How do you get your birds to be so friendly?

[QODTMWTD]

I've had chickens for only a year and even though they all get the same treatment they've been really variable even within breeds. It also seems to vary by age, in that they go through stages of being more or less okay with humans. When they were still in the brooder they were mostly skittish no matter what I did. Once the first group got moved to the barn at about six weeks they became a lot friendlier and I have loads of photos of all three breeds (brown leghorns, barred rocks, and sapphire splashes) perched on my lap and shoulders, sometimes six at a time. Now that they're a year old those three breeds almost never perch on me any more, but they're all willing to take food from my hand and hang around when I sit with them in the run. The 15 prairie bluebells, which I added as day-old chicks in March, are getting a lot better now that they're laying and squatting for me, but from the start they've been much wilder and more skittish than the other three breeds. Only one of them will ever perch on me (the lead hen of that group), and at 6 months old only about half of them will take food from my hand.

Out of the whole flock of 28 I wouldn't call any of them affectionate. Nearly all of them will come running when I use their food call and if they're at the far end of the yard they'll come screaming and flapping over for their morning eggs. Some are smarter, calmer, and braver than others and as a group the barred rocks are the most tolerant and least skittish, but there's not one that acts like a pet.

 

[Dabiys]

It sometimes is just luck. I had a rooster that would give me hugs. He was the sweetest little thing! I loved him very much. But I didn’t do anything to make him do that. No extra treats or attention. One day he just walked up to me, so I squatted down, and he hugged me! I was so surprised! He has been my favorite chicken that I have ever owned. Unfortunately I lost him last year to the Avian Flu ! I miss him so much! Whenever I was sad I would go out to the chicken pen and just sit next to him and he would hug me. I wish I got more of his hugs before he died .
He was a beautiful Speckled Sussex rooster. I miss him very much. Here is a photo of him. His name was Cleve.

I’m so very sorry for your loss on Cleve. I personally know the feeling of the loss of the very close ones

 

[mopalia]

In all my 8.5 years of chicken keeping, I haven't had a super friendly chicken. I've had many chickens over the years, and not one of them has been extremely friendly.
I see many people with very friendly birds and I'm wondering, how do y'all do it? How do you get them to hop on your lap, follow you around, ask for attention, ect...?
Is it the breed? How you raise them? How much attention they get? Where you get them? Or is it a luck of the draw type of a thing?
I'd like to hear about ducks too, as sometime soon I'd like to get them!

From what I have read and observed, the trick is to have some middle school age girls around, who will smother the chicks with affection and attention. Of cource, no one knows how to deal with middle school girls once they are older, so it may not be worth the trade-off.

 

[Tookie]

I had a White Leghorn, she passed away today, she was about 4,5 years old) and I will miss her very much because she was so friendly. She's was ex-battery hen, I got her when she was about 16 months old, her foot had been broken and not properly healed and she was missing a lot of feathers.
I heard that white leghorns are very skittisch and aloof so I treated her accordingly, to win her over and so that she would trust me. So no sudden gestures, reminding myself that she could only see me from one eye because of her floppy comb, and treats from my hand.
After a year she was still a bit afraid of me and then our other chicken died, during the pandemic, so I couldn't get her a new friend right away. And then she got bumblefoot and I had to treat that .. she didn't like it but after a while she new that what I was doing helped, she was no longer in pain. So she began to trust me, I spend a couple hours every day with her because she was alone. She was talking to me all the time, and I began to understand what she meant... She would ask with her Putputput if it was okay for her to go somewhere, that I needed to follow her , that she wasn't shure and so on. After 9 months we got her a friend... She dindn't like it at first, but I saw the difference and why most chickens can't be kept alone... She began to eat more, she got out into the garden more , she was not in her nestbox all the time... It realy made a difference although before I didn't see she was lonesome.
But also she became more friendly towards me, she wanted to cuddle, wanted to be hugged, she developed a whole set of signs so that I would know what she wanted of me . Pecking on my leg was ,I want to sit on your lap, and when she sat there she would arange with her beak where I should place my arms... scratching at my shoe ment that I had to help her searching for worms ( because of her foot she couldn't realy do that ) standing on my shoe ment that she was tired and wanted to be carried... And so on. Even today, minutes before she passed this happened: She hadn't been drinking since this morning so I knew that this was it...( She had been not feeling well for the last 11 days, and yesterday it became so that I called every vet I could reach but they wouldn't take her because they didn't want to see' new patients' , our neighbour offered to help us this evening but she passed before that could happen)
So I checked on her every now and then, and at noon I desided to sit with her, when she saw me, she got up, holding balance with her wings, she was realy weak, but still allert, and moved towards me. I didn't want to pick her up because I was afraid hurting her, so I leaned towards her and gave her a hug. I told her everything was okay, she was safe... then she looked at me , and she was gone....
I think I was very lucky with her, but I also noticed in the last couple of months that althought they are supposedly skittisch and aloof I see a lot of those White leghorns ( here on the forum, on Instagram and so on) that have realy special bonds with 'their ' humans...
Also our other Hen, a light Sussex, has followed in her footsteps and is also a lapp chicken, doesn't want to be held, but she likes that we pet her and even allowes a cuddle .. If she's in the mood...

