I want a house chicken.

[Mamma Athena]

I have about nine 2 week old chicks and they are just so funny and playful! My favorite chicken is a little girl named Belle. She is afterall my belle-belle! Anyways, I'd really love to keep her as a pet, I've seen people do it before and i love the idea of it!!!! But the problem is how do i get her to like me or learn that I am mom and I am safe? Please answer!
Thanks

 

[Chicks Galore3]

Spend as much time as possible with them. Give the treats from your hand. I sit in the brooder with them and let the perch on me whenever they want. (Prepare to get pooped on.)

 

[SilkiesForEver]

Spend as much time as possible with them. Give the treats from your hand. I sit in the brooder with them and let the perch on me whenever they want. (Prepare to get pooped on.)

Yep. That's about it.

I have found that meal worms work great.

 

[Mamma Athena]

Thank you! I forgot to tell you all that liTtle Belle loves to come on my hand I just put my hand in the hutch and shell run over and pass out. I give oats and chick feed to them. Should I try to bring her out of the hutch and like coax her to me with feed?

 

[Chicks Galore3]

As long as she isn't out long enough to be chilled.

 

[donrae]

You might want to think about what Belle wants. She's a chicken and will want to be with other chickens. You can have her be a pet and still part of the flock, lots of folks here do that also.

 

[Katt66]

Yeah they are social animals and really only thrive in the company of other chickens. We've got quite a few cuddly ones like your Bella. You can enjoy them just as much if not more outside in their "natural" environment where they can run around and do chicken things and entertain you as well as snuggling on your lap and following you around. Our now 6wk old babies are so friendly and outgoing and cuddly yet that as soon as I open the run door they are all right there underfoot begging to be picked up and waiting for handouts. To the point where I almost tripped over them today when I went to fill their water. And my kids will bring the occasional chicken in for TV time cuddles (don't let 'da Hubby know! XD) Then it's back out to the coop with the rest of their family.

 

[Mamma Athena]

I think that's what I'll do. I just talked to my family about it and they said she could be semi chicken.... Oh well. I think belle will enjoy a cuddle hear or there but she'll want to be with her flock. Which is fine with me because whatever she wants she'll get and i love her. Thank you all for the replies and belle appreciates them to

 

[donrae]

I think that's a good decision. And to keep her friendly, remember treats! Food is the way to a chicken's heart. I don't make pets of my birds at all, but when I go in the run with the scrap bowl I almost have to push them away!

 

[JudithKerlin]

Chickens learn only by lots and lots of time. Sit em on your lap and hold gently, pet and try to figure out what this bird likes best-- i.e., cheek scritches? gentle neck-feather preens? belly rubs? and just keep em with you until they forget that you ever weren't their favorite part of the landscape. The younger they are, the better. If one sees you before it sees the mama chicken when it hatches it may imprint on YOU as mama-critter, which gets old fast since it will want to be on you ALL the time and peep piteously when separated from you by so much as a foot of space. This happened to me by accident and I ended up having to wake up my roommate in the middle of the night to extricate the bittie from deep in my hair where it had tunnelled-- I didn't want it to strangle itself in the tangles it made burrowing behind my ear. I admit it's difficult to resist a tiny tiny feather ball that LOVES you SO MUCH.

Either get used to wiping up poop, or find a pattern or a source for a "chicken diaper". All mama critters get pooped on, it's practically definitive of the role.

Just don't think your birds won't ever love you just because they take for-freaking-ever to get used to you. They're *prey species*-- everything that moves scares them, because every carnivore species likes chicken. Test the difference between, say, your cat's reaction to the red dot of a laserpointer, and a chicken's reaction. I can stand at the back door and "herd" my chickens into their run (several hundred yards away) with a laser pointer.