How do you make your chickens more comfortable with you?

[mikichick]

Some of my birds are a little hesitant to hang out with me, now that they're older

. What should I do so that they get more comfortable with me?

I

 

[Egg celent]

Freeze dried worms! Lol

I'm sure someone has mentioned them but it's a fool proof treat for my birds if I don't have anything.

 

[LDSB]

Jesus and chickens are awesome!

 

[Melinda48]

We have some Buff Orpingtons who have just begun laying. How long does it take for their eggs to get larger? They are no where near the same size as our Golden Comets' eggs.

 

[LoraV]

Everyone seems to be mentioning older birds, mine are 2 weeks. I am a first timer and tried to learn everything before they came but am finding that is just the start! I have 2 cats so they live in a very large/tall box in their own room,

I am finding a box that is not see through is a bit scary for them when I come into the room they know and start their little sounds but walk to the edge they startle, I also hold my arm over the edge and just rest my hand in there the bantam EE comes to investigate pecks and will stand on my hand same with my bantam cochin frizzle the other 5 want nothing to do with me besides my plain water chick starter mash now that they are this age I may try adding a few bland ingredients. I cannot hold my arm over the side for long because it starts to fall asleep I go in and do this many times a day unless working but I only work part time. I have read pros and cons to picking them up, I have been picking them up. They squawk some shake (that scares me) and others just look at me. Neither my husband and I are huge talkers (I can write up a storm tho!) but I like the idea of reading to them that is something we both do constantly. They are still in the brooder so I cannot sit inside that but I bought a outdoor playpen today may be able to sit in there!

Am I doing the right thing for young birds or is there anything else I can do, I would love to have happy friendly birds to keep me company in the garden and yard! Oh and we got all "friendly bird breeds" 4 Bantam Silkies 2 Bantam Cochin Frizzles and 2 Bantam Easter eggers (sadly Teeni died so 1)

 

[ErniesFlock]

Mine go ape over bread. Also chunks of salmon make mine go nuts spaghetti noodles and zuchinni to only name a few. The ones I have hand raised look for me constanly (it can be annoying sometimes lol but I love it!) for the older ones I sit with them and try and learn more of their language. Its suprising how much I can understand chicken from only being around them a year. FOr the ones that are apprehensive the ones I aquired as adults from a rescue or whatever I always feed them always break them off some grub cause I know there not getting close till itds near done and I defend them from the bullys (within reason) If I got a bully or a young hotshot up and comer rooster say who is being obnoxious... I will kennel them for a day or two and they get out of timeout or jail back at the bottom of the order. Mostly it gives the young ones a chance to come up also.

I also have a bird leash and take different birds out for walks with my daughter in her stroller. Just around the hood makes great talk piece and creates cool vibe. I havnt seen anyone yet walk away ticked off

 

[ThaSilverShadow]

In my experience with chicks. Is the more I'm around them at an earlier age the better the outcome. My first batch I played with alot as chicks. 15 out of 15 cant get enough of me. However, with batch number two I took a more hands off approach. 5 out of 6 wouldn't let me near them. I have it down to only 2 out of six now at 15 wks. From my low level of experience. The more I'm involved with them, especially at a younger age. The more inclined to "domestication" they are. I would pick them up, play, caress, and talk with them softly

Your mileage may vary.

 

[SixChickFlock]

We have some Buff Orpingtons who have just begun laying. How long does it take for their eggs to get larger? They are no where near the same size as our Golden Comets' eggs.

I have one Buff Orpington who has been laying for 3-4 weeks now. Her first eggs weighed in at 42 grams... The first may have weighed 39 grams. Yesterdays egg was 51.4 grams. Weight seems to go up and then down a bit, but generally up. She's been around 50 g for the last week or so. I think we are approaching "large" sized eggs.

She is also the first to lay out of 6. Except for two double yolkers at 65.4 and 69.8 grams, from a different hen, hers are consistently larger than the rest. She has about a week head start on the others.

Hope this helps.

 

[JekkaLynn]

You can't be serious! I've been feeding ducks bread at shorelines forever and my chickens cant wait for me to show up with a bag of day old bread for them. I have yet to have a problem. Something in bread we all should know about?

I think it's the whole "once you cook something it looses it's nutrition" thing. I don't think it'll hurt them, but it may just not be as good for them as their normal feed is.

I am sorry to tell you this but bread is one of the junkiest of junk foods for poultry. It has WAY to much fat and almost no nutrients/vitamins that are digest-able for the birds bodies to use. They get a load of fat and a full stomach telling them they don't need to eat much more that day but none of the vitamins they needs to grow/to be healthy. Giving each bird a couple bites a day is fine but letting them have a full meals worth is very bad for their health. I use to feed abbot of bread to my birds too until I learned this.

 

[SixChickFlock]

I am sorry to tell you this but bread is one of the junkiest of junk foods for poultry. It has WAY to much fat and almost no nutrients/vitamins that are digest-able for the birds bodies to use. They get a load of fat and a full stomach telling them they don't need to eat much more that day but none of the vitamins they needs to grow/to be healthy. Giving each bird a couple bites a day is fine but letting them have a full meals worth is very bad for their health. I use to feed abbot of bread to my birds too until I learned this.

On a different forum, I found the following, which seems plausible and indicates that bread may not be good for chickens...

Quote:
I am no expert. It does seem that overfeeding bread is not a good idea.