How often do you hold your chicks or chickens to make them love it?

[TT4059]

One chick seems to want me to hold it! I want the others to do this too. I will keep trying to hold them for short periods

 

[Iluveggers]

Me and my cuddliest chick. She’s 2 weeks Sorry for the dimness. They get a “bedtime snack” of wet mash when it gets dark. Hoping when I move them to the coop they’ll know they are getting treats when it’s time to go in!

 

[NatJ]

4 of the 5 are Silkie chicks. Should I bathe them? If so how often? Should I also bathe the 5th chick? It is a Lafleche/black mottled d’uccle cross.

Should you bathe them?
Yes, if they get lots of oil all over themselves.
Maybe, if you're going to take them to a show.
No, in almost all other cases.

As several other people have said, chickens like to take dust baths. They lay down and scratch around on the ground and get dirt all through their feathers, then lay there and take a nap and look dead for a while, then get up and shake off the extra dust and go on about their day.

 

[K0k0shka]

A lot of it has to do with individual birds personalities.

Breeds, too. Some are easier to tame than others. I have two generations of Orpingtons and all of them are tame and friendly, and can be picked up and held. I also have Barnevelders, raised with them in the same way, but they do not want to be touched or picked up. I still call them lap chickens, because they’ll hop in my lap or on my shoulder and stay there, keeping me company, just as long as I don’t touch them. Their breeder was very surprised when I told her, said that hers won’t even let her get close. So handling mine extensively from hatch certainly helped socialize them. It’s just that the result of my efforts looks different with the two breeds. One likes/tolerates touch and handling, while the other climbs on me more and initiates contact without me touching. Each is friendly and social with me in their own way.

Here are some of mine snuggling as babies:

And older:

They like taking naps in my lap:

Cuddly adult Orp:

One of the touch-averse but still friendly Barnevelders, who likes hanging out in my lap or on my shoulder:

 

[kurby22]

Breeds, too. Some are easier to tame than others. I have two generations of Orpingtons and all of them are tame and friendly, and can be picked up and held. I also have Barnevelders, raised with them in the same way, but they do not want to be touched or picked up. I still call them lap chickens, because they’ll hop in my lap or on my shoulder and stay there, keeping me company, just as long as I don’t touch them. Their breeder was very surprised when I told her, said that hers won’t even let her get close. So handling mine extensively from hatch certainly helped socialize them. It’s just that the result of my efforts looks different with the two breeds. One likes/tolerates touch and handling, while the other climbs on me more and initiates contact without me touching. Each is friendly and social with me in their own way.

Here are some of mine snuggling as babies:
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And older:
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They like taking naps in my lap:
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View attachment 2783883

Cuddly adult Orp:
View attachment 2783886

One of the touch-averse but still friendly Barnevelders, who likes hanging out in my lap or on my shoulder:
View attachment 2783889

That is how my babies are…my Lavender Orps were snugglers that will let me and my kids hold them, pet them, feed them…and they love people. My Blue Laced Red Wyandottes are very friendly and sweet, but not interested in being held or pet. They let you if they must, but would rather visit and sit with me then have me hug or touch them. They’ve all been raised from tiny chicks and totally want different types of attention. I have some new chicks and one of them loves to come sit on my shoulder and another will sit in my lap and let me pet her…most of the rest only come when I have treats haha. All different but wonderful!

 

[Hopeful homesteader]

I have 12 2 week old chicks, got them a week ago. Every time I walked in my bathroom they'd all scurry to a corner scared so I'd just talk to them the first few days and only pick them up to check for pasty butt. Then started putting my hand in the brooder for a few days until they stopped running away, offering mealworms helped a lot and then using a finger to scratch at the bedding and tap the floor of the brooder and they'd all run over and eat the starter feed they spill from around my finger. I've now been picking them up to sit in my lap for a few min at a time, half of them don't seem phased by me picking them up but the other half scream bloody murder so I put them to my chest near my heart and talk to them and they settle down but clearly want to be put down so I'm not pushing it more than 5 minutes at a time unless they are completely content to hang out in my lap. 1 fell asleep on me but she was so tired the other night while everyone else was trying to run and play that she kept dosing off standing and everyone kept bumping her so I pulled her out for a nap, probably the best nap she ever had. 1 in particular will keep coming back to my hand to be picked up, idk if she likes being held or likes being high enough to see the whole room. I would say no bath unless they're really messy/poopy and even then only spot clean as necessary. I had one get poop stuck to her butt fluff, cleaned it off before it became an issue but I just wet a cotton ball and held it over the poop to soften it and then used q tips dipped in water to work it off the fluff and clean it up as best I could then a dry cotton ball to dry the area. That was enough to chill her as it felt like she was shivering in my hand, I checked again an hr later and it was fully dry and fluffed up and never had a problem since.

