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

[Kmaria187]

My first batch of chickens love me and will let me pick rhem up and like it but my new batch of pulets will not let me near them no matter what I do they are about to getting to the age of laying but cannot touch them with out much too much stress

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

I recently got my first ever d'uccles...OMGeeze they are the MOST friendly little birdies I've ever seen! Yeah I said birdies...cuz they don't act like chickens...or atleast like chickens I’ve had - satins & silkies!
They jump and fly up.all over me, love to hear me sing em a song (somewhere over the rainbow) and literally come running and chirping so loudly everytime they hear me coming!
They are fast as grease lightening so I do have to shuffle my feet so as not to stop on the tiny lil boogers!!!

 

[yajra]

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.

Here are some things I have tried that have failed with my danish browns. 1) treats 2) feathers 3) something shiny 4) something not so shiny 5) pleading with them 6) threatening them with blender 7) demanding they love me.

One thing I have done that worked, like one time. I picked up Ms Perchins, my barred hen, and had her on my knee in the coop. After about 5 minutes one of my brown Roos tried to land on my hair tail, discovered it was not a perch, flapped and clawed his way to my head and sat down. Within five minutes of that I had a roo and a hen on my head, another hen on my shoulder and the other 5 browns were pretty much wherever they could fit on me. One ****er decided to try and join the others on my head, landing on my nose, then clawing and beating his way up to my head, decided it didn’t like to share the space and shove the other hen off to my lap.

My reds look like they want to sit with you, and will stare and stare waiting for your hand to come out so they can peck it and run for high heaven.

In short. They do what they want. Lol, good luck, and let me know if you have any luck.

 

[Sstuder]

Mine are all quite human-friendly and like to be on my lap or shoulder. I raised them in a brooder inside the house with lots of handling.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

My chickens never fail to greet me and eat out of my hand but they hate being held. I respect that. I only pick mine up is to do health inspections or administer medicine.
(Edit) I want to stress the fact that my little flock of chickens have been treated very well but they run like h*** when I try to catch them and act like I'm going to kill them.

all I have to do to ‘catch’ mine is sit in a chair in the run. Within minutes I will have 4-5 chickens (even the cockerels) on my shoulder, lap and feet. The others coming late to the party clucking at my feet. I don’t give treats until evening but nevertheless they come running at the sight of me sitting. DH calls me the chicken whisper.
only 3 out of 11 birds are aloof.

 

[McChooky]

all I have to do to ‘catch’ mine is sit in a chair in the run. Within minutes I will have 4-5 chickens (even the cockerels) on my shoulder, lap and feet. The others coming late to the party clucking at my feet. I don’t give treats until evening but nevertheless they come running at the sight of me sitting. DH calls me the chicken whisper.
only 3 out of 11 birds are aloof.

Unfortunately I'd break out in hives if they climbed all over me like that . (I'm allergic to pet dander) Chickens are the only birds I can keep because they live outdoors. It helps that I keep everything very clean (including them!)They don't lack for anything except cuddles & they don't mind.lol

 

[SmiYa0126]

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.

My most recent chicks that I got were almost five weeks, the way I made them my friendliest so far, was I let them out of the brooder to run around before it got too dark and then when it got dark they migrated to me sitting on the couch, and then snuggled and fell asleep under my chin. I stayed like that through a short show and then put them back in my brooder. It really helped! Side note these are RIR.

 

[Ascholten]

So.. you are snuggly with RIR's Oh man you have NO IDEA the demons you are creating there!! They tend to be drama queens to begin with, and now you are treating them LIKE a queen, you better have your snack provider on speed dial if you ever think of keeping that flock happy

Aaron

 

[Katakornchicks]

I have one chicken that is as friendly and cuddly as a puppy just about. This is why I think:
1) She was 1 of 6 and I was there when she hatched out of the egg. I missed the rest of them hatching. I think I may have a little bit of imprinting to thank for that.

2) Her and her siblings lived in a brooder in my bathroom for a long time. I spent a lot of time with them. The "putting your hand face up with food in it" really works. After a while, I could put my hand in there without food and they would still hop in my hand and sit because they liked me and liked me to play with them.

3) I tried not to grab them unless I had to, and I would wait for them to hop in my hand if I wanted to take them out to play with them. They also like being pet on the chest with one finger, not pet on the head or back so much, that's scarier.

