How to get your chicks to love you

[cmjust0]

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We've got two goats you can't touch with a 10 foot pole, and one got somewhere it wasn't supposed to be the other day.. I walked wide around it, opened a gate, then walked back around and started toward it. Naturally it turned and went somewhat toward the gate, away from me. From there, it was just a matter of knowing where to go to make it uncomfortable and influence its direction of travel.. I drove it around like an R/C car from about 20' away until it went back through the gate, no problem. That's how cattle get worked around here, too...you use the flight zone to your advantage.

However....I knew that goat wasn't going to fly! In my experience, a goat will always obey they no-flying rule!

Not so much with chickens, though. They're in control of the horizontal, and the vertical, so to speak..

I may try to get them a little more socialized, now that you mention it, because I'd kinda been thinking more along the lines of working flighty land-dwellers. Different ballgame now.

 

[Pamjay]

I handled my chicks alot as babies. I sang to them, picked them up every day, and let them climb, sleep and poop all over me. Now they are four to six weeks old and while they perk up at the sound of my voice they have chicken things to do. However they are not afraid of people much and will still fly onto a lap now and then. I think it is important to remember and respect that chickens are prey creatures. Many other creatures understand chickens are a tasty meal. I know I do! Their keen eyesight and hearing allow them to survive and also make them extremely sensitive to their environment and everything in it. Prey animals don't typically enjoy being chased or held against their will because you might be the one to eat them. Just because they run away doesn't mean they don't love you. There is my two cents anyway.

 

[Sooz]

My duckings aren nearl four weeks old now and I and my children handle them every day. They still get a bit flighty sometimes but I wonder what Blackjack - my sons favourite make out of being brought into the house to watch club pinguine with him

 

[pigcoon]

Glad to read this thread. My chicks are about 10 days old and I see we have some snuggling to do!!!

 

[IggiMom]

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I think that is a very good point and I had not thought of it. It did seem strange that when they have heard my voice talking to them since they were eggs that they didn't see me as a Mom.

But I see how they might react differently than other animals.

Catherine

 

[joebryant]

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Very interesting. Your explanation of their being "prey animals" explains a lot of what this thread's about.

 

[WalkingWolf]

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This would make a lot of sense, EXCEPT for the fact that my chickens have absolutely no fear of our big dogs whatsoever which are predators. And that includes the chicks like meat chicks that do not get handled, or even the ducks are not afraid of them.

Almost all animals EVEN those very capable of eating US have built in fear of humans. To domesticate them that fear has to removed by love and affection. A few animals by nature do not have that fear, and it is them that present the most danger to us. Mostly that would be dogs, and cats especially if they are big cats.

 

[Redhead Hen]

I have 3 RIRs and I did not handle them as much as my babies since the Reds were about a month old when I got them. Now they are in the run/coop and the come over to the fence when I call them every time! I usually throw in some cut grass (since there is not a blade of anything green in there!

) and they go nuts! I also go out once they are in "bed" and I will stroke them. They don't like that too much, but are getting use to it.

My babies were held everyday. Each one has a different personality, so some love it and others not so much. My Silkie does not like to be held and will peep loudly. But if she is loose, she will follow me everywhere! My d'Uccle boy LOVES to be held and will stay in my lap forever! My sebright goes through times where it is happy to be held and times where it does not. My 3 Golden Comets don't want to be picked up, but once they are, they settle down a bit. Each has it's own tolerance of being held, so I respect that. Granted, that also does not stop me from loving on all of them!

 

[Pitchfork]

Though relatively new to keeping chickens, I have worked with animals, particularly horses and cattle, my entire life. I always get a little, and please I do mean a little, frustrated when I hear terms like love, affection, friendly, etc. Animals instintively understand their place in the food chain. They are prey, or predator, or pedator of some and prey for others. Dealing with them is all about socialization. You become part of the herd, or flock. Once you are part of the herd you then have to establish your place in the social order. I am often amazed when people allow their horses to push them around and step on and over them etc. They call it friendly, but it is, in truth, dominance. They don't step on the boss mare of the band, or any other horse that is above them in the pecking order. I have found my chickens have come to view me sort of like a tree or bush that has food growing on it's lap. Ha! They don't love me, they don't hate me, they just don't fear me. So far I am thinking it is not as easy to become a chicken as it is to become a horse or a cow. I imprint my horses at birth and teach them from day one that I am not only part of the herd, but I am the alpha. They step out of my way when I walk past. They follow me when I ask them to, with out a lead rope or halter and they do not follow me if I don't ask them. Someone mentioned that their chickens did not seem to fear their dog, a natural predator. Animals have instints far behond our comprehension. They understand their safety zone and that zone can vary depending on the vibes they are picking up from whatever it is that is causing alarm. I have seen wild ducks walk up to within five feet of a dog, wadling and quacking along like they owned the world. When the dog closed the distance to two feet they shot into the air and missed getting caught by a good foot, only to land six feet away and start wadling around quacking looking for food.
All that said, my chickens follow me, hop up on me when I sit in a chair near them and ignore me if I am working in the coop. I don't think they like me, or particularly feel any thing concerning me, other than food usually shows up when I am around. I followed Rooster Reds advice on handling my rooster and every morning we go through the same drill. I open coop he does his little Rooster dance around me, I pick him up and carry him around for 15 minutes and then set him down and he walks calmly away. After several weeks of this he has not modified his behavior, but he has not gotten any worse. He has never tried to flog me, but he does do his little dance every morning to find out if I have become weaker or he has become stronger. Just as a horse will test every single day of his life to find out whether it has moved up in the pecking order. If they don't test and probe they can't know where they belong in the social order. My chickens seem to be the same way. They seem to have to learn the same lesson everyday. "Is he a predator, is he bringing food, is this the day I get careless and get eaten, is it worth the risk in order to get the food I need to live etc. ? You are an object that moves therefore you are a possible threat, they try to judge how much space to give you. If you move fast they open the distance between you. If you move slow they will allow that distance to close. Food turns off some of the caution they show, just as it does with any animal I have ever seen, domestic or wild. I have found that if I form my arm and hand like a chicken neck and head and peck the ground, all the chickens come running. I am saying to them, I am a chicken and there is food right here in the this spot. So they run up to me and peck a little and then jump back as if to say, "darn he fooled us again, he ain't a chicken, we have to be more carefull". I am enjoying learning about their behavior, but I don't think they love, hate, etc. I think fear and accept are better words.
Just my thoughts

 

[IggiMom]

Well, Pitchfork, that was interesting.

I don't have horses.

I do have dogs, and I clearly think that dogs do love you or not, but dogs are different.

But no, my chickens don't love me. I guess I'll have to look at what my place is in the flock!

They are certainly afraid of my dogs, with good reason. The Italian Greyhounds are small, but they can kill a chicken, unfortunately rather slowly, and the Deerhound can kill a chicken with one snap of her mighty jaws.

The dogs are in a yard where they cannot get them, and only once in a while does some stupid chicken decide to fly over the fence and the I have to rescue it if I can. I once really hurt myself trying to save a chicken.

A dog, even a small dog, in the grip of prey drive is a totally different animal.

Sorry, I guess that was a lot about dogs for a chicken forum but it sort of tied in.

Anyway, I found you post interesting, thanks.

Catherine