How do you tame chickens?

[Sparrowsong98]

I have had chickens for nine years, and kept my flock strictly for commercial purposes. However, I accidentally bought some "fun chickens" that cannot live with my others due to issues. I have added two more chickens to live with them, and have a little pet flock of 4 now. They are almost exactly what pet chickens should be: cute, funny, pretty... except they run every time they see me. I have never tried to tame chickens before, and have no idea how you go about it, but now that I am off school I thought now would be a good time to start. They are two 9 month old polish and two 2 year old easter eggers if breed and age matter.

 

[featherhead007]

Good luck,best to start training them as chicks, so they know you as the mamma/daddy and not a threat to them. Show them lots of attention,they may come around.

 

[danceswithronin]

Get some live mealworms and crickets and watermelon and blueberries and cherry tomatoes sliced in half. Make yourself the bringer of Cool Shit and eventually they'll start running towards you instead of away every time you show up.

And it sounds weird but whenever I feed my chickens good treats or refresh their feed/water or toss fresh weeds in there for them to scratch around in I always play "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley, and now whenever they hear that music they get really excited to see me and come running up because they know I'm going to bring them something good and pet them. Also I make sure to handle each bird a little every day and talk to them gently while I'm doing it so they know the sound of my voice, and I'll offer them individual treats when I do it like a single mealworm or something they don't have to fight over with the other chickens.

It's all about positive reinforcement and spending time with your birds every single day. I always spend around an hour between morning and night at the very least just sitting with the chickens and letting them see me at eye level rather than looming over them or reaching in to grab them.

 

[featherhead007]

Get some live mealworms and crickets and watermelon and blueberries and cherry tomatoes sliced in half. Make yourself the bringer of Cool Shit and eventually they'll start running towards you instead of away every time you show up.

And it sounds weird but whenever I feed my chickens good treats or refresh their feed/water or toss fresh weeds in there for them to scratch around in I always play "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley, and now whenever they hear that music they get really excited to see me and come running up because they know I'm going to bring them something good and pet them. Also I make sure to handle each bird a little every day and talk to them gently while I'm doing it so they know the sound of my voice, and I'll offer them individual treats when I do it like a single mealworm or something they don't have to fight over with the other chickens.

It's all about positive reinforcement and spending time with your birds every single day. I always spend around an hour between morning and night at the very least just sitting with the chickens and letting them see me at eye level rather than looming over them or reaching in to grab them.

For all that, makes me want to come running too! Especially Marley!

 

[Sparrowsong98]

So, I have tried bringing them treats and handling them. My polish have never been with the other birds, and are a bit easier to handle. They let me pet them, but only if I am down on eye level. They eat out of my hand. The EEs are wild. I am spending about an hour with them every day. Sometimes I put one on my shoulder after dark and take them up to get their food with me. They seem to like this. When we get up to my basement, they get to wander around for a few seconds before we go back down.

 

[featherhead007]

So, I have tried bringing them treats and handling them. My polish have never been with the other birds, and are a bit easier to handle. They let me pet them, but only if I am down on eye level. They eat out of my hand. The EEs are wild. I am spending about an hour with them every day. Sometimes I put one on my shoulder after dark and take them up to get their food with me. They seem to like this. When we get up to my basement, they get to wander around for a few seconds before we go back down.

Are all of them still young? They must be. My Polish roo is defensive when with the others, but alone with me, he's very friendly. My remaining EE does her own thing, and likes to wander off alone.

 

[centrarchid]

I tame some of my birds to an extreme so they will respond positively to handling by the public. Approach varies as a function of bird age at start, but I will emphasize what is used on mature birds like yours. To do process fast I confine each birds singly to pens that are 2' x 2' x 2'. Water is supplied at all times with a bowl on outide of pen. The bird is allowed to acclimate to situation without food long enough for crop to empty which is a few hours or over night. Then I slowly approach pen talking in a soft steady voice as a drop a morsel or two of eats as I walk by. Normally the process involves multiple birds in parallel. A few minutes later the process is repeated several times over the course of an hour or two so birds develop a strong association of appearance and voice with food. This also calms them down. At end of a session they are provided free-choice access to feed for balance of the day so nutritional needs can be met. If need be the process is repeated over multiple days. Once a bird starts coming to front of cage to meet me, then I up the stakes by presented a couple live meals just inside the cage. As a rule the meal worms elicit a much stronger repression and birds usually want to even take it from my hands. Then I start making them work a little harder for the eats by changing location the meal worms are introduced. After that the birds are usually removed from the cages where training continues.

 

[featherhead007]

I just sit in a chair in the coop. The ones that jump up on my lap get meal worms... Now 10 hens jump up on my lap! it's funny hilarious !

 

[April’s Zoo]

Make yourself the bringer of Cool Shit

 

[emmyn74]

My daughter is 9 and has every single one of our chickens tamed....she will pick one and carry it around with her for a few hours...finding them treats such as sunflowers...wild strawberries..crickets....then she takes them back and gets a different one...does the same thing with them...now when she goes into their pens...they flock around us..let us pet them..carry them around...and if they are let outside..they follow us around everywhere we go like a little curious flock. They always have to be right where we r.