4) my friendliest chicken got the most attention as a chick because she was my favorite from the start. She was handled the most too. I also would sometimes take her outside for brief periods when it was warm outside and let her scratch around in my garden bed. Basically, she came to associate all good and interesting things with interacting with me.

5) all but 2 of the chicks were very friendly when they first went to live outside. 1 was never fond of me, and I think that's because I didn't get to meet her until a day or 2 after she hatched (she eventually came around tho and is my second friendliest) the other was a roo who hatched after everyone else, and idk why he didnt like me as much, that's just his attitude I guess) the others were all boys. All those boys were friendly and would follow me around the coop like puppies. When they got older, one got shy and no longer liked being touched (he was also almost eaten by a dog at one point so idk maybe he was traumatized) the other 2 boys remained sweet and loved to interact with me. Sadly however, I left them together too long as adults once they reached maturity and one started to bully the other. The bully stayed sweet towards me, but the other became afraid of anything that approached him, including me. The cuddly bully went to a new home where he could be the only rooster, and since he's gone, the bullied rooster has regained some confidence and will still let me pet him from time to time, but is sadly still skittish. The 2 girls however, very friendly, but only one likes to be held and touched.

In conclusion, the most important things I've found in making a cuddly chicken are:
*Be there when it hatches if possible
*spend lots of time with them
*lots of positive reinforcement and enrichment
*no grabbing or petting on head and back at first, only pet the chest and be patient when waiting for them to interact with you.
*continue to spend time with them once they move outside and let them eat from your hand from time to time. Keep petting them.
*try to keep them from being traumatized by other pets. Traumatized chickens take a LONG time to gain trust with.
*nothing is 100%. Out of 6, I only got one cuddly hen. Her tempermant was always more chill than the others so maybe she was predisposed. Idk. But she was worth it!

 

[Hip Hillbilly Acres]

I have one chicken that is as friendly and cuddly as a puppy just about. This is why I think:
1) She was 1 of 6 and I was there when she hatched out of the egg. I missed the rest of them hatching. I think I may have a little bit of imprinting to thank for that.

2) Her and her siblings lived in a brooder in my bathroom for a long time. I spent a lot of time with them. The "putting your hand face up with food in it" really works. After a while, I could put my hand in there without food and they would still hop in my hand and sit because they liked me and liked me to play with them.

3) I tried not to grab them unless I had to, and I would wait for them to hop in my hand if I wanted to take them out to play with them. They also like being pet on the chest with one finger, not pet on the head or back so much, that's scarier.

4) my friendliest chicken got the most attention as a chick because she was my favorite from the start. She was handled the most too. I also would sometimes take her outside for brief periods when it was warm outside and let her scratch around in my garden bed. Basically, she came to associate all good and interesting things with interacting with me.

5) all but 2 of the chicks were very friendly when they first went to live outside. 1 was never fond of me, and I think that's because I didn't get to meet her until a day or 2 after she hatched (she eventually came around tho and is my second friendliest) the other was a roo who hatched after everyone else, and idk why he didnt like me as much, that's just his attitude I guess) the others were all boys. All those boys were friendly and would follow me around the coop like puppies. When they got older, one got shy and no longer liked being touched (he was also almost eaten by a dog at one point so idk maybe he was traumatized) the other 2 boys remained sweet and loved to interact with me. Sadly however, I left them together too long as adults once they reached maturity and one started to bully the other. The bully stayed sweet towards me, but the other became afraid of anything that approached him, including me. The cuddly bully went to a new home where he could be the only rooster, and since he's gone, the bullied rooster has regained some confidence and will still let me pet him from time to time, but is sadly still skittish. The 2 girls however, very friendly, but only one likes to be held and touched.

In conclusion, the most important things I've found in making a cuddly chicken are:
*Be there when it hatches if possible
*spend lots of time with them
*lots of positive reinforcement and enrichment
*no grabbing or petting on head and back at first, only pet the chest and be patient when waiting for them to interact with you.
*continue to spend time with them once they move outside and let them eat from your hand from time to time. Keep petting them.
*try to keep them from being traumatized by other pets. Traumatized chickens take a LONG time to gain trust with.
*nothing is 100%. Out of 6, I only got one cuddly hen. Her tempermant was always more chill than the others so maybe she was predisposed. Idk. But she was worth it!

This was very encouraging and lovely to read. Thank you for this share.