How to get the Chicks socialized to me?

[crossgirl]

I've never had chickens so I was kind of wondering why everyone was so excited about giving treats to their chickens. Yesterday I came across a cricket so I put it in the run with my babies and oh my gosh, they're hysterical!! I would pay for crickets just to watch that show again!!

 

[galanie]

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haha so you discovered why! They are crazy fun

The funniest mine have done is play tug of war with a tomato worm. Those tomato worms are tough! Wish I'd had my camera when they were doing that.

 

[h8snags]

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I started giving my peeps mealworms and crickets at 1 week old (last week) I couldn't wait! The night before I bought the worms and crickets, we gave them a spider... watch out! It was so funny, that spider didn't even last a mili-second! The lucky girl who saw it first ran around peeping as loud as she could, playing the chicken chasing game! So, I couldn't resist, the next day I bought them their new treats! I gave them grit before I gave them the bugs, they love it! Now everytime I walk over to say hello in their brooder they start peeping really loud! Have fun, it's quite the "peep show"!

 

[Titania]

love all these ideas! Thanks all for sharing! We didn't have too much success socializing our chicks, though we handled them every day. We weren't consistent, I guess. They'll come to us for food or to be let out of the run to free range, but once they're out, they're done & won't have anything to do with us. the children are always so sad they can't pick them up!

 

[noodleroo]

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Its not too late! Make a little temporary 'play' pen out of something; extra wire what ever. Sit inside the pen with them so that you are in their space. Hold a treat like a little mashed up boiled egg in your lap and let the chicks climb on you to get their treat. Even if they think you are the devil incarnate, they will get on you to get the treat! The kids can do this, too; they just need to take turns. No more than one human at a time in their space. After they've finished their treat, keep your hands at ground level, palm up when you slowly move and pet them on their tummies. Don't try to pick them up the first few times so they know only good things come from you. Some will end up more tame than others, but that's ok. After all, how many grown chickens do you want on your lap at a time...

 

[galanie]

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Its not too late! Make a little temporary 'play' pen out of something; extra wire what ever. Sit inside the pen with them so that you are in their space. Hold a treat like a little mashed up boiled egg in your lap and let the chicks climb on you to get their treat. Even if they think you are the devil incarnate, they will get on you to get the treat! The kids can do this, too; they just need to take turns. No more than one human at a time in their space. After they've finished their treat, keep your hands at ground level, palm up when you slowly move and pet them on their tummies. Don't try to pick them up the first few times so they know only good things come from you. Some will end up more tame than others, but that's ok. After all, how many grown chickens do you want on your lap at a time...

After reading this thread I found out that it's certainly not too late

Mine are 2 weeks old and yesterday I put a sheet in the bathroom and took some warm mush and the babies in there and within 10 minutes they were sleeping on me. One fell off and cheeped until I took her back up! This is a great improvement over my previous trips out of the brooder with them, trust me! Today I offered them a mealworm beetle from my new colony and while they were suspicious of it at first, they at least did come up to my hand (which they wouldn't do before) to check it out. It wasn't long, though, till they were chasing one another all over the brooder to get the bug. LOL

Here is a video of part of the chase! Quality is awful but I had to post it anyway:

 

[noodleroo]

galanie: I'm glad you're having fund with your babies! I love the video. You'd think they would just be quiet with a treat and not advertise it!

 

[galanie]

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Haha no kidding! And thanks

 

[Rooneytune]

i have 8, 1 week old babies and they seem to do really well with being handled. I put a scoop of their food in my hand and then just lay my hand out in their box. After about 5 seconds they are jumping all over my hand and arm and pecking away at the food. I have one little girl that keeps getting poo stuck to her butt, not covering her vent but still kinda nasty, so she is getting used to me holding her and trying to get her cleaned up

these little girls are SOOOOO cute.

 

[emsdial911]

Like everyone said handle them as much as you can. I had a favorite but as she grew older her markings changed and I could not tell her appart from the others. So I have now figured out which one is her. She comes up to me and raises her neck like she is wanting something that I have. What she is doing is she wants me to kneel down or sit down so she can jump up on my lap. I sit there and pet her till she falls asleep in my lap.