How Do You Hold Your Chickens

[ChocolateMouse]

My chickens run when put down. I could never just casually set them down like that and expect to pick em up again without a chase.

I learned to football animals with rabbits (it's really the absolute best way to hold a bunny for more than a few moments) and just tried it on chickens and never looked back. Very effective, even if a bird tried to kick or flog you with its wings. Then if you need to move a lot at once and they're not too big you can just stack two under each arm and go!

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Oh, lordy. If I catch a chicken for any reason I could not put it down and expect to just bend over and pick it back up One chance, that's all I get!

 

[ChocolateWingTheRooster]

I sometimes hold them the normal way, but usually I hold them like cats. I don’t actually know why, but I do.

My guess, it’s because I had cats years before I got my chickens.

And also, I find it very hard to hold my smaller White Leghorns, so I pin her wings down before I pick her up. (off of the ground, I mean!)

Well, I do this now, mostly because the last time I didn’t do that, I got slapped with her wings several times in a row while my cockerel, Wings, lunged at me. He was likely trying to protect her, like he always does.

Also, I was never taught how to properly hold a chicken (or a cat, if I think back...) I guess I self-teach myself?

An older, (from summer 2019) cropped photo of me holding my cockerel -

I think I hold them a bit different now, though...

 

[Mtnboomer]

My birds keep their personal space. When I approach, they stay about 2-3ft ahead of me. They will feed at my feet but when I bend down to grab them they jump back out to that 3ft mark.
Only way to catch them is to corner them in the wood shed or get them coming out of the coop.
But i grab with 2 hands pinning down the wings and then hold against the body

 

[aart]

Maybe yours aren't as friendly as mine!

Well, I am not a chicken cuddler

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Well, I am not a chicken cuddler

I am!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

While I wanna be a chicken cuddler, I also want birds that spook at Hawks and other predators. And polite roosters. That usually means hands off as babies. And then they don't let me cuddle them after that.

 

[aart]

Back when I still spent a lot of time handling chicks in the house brooder, I had a couple Lt Brahma that never took to it, just kept screamingandscreamingandscreaming no matter how long I held them. Lo and behold when they were a few months old one came up to me and just stood there, I reached out to touch her and she liked it, so I picked her up and she settled right in. Everyday she would come up to me and want to be picked up. Lasted a couple months then she changed her tune. Crazy birds.

 

[Chickassan]

On a good day like this.

Normally this is more what happens.

The football hold would never work, my birds would absolutely flip.

 

[PioneerChicks]

Well, I am not a chicken cuddler

No, you're a juggler!