How to make chicks cuddly and pettable? Feeling discouraged...

[pekin queen]

the way i made my chickens friendly is: 1 dont pic them up all the time at first 2 when you do pic them up dont put your hand on top of them, with chicks: wrap your hand around them and put them on your other hand, dont squeeze them! with adult chickens: crouch or sit next to them, and put one hand under them and the other over there wings, lift them up hold them close if they struggle, if that dont struggle then you can hold them out and can take your hand of there wings. 3 move s-l-o-w-l-y you dont want to scare them, 4 offer there favourite treats when they come close, 5 dont pic them up every time they come near you especially if they dont like being held! 6 maybe have a call you make when you are going to hold them just to give them a heads up, dont be to loud tho or you might scare them 7 when you are holding, them if they are on your lap pat the area around the crop, mine love it

 

[Farmgirl1878]

Well you go ahead with your bad self. And love the hair cute too!

Lol, thanks! I love my buzz cut too. The day before I retired, I went and had my long hair cut off. When I showed up at the party, no one knew it was me!

 

[Farmgirl1878]

I sometimes end up standing on the Cochin's foot feathers when I'm working in the coop and just yesterday I stepped on my rooster's foot. Fortunately, the bedding was soft and rooster in question, Ludwig, is gentle and mild-tempered.

Yep, mine are ALWAYS underfoot! And if they’re not underfoot, they’re exactly where I need to be! My Cochin, Blue, is always standing right where I want to stand… And when I go in to scoop poop, every single girl comes in to take a dustbath right in the way.

 

[Sunshine_Amy]

Thanks for this thread. I've been wondering the same thing about how much to hold them as chicks. I spend a lot of time in their brooder area, and feed them from my hand, and let them climb on my lap. I had a young friend who is an avid chicken lover, and who has raised a few broods already, demonstrate picking them up. She was adamant that they like being held to the chest, and she would sing softly and really bond. I thought, oh no, I hope she doesn't ruin their trust for people, but I swear one at least really got the message, and has been much more willing to be held since then, she wasn't before.

Speaking of YouTube videos, I'd be interested if there are any you liked about handling them as chicks. I watched one about how to have cuddly chickens, that I like a lot, but it doesn't talk about the baby chick phase as much as I'd like, more about how to handle them when they become adolescents. It seems like great advice:

 

[zenstarling]

Hello guys! I'm wondering what are your methods to get a chick to be more friendlier, cuddlier and pettable.

I know chickens are food motivated, but I have no success in having them eat any treats. I tried mealworms, wetting their starter food, scrambled eggs, and boiled egg yolks, but they always ignore it.

My first batch of chicks were are a disaster since it was my first time raising chicks and I made a lot of mistakes thus making them super skittish. I was determined to make things right with my second batch of chicks. The second batch consists of 3 chicks that are a little less than 3 weeks old now and their breeds are a Lavender Orpington, Barnevelder, and a Blue Americauna. The most outgoing and curious of the trio is the Orpington.

I made sure to use a brooder that allowed me to reach for them from a ground level and the sides are open mesh so they can see me when I approach. I spend 30mins everyday sitting on the ground and hanging out with them, manually dropping their feed so that they know my hand isn't a threat, making the same clucking sound when I visit and feed them, and petting their wings and crop when their busy eating. Hand feeding them their starter feed is iffy currently. Anything that requires me to reach from above and possibly scare them like cleaning their brooder I always do at night in darkness since they won't be able to see me or anything for that matter.

While they're happy to see me when I'm visiting them and would come up to me, they would back away if I try to pet them anywhere when their NOT busy eating. Whenever I pick them up, they always scream and try to wriggle out. It makes me worried that the small shred of trust that I cultivated with them is shattered whenever I attempt to grab them.

Do I forcefully hold them on my lap until they stop screaming and wriggling away? How do you make your chicks interested in eating treats? What other things did you do to get your chicks to be cuddly and pettable? Does this get any better or am I doomed to have chickens that never want to be held/pet?

It makes me discouraged because I feel like everything I'm doing is wrong and that all this extra effort is worthless.

how is it going now a few days later?

your message said you spend 30 minutes visiting with them daily. is that the only time they see you each day?

 

[leiacapatch]

Ok so I am sure most of you will not agree but to be honest we have the sweetest chickens that bow to be picked up. They are held multiple times a day. Petted on lap, rocked in swing on lap, fall asleep on their backs being held while petted. Each breed is different. The difference is I have three kids and we all hold them many times a day since day one. We started by putting our hand in the brooder and they would love to jump up and roost on it (patience they are curious and like to get higher) then they would crawl to our shoulders as they got older. (We got pooped on a lot) . In the teenage years they acted not so friendly but then when it came to their hormones changing (1st egg laid) after that they would bow and allow us to pick them up or pet them. They come when called most of the time, or I Shake corn and that’s my back up. The secret for our family is lots of holding and yes sometimes forced holding by kids but it has only made the chickens more tame over time. We are so thankful for our sweet girls. We are working in our second batch of teenagers chicks right now.