 

[SarahLadd]

This is my 5th time raising chicks and I have seen a drastic difference between chicks shipped or traveled versus the ones I hatched from eggs. I have chicks 2 weeks+4 days old in the brooder right now and they are outstandingly friendly for being so young. They are brooding on the floor in a plastic kiddy pool in my art studio. I made some changes this time around to facilitate reinforcing that people are cool. Here's what I think really helped.

1.) Being hatched and having your face be the first thing they see and making sure they see me a lot.
2.) Let them be able to see you coming. They can't climb out of the kiddy pool until about 2 weeks anyway, so let them see. The babies I have can see me coming and will approach the lip of the pool to come see me when I sit down at floor level with them.
3.) Be at their level. If you're brooding on the floor, sit on the floor with them. If you're brooding on a counter even better, because then they see more of your face instead of your knees.
4.) Talk to them. If you say stuff kindly, even nonsense stuff, they seem to really respond to that. They recognize your voice. If you sing something nice before you walk in and give them something yummy, they really start keying in.
5.) Don't take them from the brooder, play with them there. If you take them out to socialize with them they might start to associate being cold and uncomfortable with being handled. You really don't want that. Let them play where they're comfy and feel safe. Unless they are really REALLY digging you, YOU don't make them feel safe, remember that.
6.) I spend at least an hour to an hour and a half interacting with them in some way and my husband spends about a half hour for a total of 2 hours of chick fussing. I think that's pretty good. 15 minute play sessions are easy to fit into my day and it doesn't have to be direct interaction. Sit with them at their level and read, or play a switch game. The point is to get them really comfortable with you. Once they're comfortable, friendliness is next.
7.) Pay attention to what makes them come to you. A few things tend to get their attention: scritch in the bedding, they come running to the scritching. Use your pointer finger to tap at things of interest. Condition them to learn that when you're scritching or tapping, something yummy might be there. (This is a valuable conditioning that will help you later if you need to switch from a basin waterer to nipple waterers!)
8.) Chick crumbles might be the only thing they really wanna eat and treats might be a challenge to introduce, and maybe it might not. Don't fret if they don't want treats, they still want chick crumble, and if you're offering it and making it a big deal it becomes "special" and more desirable to the bunch. All these steps help chicks be unafraid around you. but FOOD is the key to FRIENDLINESS.

 

[Swbertrand1]

No bathing... :-|

Handle them as often as you'd like. However, when you reach for them, move very slowly. They are easily startled, and you don't want your hands coming toward them to be something that causes repeated fearful reactions. Do this, especially if treats are coming with your hands, and they'll quickly be running to your hands, even jumping on them as they come slowly into the brooder. Realize, too, that their threats usually come from above, so you want to make your hand coming in from above (unless you can get to them from the side) is something that doesn't scare them.

We use the more clear storage totes for brooders and put them up on tabletops. In that way, the chicks can see us as we move around and when we come to the brooder. We find that when we're NOT giving them attention, they start lining up on the side closest to us to watch for us approaching Sometimes, they'll start chirping to get attention - very cute!

Finally, in the evenings, we'll bring a few out of the brooder and let them sit/rest/sleep on our chest as we watch TV, sometimes for hours at a time - be ready with some napkins for little tiny poopies on you though ;-) They really get used to people if we hold them, and later they'll be following you around the yard as the progress through their formative weeks and months. Some follow my bf EVERYWHERE after they've gotten lots of attention in their first few weeks of life.

Enjoy! Chicks are one of the best things on the planet, so cute, so fluffy, so innocent, so entertaining, and so hilarious all at the same time............!

 

[mhami]

Why do you need to bathe them?

My chicks are handled whenever I want, broody chicks, incubator chicks... I don’t really feed them from my hands, so they will stay on my hand to preen themselves and rest, but will want off once they are bored

I do have a satin that will sit in my lap forever, but I honestly don’t know how she got that way...

The d’uccle/d’uccle mixes I have right now have been the sweetest chicken ever. Just very very gentle souls...

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I think that holding them, gently petting them and making them feel comfortable in your hand is a great thing. I have a special ISA 2 week old that loves for me to hold her. Just like any baby animal, foals, calves, etc., the more they associate you with something nice, and the earlier you start, makes it sooo less stressful for all involved.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

I held my chicks from hatchday. I lay down on a bed and let them snuggle up my clothes and my body for warmth. You can use a blanket too.

Everyday after that, I handled them whenever I had time (I had lots of time!). I know youre not meant to handle over twice a day but the chicks loved it and so did I
If the chick struggles during handling, hold her firmly but gently to your heart and slowly release your grasp. She should fall asleep or just calm down. I did this and it tamed my scared chick!
Even the roosters grew up to be the friendliest and cuddliest little dudes!
I've never bathed my silkies. You don't need to unless you're showing them. I only had to bath one silkie who a pigeon pooped on!