I love my chickens, but.... Why?

[User395221]

They don't love me; they're using me as a "feed dispenser"

What is with that? Mine have their pellets always there, yet they behave like starving waifs, standing at the door and running like mad women if I go outside. If I give them stuff, they fall on it like they've never been given a square meal. They grab something and run away. Then everybody follows to try to get it off her, despite a HUGE PILE of stuff from which they could have whatever they want. But no, why just take something, when you can get it off your "sister"? My new chickens do the same, I am trying to get them to let me pick them up and come to me and not be afraid, so I hold out their food/treats. One grabs it, runs away, and off the other goes, chasing, leaving me there holding out their piece.

 

[azygous]

Have you noticed yet that they may ignore their food until you let some of it fall on the ground? Then it gets attacked by the whole flock.

 

[shortgrass]

Lol... "Stolen water is sweeter, and bread eaten in secret is delicious"

Chicken tag, cracks me up; that's serious entertainment right there, it can get downright vicious lol

They get used to the containers and bags too; I can't step out the door with a paper plate, a Red cup, or a bag of any sort without being attacked, too many mealworm bags, paper plates with dinner scraps, and red cups full if corn

They're smart and spoiled

 

[User395221]

They get used to the containers and bags too;

I get boxes of veges and they can leap into the air and grab something out of the box through the holes in the sides of the boxes. If I put the vege box down in the laundry they'd walk straight inside and start helping themselves (until I fixed the closer on the security door which had come loose).

 

[aart]

They are 4 isa browns, I'm not sure of their age, I adopted them all together. They've recently moved into a new house from a different one. I don't think they perched in the other house although there is a perch in there. This is their new house, the perch is probably about a metre by half a metre (3 ft x 1.5??).
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...nd-a-new-house-how-to-manage/30#post_16372641

I went up there just as it was getting really dark. It was dark, they had gone inside, but it was about 10 minutes off being completely dark. (it gets dark about 8 I went up there about 10 to 8)

I'd just keep putting them up there, and blocking then nests, eventually they'll get with the program.

 

[User395221]

Thanks, I'll believe it if I see it

 

[Jkraft]

Thanks for your post.. brought back memories for me of when I kept my Amber Star chickens.

They always hung around on the front porch pooping everywhere.

They would wait till someone left the front door open or opened a window.. and then they would all rush into the living room to watch TV.

Anyone coming into the garden was greeted by a flock of 10 chickens rushing towards them and surrounding them.. then escorting them to the house, trying to squeeze past them through the front door.

I keep Japanese Bantams now.. they are much more refined and polite.. and they stay around their coop area.

Guess different breeds are different.. I know the Amber starts were more like pet dogs than birds.

I agree with it being a breed thing. I myself have asked those questions (besides the nesting box but my chickens have other bad habits) and I love my chickens for it! I have a flock of four. 2 Orpingtons, 1 silkie, and 1 polish. All hens. My Orps are a hoot!! They are constantly tripping me up, following me around the yard, waiting by the back door therefore pooping on the porch, running in the house, they are velcro chickens! My silkie and polish hens never come in the house and do not wait for me by the door or peck my hand for a treat. They are more reserved and keep to themselves. I raised all of them since they were a chicks.

My chickens decided to stop sleeping in the coop one day after sleeping in it for months. They started sleeping on my back porch. Not on the floor but on my cushion bench. Right next to my windows looking into my kitchen. I had to carry them one by one into the coop. after dusk they wouldn't move. Treats meant nothing. I did this for a few nights before I decided they can not free range until they learn to sleep in their own house I spent months building. So I confined them to the coop and run for a week and they stopped that.

 

[mymilliefleur]

Those silly birds!

You have already gotten some great advise from the other members. I would definitely block the nest boxes off at night. You may have to put them on the roosts for the first few nights to get them used to sleeping there. My guess is that they did not have roosts when they were young, so the never learned to sleep on them. Hope you can get the problem solved soon!

 

[User395221]

My guess is that they did not have roosts when they were young, so the never learned to sleep on them.

When I adopted them they came with a house. That house does have little perches (removable) but they might not have been used by the people or the chooks. Their other house that they went into is quite small and I don't think they made use of the perch in it. I'm not sure where they were before the people I adopted them from got them, or whether they got them as chicks.

 

[User395221]

Update: I went out to let them out and there is poo along the side where the perch is, particularly quite a big pile where the girl who hunkered down was sitting. I think she stayed on the perch! I'm so proud.... There was also 2 piles along that same side, spaced out, and some in the "usual corner". I think the girls who were using the nest boxes might have used the perch (or at least slept on the other side of the house and not huddled next to the nest boxes.

It'll be interesting tonight to see whether they remember to go up there on their own, or they do the "huddle in the corner" thing again and have to be put up there.

Nobody laid eggs this morning anywhere. I hope they go back in to use the nest boxes now that they are open.....(my back yard is a wilderness, if they start laying under a bush somewhere, I might never find them.)

EDIT: update update. On the other hand, if I went for a walk around, I might just discover a nest, full of eggs, in the bushes. sigh. Now what? Somebody's been laying under the bushes, I've found 11 eggs there..... Should I keep them confined until they get used to the perching/nest box usage requirements?