 

[GlorysGrove]

The first hatch, I only got 2 and when ever I picked up one, the other panicked, so I stopped. Those 2 hate me. The second hatch, I got 7 and I handled them alot more. Their brooder was a unused shower stall. I would sit on the ground and talk to them etc. Once outside in the coop, they were still not seeking me out until they were about 5 weeks old. Then when I squatted down, some would jump on my back. And they would chase me when I made them mash. They love mash. Now, I don't have all of them wanting to be pet, but I do have 2. I marked them with food coloring because all mine are same breed and I wanted to identify the ones I can pet. Now, those 2 actually jump on my lap to be pet. So don't be discouraged. Once you have one or two, it's enough. I call them my "petting chickens".

 

[123qwertyuiop]

Hello guys! I'm wondering what are your methods to get a chick to be more friendlier, cuddlier and pettable.

I know chickens are food motivated, but I have no success in having them eat any treats. I tried mealworms, wetting their starter food, scrambled eggs, and boiled egg yolks, but they always ignore it.

My first batch of chicks were are a disaster since it was my first time raising chicks and I made a lot of mistakes thus making them super skittish. I was determined to make things right with my second batch of chicks. The second batch consists of 3 chicks that are a little less than 3 weeks old now and their breeds are a Lavender Orpington, Barnevelder, and a Blue Americauna. The most outgoing and curious of the trio is the Orpington.

I made sure to use a brooder that allowed me to reach for them from a ground level and the sides are open mesh so they can see me when I approach. I spend 30mins everyday sitting on the ground and hanging out with them, manually dropping their feed so that they know my hand isn't a threat, making the same clucking sound when I visit and feed them, and petting their wings and crop when their busy eating. Hand feeding them their starter feed is iffy currently. Anything that requires me to reach from above and possibly scare them like cleaning their brooder I always do at night in darkness since they won't be able to see me or anything for that matter.

While they're happy to see me when I'm visiting them and would come up to me, they would back away if I try to pet them anywhere when their NOT busy eating. Whenever I pick them up, they always scream and try to wriggle out. It makes me worried that the small shred of trust that I cultivated with them is shattered whenever I attempt to grab them.

Do I forcefully hold them on my lap until they stop screaming and wriggling away? How do you make your chicks interested in eating treats? What other things did you do to get your chicks to be cuddly and pettable? Does this get any better or am I doomed to have chickens that never want to be held/pet?

It makes me discouraged because I feel like everything I'm doing is wrong and that all this extra effort is worthless.

Remember chickens are prey animals! They do not like being held or cuddled because they think they’re going to be eaten!
Hang your palm in the brooder so they come up by themselves and see what it is. Lay it flat so they hop and walk on it.
Sprinkle some feed on it and wait for them to peck and eat it. Don’t grab them or try and pet them because they will get scared. You need to show them your hand is safe. When they comfortably come and sit on your hand pet them.

 

[RiverOtter]

I just accidentally raised the friendliest batch of chicks I've ever, ever raised. TSC was having a sale on overgrown white leghorns, and I love me some leghorns, so couldn't resist, even though I had nothing set up. I had a large plastic crate stored on a shelf near a plug that I could plug a heat pad onto - done!

Well. they were right at eye level in a spot I passed umpteen times a day and would all rush the front of the crate whenever I gave them feed and water (at least 2 - 3 times a day, they were pretty messy) and would spill out into my hands and I'd put 6 chicks back in the crate 17 times every time I opened the door. They're old enough to be outside now and they are RIDICULOUS. Jump on your shoulder, jump in your hands, follow you around. One, I fed and I guess she wasn't that hungry, because she was more interested in riding me around. I put her down, again, and left the barn and she ran after me creeling pitifully and wouldn't stop until she was picked up. She did it all the way to the house. So now I have a half-grown white leghorn sitting on my knee as I type this because she knows where I live and runs in with the dogs and cats. We call her Prianca.
All I can think is being at eye level, seeing us move around all the time and coming towards us to the clearly defined front of the cage for all things good, as well as being repeatedly rescued from falling out of the crate and off the shelf (I swear it felt like juggling sometimes) somehow imprinted them. They are SO friendly, we actually got a couple of guinea keets to repeat the experiments.

 

[Chickassan]

Honestly it's easy they just have to be able to see you top to bottom everyday when they're young so they don't think you're just a detached head and grabby hands.
You're going to have some that are going to just love you from afar regardless though,and like the others have said you'll get a few that will change their minds with age.
They've got personalities and like us they aren't always going to be loveable ones in fact some are born to be natural hooligans.
The way I do it isn't for everyone but it works for me.
These are photos taken in real time from my bedroom...yeah I know lol!
First thing introductions on these, they're not mine didn't hatch them or buy them they were post office orphans and I've had them an entire day so they're stressed.
I'm not entirely sure what they are but going on heads I'm gonna guess bramas and since I'm not well versed on those I could have a bunch of doodles.
As long as they can see what those hands are attached to they're much less likely to freak out.