Is it bad to hold your chicks?

[Nickohl]

When I first got my chicks on 3/20, my dad told me to just leave them in the brooder and not bother them. He said if my children or myself tried to pick them up very much it would kill them. Is this true? We have not held them, only picked them up to clean out the brooder, and they have done great! Let me tell you, it is soooo hard to just watch something that is so cute and not touch or pick them up!!! I have noticed that a lot of people on this forum hold their chicks. Can we do that without killing them?

We did pick them up some yesterday and the kids had a ball! I hope it helped calm the chicks down some. They are getting to where they are scared any time we put our hands into the brooder to change/replenish the feed and water and I don't want that. I know this all sounds silly, but I just don't want to hurt them. I would feel terrible if they died because we wanted to hold them.

I've been rasing chickens for about 2-3 years now with my grandmother it's completely safe to hold them just like normal older chickens but you must be careful and since they are young they are prone to getting sick. Holding your chickens will get them used to people and even potential run up to you or your children if trained right and especially in my situation now I have one baby chick hatched and I'm constantly checking on it because if they are isolated they can pass away she is about 2 days old and I've held her just fine. But this doesn't go for all chickens people rase them differently and have different breeds but it won't kill them unless they are held too much and stressed