I'm so so sorry for your loss, she sounded like such a wonderful hen.

 

[Bruthabuz]

In all my 8.5 years of chicken keeping, I haven't had a super friendly chicken. I've had many chickens over the years, and not one of them has been extremely friendly.
I see many people with very friendly birds and I'm wondering, how do y'all do it? How do you get them to hop on your lap, follow you around, ask for attention, ect...?
Is it the breed? How you raise them? How much attention they get? Where you get them? Or is it a luck of the draw type of a thing?
I'd like to hear about ducks too, as sometime soon I'd like to get them!

Last February we got 35 new chicks. I thought that spending a lot of time with them and handling them, and hand-feeding them they'd get used to me. NOT! At least with most. There are a few that will squat when I approach them and let me pick them up. Usually I just pet them and watch them ruffle their feathers as they walk away. Some will tease me. They squat, then run away when I bend over to pet them! But most still run away when I approach them. The only time they all flock around me is when I give them their treats every morning and evening. But even then, most of them run away when I try to mingle. I've never had one jump up on my lap unless they know I have something for them. And even then, that's rare as hen's teeth! We've had ducks, too, over the years. Not once has any duck allowed me to get anywhere near them. I could walk out the back door with them being 100 feet away and they'll start moving. Good luck! I hope your next flock will be friendlier!

 

[Just2chickens]

I'm so so sorry for your loss, she sounded like such a wonderful hen.

Thank you , she realy was... I hope at least one of your girls will give you that kind of affection

 

[-Chanticleer-]

My rescue hen is by far one of the friendliest I got her at a 14 months, she was used for egg production. She follows me everywhere. I have a pullet that will follow me the other six just come if I have treats.

 

[fluffycrow]

I'm a big believer in breed. So here's my two cents on the matter, restaurant queen. Last year I got two aseel cockerels at 2 months old. What I know for a fact is that they hadn't been handled almost at all up to that point, they were broody raised, and they'd never seen me before either. Within five minutes I could pick them up, hand feed them, pet them, and they'd run freely around me. Next morning, they were comfortable to fly all over me. The bird I kept acts the exact same way to this day. The other one did the same for as long as he was mine, from that point on his whereabouts are unknown. This held true for a male (aseel) pair I raised 7 years (or so) ago as well

 

[The Birb King]

There are 2 main factors: what breeds you get and how you raise them. I have found that Seramas, Ameraucanas, and Spitzhaubans tend to be quite friendly. Of course every chicken is different but generally those breeds are friendly. You also need to spend a decent amount of time with them as chicks.

 

[fluffycrow]

I'm a big believer in breed. So here's my two cents on the matter, restaurant queen. Last year I got two aseel cockerels at 2 months old. What I know for a fact is that they hadn't been handled almost at all up to that point, they were broody raised, and they'd never seen me before either. Within five minutes I could pick them up, hand feed them, pet them, and they'd run freely around me. Next morning, they were comfortable to fly all over me. The bird I kept acts the exact same way to this day. The other one did the same for as long as he was mine, from that point on his whereabouts are unknown. This held true for a male (aseel) pair I raised 7 years (or so) ago as well

So. What am I trying to get at? I do not believe that how you raise them plays that much of a role, especially if friendliness is in them already. My serama have also been pretty friendly, despite never being handled or raised "to be friendly". I got those when they were 10 weeks or so. In order to achieve the results you wish however, you need to start with animals that are known to be friendly. Meaning that the brahma from hoovers isn't going to be friendly just because it's a brahma (it might, but it'snot a guarantee). You still have to breed for friendliness. So support ethical breeders which who you can discuss the temperament of their birds, as well as their breeding practices