How to get pullets to like you and not be so skittish

[danlan]

I have 7 pullets of all different breeds. They are all about 9-10 weeks old. I've had half of them since they were week-old chicks and got the other half when they were several weeks old.

They are all pretty skittish and try to avoid me as much as possible. Growing into lap chickens would be ideal, but not terrified of me would be a good start. How do I get them to overcome their skittishness?

I've tried bribing with food, but new treats scare them. In fact, they don't seem to know what treats are. Things that my previous flock would have devoured immediately -- dried mealworms and fruits like watermelon and strawberries-- are ignored. They have no interest in eating treats or regular food from my hand if I have them on my lap. If I leave the treats on the ground for them to eat at their leisure, they will often still be there the next day, untouched and ignored. I could offer them regular crumbles while I hold them on my lap, they will ignore it, and then run to the feeder to eat the same crumbles the moment I put them down. A lot of advice online says to bribe with food and whatnot. But that doesn't seem to work when they don't want the food to begin with...

Breeds:

• EE x2
• Red Sex Link x2
• Marans
• Cochin
• Wyandotte

The cochin is the most docile and while she will try to avoid being picked up, once she is picked up, she will happily sit on my lap for a long time. All the others would like nothing to do with me.

 

[Debbie292d]

The fastest way is to get some treats and start trying to hand-feed them. We use either shelled sunflower seeds, mealworms, or fresh corn sliced off the cob. Reach out to them. Some may, some may not. Just keep doing that a couple times a day and in a few days you'll see the majority coming to you. I do have one that no matter what refuses to come close to me so I just throw her some when everyone else is done.

Since these are younger, be sure if you're giving treats, it's not very much, and that they get some grit too.

 

[K0k0shka]

For lap chickens, you'd pretty much need to raise them from hatch or day olds as they're usually sold, and spend LOTS of time with them and handle them a lot. Being that you've come into their lives pretty late in the game, it would be good to readjust your expectations and drop lap chickens from your goals list. Not that it's impossible - a nice surprise would be great! - but not very likely at this point. Treats or not, spend lots of time with the chickens - as much as you possibly can. Even if you're just sitting there talking to them, doing nothing else in particular. Read a book in the run. Bring your laptop (if you have one) and do some work. Any other small chore that you can relocate to the chicken run. Just spend lots of time around them, and eventually they'll get used to your presence, and at a minimum get desensitized so they won't want to run away. As they get older, they'll get more and more interested in treats. Make it a point that any treats they have, you give to them by hand, so they build positive associations. When they are reliably eating treats from your hand, take a step further and hold the hand with the treats in your lap, such that they have to climb on you to get to it. That will build positive associations with your lap. Sit on the ground when you do this, so you're level with them and they have to do the least amount of work/climbing/jumping in order to get to your lap. It can be a slow process, but it's not impossible! And if you want friendlier chickens in the future, your best chances would be to either hatch your own or buy day old chicks, raise them in a brooder in your house, and handle them daily, and a lot. Those turn out the friendliest of them all. Oh and get yourself some Orpingtons, to shortcut the process even further - they are naturally inclined to be human-friendly and make the socialization work so much easier!

 

[danlan]

The fastest way is to get some treats and start trying to hand-feed them. We use either shelled sunflower seeds, mealworms, or fresh corn sliced off the cob. Reach out to them. Some may, some may not. Just keep doing that a couple times a day and in a few days you'll see the majority coming to you. I do have one that no matter what refuses to come close to me so I just throw her some when everyone else is done.

Since these are younger, be sure if you're giving treats, it's not very much, and that they get some grit too.

Thanks! I'll keep trying that. And yes, they have chick grit which I've seen them avail themselves of.

 

[danlan]

For lap chickens, you'd pretty much need to raise them from hatch or day olds as they're usually sold, and spend LOTS of time with them and handle them a lot. Being that you've come into their lives pretty late in the game, it would be good to readjust your expectations and drop lap chickens from your goals list. Not that it's impossible - a nice surprise would be great! - but not very likely at this point. Treats or not, spend lots of time with the chickens - as much as you possibly can. Even if you're just sitting there talking to them, doing nothing else in particular. Read a book in the run. Bring your laptop (if you have one) and do some work. Any other small chore that you can relocate to the chicken run. Just spend lots of time around them, and eventually they'll get used to your presence, and at a minimum get desensitized so they won't want to run away. As they get older, they'll get more and more interested in treats. Make it a point that any treats they have, you give to them by hand, so they build positive associations. When they are reliably eating treats from your hand, take a step further and hold the hand with the treats in your lap, such that they have to climb on you to get to it. That will build positive associations with your lap. Sit on the ground when you do this, so you're level with them and they have to do the least amount of work/climbing/jumping in order to get to your lap. It can be a slow process, but it's not impossible! And if you want friendlier chickens in the future, your best chances would be to either hatch your own or buy day old chicks, raise them in a brooder in your house, and handle them daily, and a lot. Those turn out the friendliest of them all. Oh and get yourself some Orpingtons, to shortcut the process even further - they are naturally inclined to be human-friendly and make the socialization work so much easier!

Great steps to try. Thanks!