming polystyrene foam.

Eating feathers generally means they need more protein, feathers are another dangerous thing which can block them up and kill them.

As always, some individuals are far more sensitive than others and a very hungry animal restricted to only one or two feed items is always at risk and it almost doesn't matter what you're feeding. Seasonal variations are behind many deaths, even normally safe foods can be unsafe at certain times, and there's a heck of a lot of other factors to consider as well.

Taking it slowly and carefully with introducing new foods or even allowing them access to non feed items they've never seen before is always a good idea.

Best wishes.